Dr. David C. Redding
NASA / CalTech Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, California

Dr. Redding will describe image-based wavefront sensing and control methods that he and his team developed for the James Webb Space Telescope, as well as other space and ground-based observatories. Examples will be drawn from several testbeds and operational systems.

Presented by The Right Stuff of Tahoe, the UNR Electrical and Biomedical Engineering Department,
the Northern Nevada Chapter of the IEEE Photonics and Microwave Theory & Techniques Societies, and the Reno-Tahoe Photonics Chapter of the Optical Society of America

Thursday, September 23, 2010 – 2:00 – 3:00 pm,
Room 203, Orvis School of Nursing Bldg. 33
The University of Nevada, Reno

UNR parking information and campus map at www.UNR.edu/parking/visitorparking.html

Background. Hubble Space Telescope, arguably the most productive astronomical observatory of its time, was launched with undetected flaws in its optics, which threatened to render it useless. Analysis of Hubble images revealed the problem: a mis-configured primary mirror. After a wait of 3 years and a very expensive Shuttle mission to repair Hubble, an astronaut-assisted “wavefront control” loop was closed, and the space telescope began to fulfill its spectacular promise. The Hubble experience, painful as it was, had a bright silver lining: NASA began to develop active optics and technologies for wavefront sensing and control: mirrors that can deform on command, and software that measures the errors of the system and issues correcting commands to the mirrors. Instead of astronaut servicing, space telescopes of the future will be able to correct Hubble-like problems in a real wavefront control loop. Active optics are also very lightweight and can be deployed after launch, opening the possibility of truly large space telescopes that could provide revolutionary improvements in astronomical and earth sciences.

Background article: S. Bikkannavar and D. C. Redding. The end of blur. IEEE Spectrum. 7 (3). Mar-2010. 46 – 52.

Dr. David C. Redding is Program Scientist for advanced optical systems at the NASA / CalTech Jet Propulsion Laboratory, working on new technologies and mission designs. He received his PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1984 from Stanford University, working on Space Shuttle flight control at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory before moving to JPL. He became interested in optics when asked to design a control system for laser mirrors, ultimately developing a powerful optical modeling software package used on many missions at JPL. He developed image-based wavefront sensing methods as part of the Hubble recovery effort, and was the original architect of the James Webb Space Telescope optical control system. He and his colleagues were NASA Software of the Year Award winners in 2007 for wavefront sensing software, and runners-up in 1994 for their optical modeling code.

More information at www.renotahoephotonics.com