USSPACECOM Instrument Available to Civilians
Sue Worden (worden@fc.net)
Sat, 4 Sep 1999 13:04:11 -0500 (CDT)
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http://www.astronomynow.com/breaking/9909/03usaf/
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New programme allows increased use of U.S. Air Force telescope
UNIVERSITY OF U.S. AIR FORCE NEWS RELEASE
Posted: Septemeber 3, 1999
Air Force Telescopes
U.S. Air Force Telescope atop Haleakala on Maui, Hawaii. Image: U.S.
Air Force.
MAUI, Hawaii - Civilian scientists and astronomers will be given the
opportunity to use the Air Force's largest and most advanced telescope
system under a new joint program announced this week during a five-day
technical conference being held here.
Dr. Joseph Janni, director of the Air Force Office of Scientific
Research, spoke to an audience of more than 300 people about a
research program being established by his office and the National
Science Foundation. The program will allow civilian researchers to use
a 3.67-meter telescope known as the Advanced Electro-Optical System
atop nearby Haleakala, a 10,000-foot-high mountain.
According to Dr. Janni, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research is
making $1 million available per year over two years for civilian
researchers doing work on Maui. The amount being contributed by the
National Science Foundation has not been finalized.
Working through grants and contracts, researchers will have access to
this 3.67-meter telescope, recognized as the world's largest telescope
capable of tracking satellites passing quickly overhead. The telescope
can be used by multiple groups or institutions because the telescope's
light can be routed through mirrors to seven independent experimental
suites on a level beneath the telescope.
Although this large telescope is managed by the Air Force Research
Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate, the overall facility is
known as the Maui Space Surveillance System and is under the control
of the U.S. Space Command. The complex, which also houses other
telescopes, is part of a space surveillance network for identifying
and pinpointing objects in space.
Additionally, the Advanced Electro-Optical System is being equipped
with sophisticated instrumentation: lasers and deformable optics (a
mirror that can change its shape) to remove the distorting effects of
the atmosphere. When fully operational next summer, this capability
allows scientists to get clear images of objects in space.
According to Maj. Gen. Richard Paul, commander of the Air Force
Research Laboratory which includes the Directed Energy Directorate and
the Office of Aerospace Research, "This is a win-win situation for
both the Air Force and the research community. The research being
conducted with these telescopes can lead to improvements in our space
surveillance efforts while providing the researchers with access to a
new topnotch telescope facility."
Among the capabilities on the complex there are sensors that can
provide radiometry and photometry, plus long-wave infrared and visible
imagery. There are also a 1.6-meter telescope system, 1.2-meter twin
telescopes, a 0.8-meter beam director-tracker, and a 0.6-meter laser
beam director. With more than 6,000 people and a budget of nearly $2.8
billion, the Air Force Research Laboratory is the largest laboratory
in the Department of Defense. Its Air Force Office of Scientific
Research is the sole manager of basic research for the United States
Air Force.
Institutions interested in using the complex can call Dr. Herb Carlson
with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research in Arlington, Va, at
(703) 696-7551 or Paul Kervin with the laboratory's Directed Energy
Directorate in Maui, Hawaii, at (808) 874-1541.
Copyright 1999 Pole Star Publications Ltd
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