A camera that takes pictures of Pluto

For decades since the discovery in 1930, scientists could not consider Pluto. Without high-quality images, they could not answer basic questions about the surface and atmosphere. But on Tuesday, New Horizons flew past Pluto and made a lot of pictures that will be a long time to fill in textbooks and museums and researchers will bring to the understanding of the origin of life in our universe.

An important role in the success of the expedition to play an instrument, which is equipped with a Space Station New Horizons. Which сложности developers overcome camera Ralph, that she could ten years after the launch into space to please us great shots?




The camera Ralph i>

Temperature drops h4> The camera Ralph looks like a normal SLR camera with aperture diameter of 75 mm and aperture of f / 8.7. But to make it much more difficult, because the journey was to take nine and a half years at least. The system has to cope with the impact of the space environment - radiation, temperature fluctuations - during that period.

Lowering the temperature causes the material to shrink, with various materials to shrink at different rates. The developers decided to make Ralph of the same material - aluminum, the volume of parts changed at the same time, keeping the focal length. Even mirrors are made of aluminum processed diamond.

Only the lens is made of glass.



Driving Ralph i>

We need more light h4> Another difficulty was the lack of light. Ralph had to take pictures using only sunlight reaching Pluto. Flash on New Horizons is not provided. During the flight New Horizons Pluto photographed side directed away from the sun - the light was reflected from Charon. "It's like making a photo using the light from a quarter moon on Earth" - says a senior engineer in charge of the optics in the mission.

The camera is designed specifically for such light conditions, it can not be migrated. You can not change the size of the aperture. The device should have a minimum number of photons and convert them into an image. So Ralph extremely sensitive to bright light. Light reflected from the Moon or Earth, could destroy Ralph, prompting researchers to keep the aperture closed for almost two years.

After 20 months after the launch, in 2007, New Horizons photographed Jupiter and its moon.

It should be less than the mass h4> NASA would need as much fuel on board the New Horizons, so all tools had to have the least possible weight. Developers of the agency, which will be the mass of the tool, but NASA has asked to make it even easier to extend the journey.

As a result, Ralph weighed 10 kilos 4 - lower demands voiced by the agency. When this tool draws 7 watts of electrical energy as a conventional nightlight.

Development time was not very much: the team had hoped to design, build and test Ralph for 36 months, but the work completed in 22 months. After that, nine and a half years, the camera flying to Pluto. And achieved goals, being close to him in a few hours .




Prepare New Horizons for the journey, NASA Kennedy Space Center, 2006. Clickable i>



The layout of instruments on New Horizons i>

Source: geektimes.ru/post/253592/