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Boeing 747 Modified To Act As Infrared Telescope
xyz writes "A joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center has developed a highly modified Boeing-747SP aircraft to carry a 2.5-meter (98.4 inch) infrared telescope. The project SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy) will observe radiation in the wavelengths from 0.3 microns to 1.0 millimeters, spanning the visible, infrared, and sub-millimeter portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The observations will be taken at an altitude of 40,000 to 45,000 feet (12 to 14 km) which is above 99.8 percent of the water vapor in Earth's atmosphere, thus giving it a greater range of observations." Update: 10/31 13:27 GMT by T : Mea culpa -- headline changed to reflect that this telescope is intended for looking out at space rather than down at the Earth.
Sounds like it would make a great surveillance platform, too. It's in the name of science, after all.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
Boeing 747 Modified To Act As Earth-Observing Telescope
FTFW:
SOFIA is an airborne observatory that will study the universe in the infrared spectrum.
So, by "Earth-observing", what you meant was "everything EXCEPT Earth", right?
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
From the article:
"The flying observatory will begin its short science, or 'first light' observations, in early summer 2009, and will continue its program of ***celestial observations*** for the next 20 years."
All those of us in orbit and travelling the stars better look out. NASA got an eye on you.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
If they were observing the Earth, surely it would be better to do it from below all that water vapor.
I am trolling
I think that the Germans are just looking to get more pictures of David Hasselhoff. Because as we all know, Germans love David Hasselhoff.
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Been there, done that, in 1974 even
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuiper_Airborne_Observatory
to accommodate more survivors. some will get to observe everything. no gadgets required.
greed, fear & ego (in any order) are unprecedented evile's primary weapons. those, along with deception & coercion, helps most of us remain (unwittingly?) dependent on its' life0cidal hired goons' agenda. most of yOUR dwindling resources are being squandered on the 'wars', & continuation of the billionerrors stock markup FraUD/pyramid schemes. nobody ever mentions the real long term costs of those debacles in both life & any notion of prosperity for us, or our children, not to mention the abuse of the consciences of those of us who still have one. see you on the other side of it. the lights are coming up all over now. conspiracy theorists are being vindicated. some might choose a tin umbrella to go with their hats. the fairytail is winding down now. let your conscience be yOUR guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. there are still some choices. if they do not suit you, consider the likely results of continuing to follow the corepirate nazi hypenosys story LIEn, whereas anything of relevance is replaced almost instantly with pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking propaganda or 'celebrity' trivia 'foam'. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on yOUR brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.
we note that yahoo deletes some of its' (relevant) stories sooner than others. maybe they're short of disk space, or something?
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(deleted)http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_re_us/tent_cities;_ylt=A0wNcyS6yNJIZBoBSxKs0NUE
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(talk about cowardlly race fixing/bad theater/fiction?) http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/19/news/economy/sec_short_selling/index.htm?cnn=yes
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is it time to get real yet? A LOT of energy is being squandered in attempts to keep US in the dark. in the end (give or take a few 1000 years)
...switch the lights off just as you start the zero g, turn on the infra red on the video camera. Submit to funniest home videos. Win the home entertainment theatre prize. Think how much closer you'll be to funding your next orbital vehicle when you sell the prize!
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
I for one, as a concerned and proud citizen, will not tolerate Italians snooping on my private activities, be they in my bedroom with my monogamous and pretty wife, or in my yard when I am diligently mowing the grass and planting flowers. Italians keep out of my bedroom and my yard! Take your spying air plane and shove it you know where, Italians! Americans do not want your nefarious ices so stop trying to make love to our daughters and/or sons.
Can someone please explain how airborne telescoped deal with all the vibration? I mean, I spill my drink every time I fly.
Not down. It's not Earth observing, it's observing from Earth.
Details, details.
The telescope will be exposed to the elements during flight: this photo of the telescope installation shows that the aircraft will be flying around with a 3x3 m hole in its fuselage.
The buffetting and general vibration levels must be huge.
here is how they plan to compensate.
Who tagged this as bigbrother? Are they actually implying the boeing will fly upside down so the telescope can point downwards. The telescope enclosing and the door position makes it impossible for the telescope to point downwards. Besides it is a far infrared telescope.
Cobra Ball
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thats why people make their own tinfoil by coldrolling some aluminum :o
Ignoring maintenance (so far, I don't think many satellites have been repaired except for Hubble), an Atlas V rocket launch costs about $140M. A 747 costs about $150M to buy, more to customize for this application. The satellite is free to fly after launch, of course. A 747 costs about $27,000 per hour to fly - $230M/yr if flown continuously (which most airlines try to do - they are too expensive to have sitting on the ground).
So, a satellite is way cheaper - even if you were to completely replace it every fews years. The only reason I can think of for wanting this system is ease of maintenance and operations - basically, the telescope must be a LOT cheaper than an equivalent satellite telescope.
while (sig==sig) sig=!sig;
Sofia was one of the first aircraft I got to work on when I was employed by L3 in Waco, TX back in 2005. They started working on it back in 1994. Talk about delays...
On the sheetmetal side of things I was really not impressed at all. Horrible supervisors and everything mismanaged. ANd there really was not place to put that plane. It was always getting moved from hanger to hanger every few months. Which lead to all of the parts getting misplaced and lost.
A whole crew of mechanics would spend several days a month just walking around from hanger to hanger looking for missing parts. But yea the telescope it pretty cool at least.