The IMAGE Monthly Camera

April 1999 - Number 12

Editor: J. L. Burch

SwRI, P.O. Drawer 28510
San Antonio, TX 78228-0510
tel: (210) 522-2526
e-mail: jburch@swri.edu

Contents

- Recent Activities
- Upcoming Events

Recent Activities

The major activity over the past two months has been observatory integration and test at LMMS. The picture at the bottom of this page shows the IMAGE observatory just after it was rolled out of the test stand on April 22nd prior to optical alignment. Other views can be found on
http://frio@pluto.space.swri.edu/ , pictures/obser0499.
The view shown here is of the FUV facet with RPI radial deployers shown on the two adjacent facets. Red and white RF hats can be seen on the medium gain antenna (top left) and an omni antenna (bottom left), respectively. The cables coming out of the RPI deployers are connected to the dummy loads located on the two saw horses. The observatory is fully integrated except for the payload radiators, which will be installed soon.

Upcoming Events

Observatory vibration testing will begin on April 30th and continue through May 7th. These tests will be followed by pyro/shock and EMC testing. Thermal vacuum testing will begin in mid-June and last into July, after which spin balance will be performed. At that point IMAGE will be ready for launch operations, which will begin in December.

The next theory/modeling and data meeting will be held at LMMS, Building 107, from 8:30 AM on May 13th until noon on May 14th. This meeting will be preceded by the third meeting of the Mission Operations Working Group, which will begin at 8:30 AM on May 12th.

At the data meeting we will have the opportunity to see the spacecraft in the pyro/shock facility where, unfortunately, it will be bagged for the required cleanliness.

Manuscripts for the special issue of Space Science Reviews and the simultaneously published hard-cover monograph on the IMAGE mission are due to be submitted to Jim Burch at SwRI in April 1999. The on-time submission of all manuscripts will assure publication in November 1999.

[IMAGE prior to optical alignment]

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