|
||||||||||||||
|
Mirror to be showcased in next year's Explore the Universe Exhibit in Washington, DC ROCHESTER, N.Y., December 1, 2000 -- Kodak's Commercial & Government Systems (C&GS) division announced today it will donate its services to deliver the backup primary mirror it fabricated for NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. In addition, Kodak will be acting as a technical resource to the museum with regard to the display of the mirror, which will be showcased in the upcoming Explore the Universe exhibit. Kodak's involvement with the Hubble Space Telescope began in the mid-1970s when Perkin-Elmer, now part of Raytheon, contracted Kodak to manufacture a back-up primary mirror to be used in the event Perkin-Elmer's own mirror was damaged prior to the telescope's eventual launch in April 1990. Kodak's tasks in the fabrication process were to grind, aspherize, polish, and test the mirror. The exacting requirements of this project (dimensional, figure and surface quality) involved 16 months of effort by Kodak. At that time, optics fabrication still relied on highly skilled opticians using manually controlled tooling and delicate hand polishing techniques. Part of Kodak's challenge during the evaluation of the mirror was to create a simulated gravity-free condition, which is representative of the mirror's spaceborne environment. While the 2400 pounds of glass was eventually reduced to 1700 pounds, today Kodak designs and manufactures mirrors (such as the one for Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite) that can be "lightweighted" much more. Using today's technology a Hubble size mirror would only weigh about 460 pounds. "We now use sophisticated computer numerical control tooling and equipment, such as waterjet cutting for manufacturing lightweight mirror blanks and an ion beam figuring processes, in order to polish complex optical components for space applications," said Tim Wilson of Kodak's C&GS' Precision Optics team, "These processes have all been developed since the Hubble mirror was processed at Kodak for current generation for mirrors required for today's programs." Due to the unique properties of the Hubble Space Telescope as well as the significant technological advancements made during the 1980s, Kodak's mirror was never used on other proposed NASA projects and it has been stored in a Raytheon facility in Danbury, Connecticut since delivery. Last July, Kodak was approached by the National Air and Space Museum and asked to provide technical assistance for moving the mirror and installing the exhibit. "Our donation includes the use of the Kodak's C&GS transportation group to load and transport the mirror and other donated components to Washington, DC and, next year, to assist in putting the mirror on display at the museum," said Wilson. Kodak's transportation group has specific expertise in transporting and handling large optical components and space flight hardware. The mirror was inspected by the Kodak team on November 7 and found to be in excellent shape. This was the first time the mirror has been viewed since 1995. Among the Kodak team supervising the inspection and move is Sam Baubie, the original polisher (optician) on the Hubble mirror and still an employee of Kodak. "I'm delighted to help move Kodak's Hubble mirror to the National Air and Space Museum so visitors from around the world can view it," Baubie said. With the aide of Raytheon, the mirror and other optical items that are being donated will be picked up at the end of November to begin the journey south to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. The museum is also planning to display the original Wide Field Planetary Camera from the Hubble Telescope that was replaced during one of the space shuttle servicing missions in 1993. "To help the public understand the function of the Wide Field Planetary Camera, Kodak is also donating a DC4800 digital camera for the display," said Wilson. The DC4800's 3.1 megapixel sensor will be compared to the custom built NASA sensor developed for Wide Field Planetary Cameras in the mid-1970s. For 50 years, Kodak has developed precision optical components for ground-based telescopes, electro-optical systems for space-based observatories, focal plane arrays for commercial remote sensing satellites, cameras to image the moon and imaging sensors for space exploration. Some of these Kodak contributions include the lunar orbiters of the 1960s, which imaged the moon's surface before the Apollo landings; digital imaging sensors for the Mars Pathfinder and Surveyor missions; IKONOS earth imaging satellite camera system; and the telescope system for the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Kodak's Commercial and Government Systems unit provides innovative image information solutions for business and government intelligence needs. Examples include aerial imaging, digital imaging systems for commercial imaging satellites, and optical systems for land and space telescopes. Kodak is a trademark. |
|||||||||||||
 |
|
|