Airworthiness verification of an airborne telescope in practice
Abstract
The SOFIA Telescope is part of the outer hull of the pressurized passenger cabin of the SOFIA aircraft, in which the aircraft crew, the astronomers and their guests are located during flight. Therefore the telescope - including the science instrument - is an airworthiness relevant component of the observatory and has to fulfill airworthiness standards ac-cording the Federal Aviation Authority. The airworthiness issues were main drivers in the process of design, manufacturing, quality control, testing and documentation. The paper describes the experience gotten during this troublesome, exciting and costly job.
- Publication:
-
Airborne Telescope Systems II
- Pub Date:
- February 2003
- DOI:
- 10.1117/12.458584
- Bibcode:
- 2003SPIE.4857..321D