THE KAO FLYING OBSERVATORY WAS A MODIFIED C-141 CARGO AIRCRAFT OPERATED BY NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER TO CARRY A 36 INCH INFRARED TELESCOPE. NOW RETIRED AFTER A LONG AND SUCCESSFUL CAREER, IT WILL BE REPLACED BY A NEW 747 CALLED SOFIA.
Infrared radiation from the stars is largely absorbed by the water vapor in the lower atmosphere (the troposphere). The KAO was designed to fly up into the dry upper atmosphere (the stratosphere) to see the universe in a different way. This sometimes means flying over eight miles up making it necessary for the KAO crew and the astronomers to carry special oxygen equipment.
The KAO's telescope looks out a door on the upper side of the aircraft just behind the cockpit - you can see it as a black square in the photograph at the top of this page.
The 35 mm NIKON cameras used by the CAN DO team aboard the KAO were held by special mounts on the head ring of the telescope. Here the cameras had to survive and operate in a near space environment and at temperatures as low as -70 C. |
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Inside the aircraft the KAO staff and the astronomers operated the telescope with the help of a large computer system called ADAM. |
The CAN DO camera system was operated by a separate small control system in the rear of the aircraft. Here the teachers had a video display of the telescope tracking camera and the output of ADAM to help them target their wide field cameras. |
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