The Challenge of Pointing Stability and Accuracy in the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM)
January 1, 2002Jet Propulsion Laboratory Physics, 2001-02
Liaison(s): Daniel McDonald, Bijan Nemati
Advisor(s): Richard Haskell
Students(s): Kyle Lampe (TL), Eric Deyo, Robert Seat, Karl Hedstrom (PO), Daniel Gionatti, Kristi Hultman
The HMC Physics Clinic team is working on the Space Inteferometry Mission. SIM is an orbiting inteferometer telescope capable of relative star measurements 100 times more accurate than ever before. Specifically, the team is devising a technique for measuring the spacing between telescopes, measuring changes in distance to an accuracy of 100 picometers, or 1 angstrom, roughly the size of a hydrogen atom.