High and Dry: Trading Water Vapor, Fuel and Observing Time for Airborne Infrared Astronomy

Abstract

Scheduling astronomy observations for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) requires assessing tradeoffs between the percentage of scheduled observations, the Line Of Sight Water Vapor (LOS-WV) achieved on those observations, and fuel consumption. This trade space is complex, depending on time of year and specific mixes of observations, and cannot be effectively analyzed by hand. We demonstrate the complexity of these tradeoffs and show that an Automated Flight Planner (AFP) is a crucial part of trade space analysis during flight planning.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 25, 2005
Accession Number
ADA452501

Entities

People

  • Elif Kuerklue
  • Jeremy Frank

Organizations

  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Airborne
  • Aircrafts
  • Altitude
  • Astronomical Observatories
  • Astronomy
  • Elevation
  • Fuel Consumption
  • Fuels
  • Heavy Fuels
  • Law
  • Observation
  • Observatories
  • Permutations
  • Telescopes
  • Vapors
  • Water Vapor
  • Weather Forecasting

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics.
  • Economics
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Space