NICMOS cold-well displacement monitor: a portable Hubble simulator

John Eric Mentzell; Malcolm B. McIntosh; John P. Schwenker; Rodger I. Thompson

doi:10.1117/12.317227

21 August 1998 NICMOS cold-well displacement monitor: a portable Hubble simulator

John Eric Mentzell, Malcolm B. McIntosh, John P. Schwenker, Rodger I. Thompson

Proceedings Volume 3354, Infrared Astronomical Instrumentation; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.317227
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 1998, Kona, HI, United States

Abstract

The anomalous motion of the near IR camera and multi-object spectrometer (NICMOS) detector arrays was originally discovered and characterized during ground optical testing, in a large, high fidelity Hubble Space Telescope (HST) simulator. To monitor the state of the cryo-mechanical system, as NICMOS traveled among several testing sties, a portable stimulus was needed. The cold-well displacement monitor (CDM) was quickly assembled from a very simple design. The 'cheaper, better, faster' approach proved to be a winner here. Off-the-shelf optics, a simplified interface to the instrument, and a limited set of requirements were used. After calibration against the large refractive aberration simulator/Hubble opto-mechanical simulator (RAS/HOMS), the CDM gave results of similar accuracy to RAS/HOMS. It became the primary tool for the difficult job of managing the NICMOS cryogen system up through launch.

Citation Download Citation

John Eric Mentzell, Malcolm B. McIntosh, John P. Schwenker, and Rodger I. Thompson "NICMOS cold-well displacement monitor: a portable Hubble simulator", Proc. SPIE 3354, Infrared Astronomical Instrumentation, (21 August 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.317227

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