N747NA HistoryFirst Flight: April 25, 1977Delivered: May 6, 1977, Pan Am (N536PA)Christened: Clipper Lindbergh by Anne Morrow Lindbergh on May 20, 1977, the
50th anniversary of Charles A. Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic.
•RechristenedClipper Lindbergh by Erik Lindbergh on May 21, 2007.Sold to United Air Lines: February 13, 1986Registrationchanged:November1,1986(N145UA)ApproximateTotalFlightHours:74,500Approximate Number of Cycles: 10,600 Acquired by NASA: October 27, 1997Registrationchanged:December17,2004(N747NA)First post-modification flight: April 26, 2007 (Waco, Texas)First 100-percent open door flight: December 18, 2009First Light flight: May 25/26, 2010Completionofenvelopeexpansionflights:August4,2010
Aircraft FactsModel:Boeing747SP(SpecialPerformance)Numberbuilt:45;stillinservice:14Registration:N747NAManufacturer’sserialnumber:21441Line number: 306Based: NASA Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility (Site 9), Palmdale, Calif.Staffing:FlightCrew:3;MissionCrew:2–6;Observers/Educators:5–15FuselageLength:177feet(53.9meters)Standard747-400:232feet(70.5meters)Wingspan: 196 feet (59.7 meters)Powerplants:4xPratt&WhitneyJT9D-7Jturbofanengines(50,000lbfthrusteach)ServiceCeiling:45,000feet(13.7km)—above99.8percentoftheEarth’s
atmospheric water vaporAirspeedat41,000feet:450knots(Mach0.8or520mph)Range:6,625nauticalmilesMissionDuration:7to9hours(standard);12.2hours(maximum)SOFIAemptyweight(zerofuel):378,000pounds(189shorttonsor171,458kg)SOFIAMaximumTakeOffWeight:696,000pounds(348shorttonsor315,700kg)MaximumFuelLoad:300,000pounds(44,776U.S.gallons)Fuel Usage: 150,000 to 250,000 pounds (standard duration mission)CavityDoorweight:3,150pounds(1,430kg)
Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
NASA / Tom Tschida NASA / Tom Tschida
NASA / Carla Thomas
www.sofia.usra.edu
Telescope FactsTelescope Consortium: MAN Technologie AG and Kayser-Threde GmbHNominalOperationalWavelengthRange:0.3to1600micronsPrimary Mirror Diameter: 2.7 metersSystem Clear Aperture Diameter: 2.5 metersNominal System f-ratio: 19.6Primary Mirror f-ratio: 1.28FullElevationRange:+15to+70degressabovethehorizonUnvignettedElevationRange:+20to+60degreesUnvignetted Field-of-View Diameter: 8 arcminMaximumChopThrowonSky:+/-4arcmin(unvignetted)Diffraction-Limited Wavelengths: >/=15 micronsTelescopeinstallationweight:17tons(34,000pounds)
Optical Information
Optical Configuration: Bent Cassegrain with chopping secondary mirror and flat folding tertiary, Nasmyth focus
Chopper Frequencies: 1 to 20 Hz for 2-point square wave chopPointing Stability = 1.0" rms at first light ≤ 0.5" rms in full operations≤Pointing Accuracy = 0.5" with on-axis focal plane tracking = 3" with on-axis fine-field trackingTotal Emissivity of Telescope (Goal): 15 percent at 10 microns with dichroic tertiary 10 percent at 10 microns with aluminized tertiaryRecoveryAirTemperatureinCavity(andopticstemperature)=240K
SOFIA Science ThemesInterstellar medium physics and star formation in our galaxy.Planet formation in nearby star systems.Origin and evolution of biogenic atoms, molecules, and solids.Composition and structure of comets, planetary atmospheres and rings, star formation, dynamics, and interstellar medium chemistry of other galaxies.The dynamic activity in the center of the Milky Way.Ultra-luminousIRGalaxies(ULIRGS)asakeycomponentoftheearlyuniverse.
SOFIA ManagementAircraftOperations: NASADrydenFlightResearchCenter,Edwards,Calif.ScienceOperations: NASAAmesResearchCenterand UniversitiesSpaceResearchAssociation DeutschesZentrumfurLuft-undRaumfahrt(DLR) Deutsches SOFIA Institut (DSI), Universität Stuttgart, Germany
L-3Communications/USRA
NASA/RonStrong
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/SOFIAwww.sofia.usra.eduwww.dsi.uni-stuttgart.de
