QUESTION:
What does an astrophysicist do aboard the KAO?

ANSWER from Edna DeVore on October 13, 1995:
The Kuiper Airborne Observatory is a flying infrared telescope.  KAO
astrophysicists are scientists who use the infrared telescope to gather
information (data) about astronomical objects like planets, stars, comets,
dust between the stars, and galaxies.  The astrophysicists are women and men
from 20 to 80 years old, and they live and work in cities all over the United
States.  There are also some who come from European countries to fly on board
the KAO.

To collect the information gathered by the telescope, the astrophysicists
design and build custom detectors which are housed in "instruments" attached
to the telescope.  As the data comes in and is collected by the detectors, it
is sent on to computers where it is saved.  Most of the time, the collected
data is displayed on computer screens so that the astrophysicists can see in
real time whether or not they are actually detecting the object they want to
study.  Later, all of the data collected on a flight is taken back to the
laboratories and offices of the scientists, and carefully analyzed.  This
often takes a long time.  Ultimately, the astrophysicists will write and
publish articles on what they discovered.  They also make presentations at
conferences for other astronomers.  Sometimes, they also write about their
discoveries in popular magazines like "Sky and Telescope," "Scientific
American," and "Astronomy."

So what do they do, practically?  When a series of flights is assigned to a
team of astrophysicists, they bring their instruments  and their computer
systems to the KAO several days before they are scheduled to fly.  These
teams have  as few as two and as many as ten astrophysicists, engineers and
technicians. The first activity on the KAO is to install the astrophysicists'
instruments onto the telescope and their computer systems into the KAO.  This
usually takes 2-3 days. The scientists work together with the mission
directors, telescope operators, engineers, and computer systems staff to get
everything installed.  This is a very busy operation and involves many
people.  At the same time, the scientists work with the KAO navigators to
develop flight plans which allow them to look at the astronomical objects
they want to observe.  These plans are very important because they determine
how long the telescope looks at each object.  On the day of the flight,
everyone meets at 1300 (1 pm) and then again one hour prior to the flight to
make sure that all of the people and equipment are ready to fly.   After
take-off, the astrophysicists turn on all of their equipment, and work as a
team with the KAO staff (the telescope operator, the telescope tracker, the
computer systems operator, and the mission director) to make sure the
telescope is pointing accurately and is focusing correctly on their
detectors.  If all is going well during a flight, the astrophysicists spend
the next several hours carefully recording data from their instruments on the
telescope into computer files, onto paper strip charts, and into hand-written
logbooks. If there are problems with the astrophysicists' instruments or
computer systems, they try to repair them during the flight.  Most teams
bring large boxes of spare parts and tools to repair their equipment.  If
there are problems with the telescope, the KAO staff works on them.  If there
are problems with the aircraft, the pilots and flight engineer inspect the
aircraft, and make the decisions about whether to continue the flight, or
return home.  At the end of the flight, the KAO staff and the astrophysicists
discuss the mission, and decide if anything needs to be fixed or changed for
the next mission.  Often, the results of one night's observing mission will
influence the planning for the next flight.  Everyone--the astrophysicists,
the pilots and flight engineer, the KAO staff, the navigators, and the ground
crew--work as a team to accomplish the observational goals of a KAO mission.

Finally, like everyone else on board, the astrophysicists bring along snacks,
juices, and water to help them stay awake throughout the night.  There is
coffee, tea and hot chocolate on board too.  Usually, lots of chocolate chip
cookiesare shared by everyone during the flights.

Edna DeVore
FOSTER Project Coordinator