PMID- 21946992
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
DCOM- 20120210
LR  - 20201230
IS  - 1539-4522 (Electronic)
IS  - 1559-128X (Linking)
VI  - 50
IP  - 26
DP  - 2011 Sep 10
TI  - Ultra-high-precision alignment of the elastomerically mounted elements of the 
      science camera lenses for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover.
PG  - 5108-14
LID - 10.1364/AO.50.005108 [doi]
AB  - Cameras built for space exploration are required to meet stringent environmental 
      conditions, such as thermal and dynamic loads for both the optics (camera lens) 
      and imaging electronics. On a multitude of spaceborne imaging instruments, 
      optical elements are supported in their mounts via an elastomeric bonding 
      approach using a room temperature vulcanizing silicone as the bonding agent. 
      Employing this integration method, we achieved element-to-element alignment, 
      measured as the total indicated runout, using a high-precision contact probe to 
      be on the order of half a wavelength of He-Ne laser light, or 0.3 mum, on the 
      Malin Space Science Systems lenses for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) cameras. 
      This is a higher precision than the current industry state-of-the-art, and it was 
      achieved for the very challenging small diameter lens elements. This paper 
      describes the design philosophy, implementation, and integration method that 
      resulted in achieving this level of precision for interelement alignment. The 
      results are based on actual measurements that were made during the process of 
      building the MSL rover's science camera lenses, namely Mastcams, the Mars Hand 
      Lens Imager, and the Mars Descent Imager. The optical designs of these cameras 
      lenses are described in detail in [Opt. Eng.48, 103002 (2009)], while further 
      information on the four science cameras can be found at http://www.msss.com.
FAU - Ghaemi, F Tony
AU  - Ghaemi FT
AD  - Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS), San Diego, California 92121, USA. 
      fghaemi@gmail.com
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - United States
TA  - Appl Opt
JT  - Applied optics
JID - 0247660
EDAT- 2011/09/29 06:00
MHDA- 2011/09/29 06:01
CRDT- 2011/09/28 06:00
PHST- 2011/09/28 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2011/09/29 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2011/09/29 06:01 [medline]
AID - 222313 [pii]
AID - 10.1364/AO.50.005108 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Appl Opt. 2011 Sep 10;50(26):5108-14. doi: 10.1364/AO.50.005108.