scholarly journals The Faint Object Camera

1983 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 254-259
Author(s):  
Karl D. Rakos

The Space Telescope (ST) is one of the most exciting projects presently planned in space astronomy. It will make a considerable contribution to astronomical research throughout the rest of this century. The high resolution 2.4 m telescope will be placed in orbit probably in 1985 by the Space Shuttle and will provide an astronomical capability unattainable by the ground-based telescopes.The European Space Agency decided to participate in this NASA programme in 1976. ESA’s part in the programme includes the production of a major subsystem (the solar arrays and associated mechanisms), the building of the Faint Object Camera, and future participation in the operational activities and in the running of the Space Telescope Science Institute.

1990 ◽  
Vol 141 ◽  
pp. 339-346
Author(s):  
R.L. Duncombe ◽  
W. H. Jefferys ◽  
G. F. Benedict ◽  
P. D. Hemenway ◽  
P. J. Shelus

The Hubble Space Telescope, a large optical instrument having an aperture of 2.4 meters and a length of 8.8 meters has been developed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration in cooperation with the European Space Agency. The Space Shuttle will be used to place the telescope in orbit. The primary astrometric instrument will be one of the three Fine Guidance Sensors which have the capability of measuring the position of one object with respect to another to an accuracy of ±0.″002. To facilitate use of the Hubble Space Telescope, observers will be provided with the Astrometric Data Reduction Software package. The variety of astrometric problems and the several modes of operation are mentioned as well as the cooperative program with the European astrometric satellite project HIPPARCOS.


1980 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 341-348
Author(s):  
C. A. Murray

Abstract:The HIPPARCOS Satellite, to be launched by the European Space Agency, will provide a stellar reference frame over the whole celestial sphere with an average accuracy of ± 0002 in each coordinate and component of annual proper motion, for some 100,000 stars.The origin of coordinates will be arbitrary. Absolute rotation of the system of proper motions can be obtained by measuring quasars relative to stars in the HIPPARCOS catalogue, either with the NASA Space Telescope or by conventional ground based astrometric observations.


1988 ◽  
Vol 20 (01) ◽  
pp. 595-601
Author(s):  
Y. Kondo ◽  
K.A. Pounds ◽  
A.A. Boyarchuk ◽  
G.W. Clark ◽  
G. Courtes ◽  
...  

The tragic loss of Space ShuttleChallengerand her 7 crew members in January 1986 has seriously affected the astronomical research from space in the U.S.A. and, to a lesser extent, in Western Europe. The incident has caused setbacks in a number of space projects, including the delay in the launching of the Hubble Space Telescope. Nevertheless, the field of space astronomy remained active during the present reporting period (1984 July through 1987 June).


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 353-364
Author(s):  
Maurice te Plate ◽  
Brian O’Sullivan ◽  
Pierre Ferruit ◽  
David Lee ◽  
Martyn Wells ◽  
...  

Abstract The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is frequently referred to as the follow-on mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The ‘Webb’ will be the biggest space telescope ever built and is expected to enable astounding new science. The observatory comprises a 6.5-m-diameter telescope with a segmented primary mirror and four high-performance optical science instruments. The JWST has mostly been optimized to work in the near- (0.6–5.0 μm) and mid-infrared (5.0–29 μm) wavelength regions. The project is a strong international partnership led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with contributions from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The observatory is currently scheduled for launch in early 2021 from Kourou, French Guyana, by an ESA-provided Ariane 5 rocket. This paper will focus on the European optical contribution to the mission, which mainly consists of two highly advanced optical science instruments: The multi-object near-infrared spectrograph (NIRSpec) and the mid-infrared instrument (MIRI). The opto-mechanical design considerations and the realization of both instruments will be described, and we will conclude with a short JWST project status report and future outlook.


Author(s):  
Claudio Miccoli ◽  
Alessandro Turchi ◽  
Pierre Schrooyen ◽  
Domenic D’Ambrosio ◽  
Thierry Magin

AbstractThis work deals with the analysis of the cork P50, an ablative thermal protection material (TPM) used for the heat shield of the qarman Re-entry CubeSat. Developed for the European Space Agency (ESA) at the von Karman Institute (VKI) for Fluid Dynamics, qarman is a scientific demonstrator for Aerothermodynamic Research. The ability to model and predict the atypical behavior of the new cork-based materials is considered a critical research topic. Therefore, this work is motivated by the need to develop a numerical model able to respond to this demand, in preparation to the post-flight analysis of qarman. This study is focused on the main thermal response phenomena of the cork P50: pyrolysis and swelling. Pyrolysis was analyzed by means of the multi-physics Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code argo, developed at Cenaero. Based on a unified flow-material solver, the Volume Averaged Navier–Stokes (VANS) equations were numerically solved to describe the interaction between a multi-species high enthalpy flow and a reactive porous medium, by means of a high-order Discontinuous Galerkin Method (DGM). Specifically, an accurate method to compute the pyrolysis production rate was implemented. The modeling of swelling was the most ambitious task, requiring the development of a physical model accounting for this phenomenon, for the purpose of a future implementation within argo. A 1D model was proposed, mainly based on an a priori assumption on the swelling velocity and the resolution of a nonlinear advection equation, by means of a Finite Difference Method (FDM). Once developed, the model was successfully tested through a matlab code, showing that the approach is promising and thus opening the way to further developments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-126
Author(s):  
A. F. Purkhauser ◽  
J. A. Koch ◽  
R. Pail

Abstract The GRACE mission has demonstrated a tremendous potential for observing mass changes in the Earth system from space for climate research and the observation of climate change. Future mission should on the one hand extend the already existing time series and also provide higher spatial and temporal resolution that is required to fulfil all needs placed on a future mission. To analyse the applicability of such a Next Generation Gravity Mission (NGGM) concept regarding hydrological applications, two GRACE-FO-type pairs in Bender formation are analysed. The numerical closed loop simulations with a realistic noise assumption are based on the short arc approach and make use of the Wiese approach, enabling a self-de-aliasing of high-frequency atmospheric and oceanic signals, and a NRT approach for a short latency. Numerical simulations for future gravity mission concepts are based on geophysical models, representing the time-variable gravity field. First tests regarding the usability of the hydrology component contained in the Earth System Model (ESM) by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the analysis regarding a possible flood monitoring and detection showed a clear signal in a third of the analysed flood cases. Our analysis of selected cases found that detection of floods was clearly possible with the reconstructed AOHIS/HIS signal in 20% of the tested examples, while in 40% of the cases a peak was visible but not clearly recognisable.


1993 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 812-819
Author(s):  
T. Appourchaux ◽  
D. Gough ◽  
P. Hyoyng ◽  
C. Catala ◽  
S. Frandsen ◽  
...  

PRISMA (Probing Rotation and Interior of Stars: Microvariability and Activity) is a new space mission of the European Space Agency. PRISMA is currently in a Phase A study with 3 other competitors. PRISMA is the only ESA-only mission amongst those four and only one mission will be selected in Spring 1993 to become a real space mission.The goal of the Phase A study is to determine whether the payload of PRISMA can be accommodated on a second unit of the X-ray Multi-Mirror (XMM) bus; and whether the budget of the PRISMA mission can be kept below 265 MAU (’88 Economic conditions). The XMM mission is an approved cornerstone and is in a Phase A together with PRISMA.


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