T0085-S SwRI Solar Instrument Pointing Platform

Program start date is on hold until Space Act Agreement is signed.  Placeholder date of January 2014 is used as placeholder.

This study proposes to develop and test-fly a solar pointing platform for compact remote-sensing instruments aboard the new generation of manned commercial suborbital vehicles. Utilized will be SSIPP – a flexible (inside/outside cabin operable), self-contained, vehicle agnostic, optical-table-based system that locks onto the solar limb and delivers an arcsecond-grade pointed beam to an instrument that can be built up on the compact table or attached to the SSIPP unit. This will enable novel suborbital science with effort comparable to that of a visiting instrument at a ground-based observatory, rather than (as now) requiring major per-instrument design and integration effort to provide a stable pointed platform.