NSBE Magazine - Fall 2010 - 67

SpACE TELESCOpE
Members of the NSBE CDST team in front of Chamber N, at NASA Johnson Space Center: (front row, left to right) Cathy Anderson, NSBE–HSC, of The Boeing Company; Tiffany Jefferson, NSBE Texas A&M university; Michael Gillespie, NSBE Region II member at-large, and Michael McCullar, NSBE– HSC Vice President, of Jacobs; (back row, left to right) George Kilgore, NSBE–HSC College Initiative Chair, of Jacobs, and Katina Henson, NSBE–North Carolina A&T State university. Not pictured: Christopher Frazier, NSBE–HSC, of Jacobs, and Dr. Robert L. Howard Jr., NSBE–HSC President, of NASA.

NSBE’s

BY ROBERT L. HOwARd JR., ph.d., presideNT, Nsbe hOusTON space alumNi chapTer
and shared some lessons learned. Dr. Welsh indicated that everything is thermally driven, due to the extreme temperature variations in space. This may cause mechanisms to stick, cold weld, become hung up or experience other malfunctions. Because this is a high-risk area, the team plans to conduct a series of tests on its concepts. Chapter Vice President Michael McCullar, test engineer in the Johnson Space Center’s Crew and Thermal Systems Division, has secured an area in the Thermal Vacuum Test Complex for the chapter to work on the telescope. The team will use some of the facility’s test chambers later in the design process. One of the test chambers, Chamber N, is a medium-sized, high-vacuum chamber with cold walls. It has a usable diameter of 90 centimeters by 90 centimeters in length. It can achieve a vacuum of 2 x 10 -5 torr and a temperature of - 316 F. The chapter anticipates testing the CDST deployment mechanisms in this chamber to ensure they can operate properly in super cold temperatures. In addition to the team members at Johnson Space Center, the Houston Space Chapter has recruited four NSBE members at NASA Ames Research Center: Ray Gilstrap of NSBE–Silicon Valley and NASA, and Christina Mayberry, Theresa Johnson and Autumn Williams of NSBE–Stanford. Reaching five NSBE chapters across three regions, this is surely one of NSBE’s most innovative chapter programs in history. We look forward to much success! ■
• CAREER ENGINEER • fall 2010 • 67

he NSBE Houston Space Alumni Chapter (NSBE– HSC) recently formed a partnership with NASA Ames Research Center to design a deployable space telescope, project title: “Collapsible Dobson Space Telescope (CDST) for 10 kg Nanosat Imaging and Observation.” The telescope will deploy from a launch configuration of 20 cm x 20 cm x 10 cm to an operational configuration of 20 cm x 20 cm x 120 cm. NASA Headquarters awarded Ames $50,000 to complete this study by Sept. 30, 2010. From this award, NSBE– HSC has been allocated $10,000. This initiative will open the door to more technical projects of increasing complexity. The program also serves a purpose of student outreach, as the chapter is using it to develop mentoring and apprenticeship relationships with NSBE students working at NASA as interns or co-ops. NSBE–HSC is responsible for the optics for two candidate configurations: Newtonian and Ritchey-Chretien Cassegrain telescopes. In addition, NSBE–HSC is responsible for developing a means to actuate the telescope’s secondary mirror, for purposes of alignment between the primary mirror and the CCD. NSBE–HSC is also responsible for developing a backup concept for the deployment structures and mechanisms. The team recently held a teleconference with Jeffry Welsh, Ph.D. of the Operationally Responsive Space Office at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. An expert on deployable space structures, Dr. Welsh provided feedback on chapter concepts
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NSBE Magazine - Fall 2010

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