182
Our next step was more of a giant leap: to face the challenge of designing
and building an instrument to be carried on board a space satellite, and not
just any satellite. The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) posed severe technical
challenges: the satellite’s instruments had to operate under extreme cryogenic
conditions, the cryogen being liquid helium. It was the most advanced infrared satellite of its time, in which NASA and the Japanese Space Agency worked
in collaboration with ESA.
Our daring had a solid base and was not merely bravado. When, in 1972,
the 1.52-m Infrared Flux Collector, owned by Imperial College of Science
and Technology, entered into service at Teide Observatory, we formed a small
team of infrared astronomers and technologists. In our negotiations with the
British, we laid down the condition that they help us to build a local infrared
team. During the testing of the Izaña site for infrared observing, the young
Carlos Sánchez was attached to the British team and went to England to complete his training in this new branch of astronomy. He was to become the
founder of infrared astronomy in Spain.
With the experience of the 1.52-m infrared telescope behind them, Doctors
Mike Selby from Imperial College and Carlos Sánchez from the IAC took up
the gauntlet to design a cryogenically cooled dual-grating spectrophotometer
for ISO to perform simultaneous observations in the wavelength ranges
2.5–5 μm and 6–12 μm. Much to our surprise and joy, the project was readily
accepted by ESA under the name ISOPHOT-S, to be incorporated into the
ISOPHOT package, which consisted of ISOPHOT-S, two imaging cameras
(ISOPHOT-C) operating in the wavelength range 50–240 μm, and a photopolarimeter (ISOPHOT-P) operating in the range 3–110 μm. The Principal
Investigator for the entire ISOPHOT experiment was D. Lemke of the Max
Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg.
We began the development of the instrument at the IAC under the leadership of the now Professor Carlos Sánchez, but after his sudden death in June
1985 we felt that we could no longer continue with this responsibility; we
nevertheless looked for ways to continue the project in Spain. We finally persuaded the IAA to take up the challenge of the development, fabrication,
testing, and supply of various models for ISOPHOT-S in collaboration with
the Spanish firm CASA. The IAA did not succeed in carrying the project forward, so the IAC decided in 1988 to resume work on it under the leadership
of Dr. F. Garzón. We continued with CASA as principal contractor and
worked together with them.
I should add that the IAA has now entered into the space arena, and with
vision and great effort have positioned themselves among the European scientific institutes capable of leading space missions.
F. Sánchez
Our next step was more of a giant leap: to face the challenge of designing
and building an instrument to be carried on board a space satellite, and not
just any satellite. The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) posed severe technical
challenges: the satellite’s instruments had to operate under extreme cryogenic
conditions, the cryogen being liquid helium. It was the most advanced infrared satellite of its time, in which NASA and the Japanese Space Agency worked
in collaboration with ESA.
Our daring had a solid base and was not merely bravado. When, in 1972,
the 1.52-m Infrared Flux Collector, owned by Imperial College of Science
and Technology, entered into service at Teide Observatory, we formed a small
team of infrared astronomers and technologists. In our negotiations with the
British, we laid down the condition that they help us to build a local infrared
team. During the testing of the Izaña site for infrared observing, the young
Carlos Sánchez was attached to the British team and went to England to complete his training in this new branch of astronomy. He was to become the
founder of infrared astronomy in Spain.
With the experience of the 1.52-m infrared telescope behind them, Doctors
Mike Selby from Imperial College and Carlos Sánchez from the IAC took up
the gauntlet to design a cryogenically cooled dual-grating spectrophotometer
for ISO to perform simultaneous observations in the wavelength ranges
2.5–5 μm and 6–12 μm. Much to our surprise and joy, the project was readily
accepted by ESA under the name ISOPHOT-S, to be incorporated into the
ISOPHOT package, which consisted of ISOPHOT-S, two imaging cameras
(ISOPHOT-C) operating in the wavelength range 50–240 μm, and a photopolarimeter (ISOPHOT-P) operating in the range 3–110 μm. The Principal
Investigator for the entire ISOPHOT experiment was D. Lemke of the Max
Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg.
We began the development of the instrument at the IAC under the leadership of the now Professor Carlos Sánchez, but after his sudden death in June
1985 we felt that we could no longer continue with this responsibility; we
nevertheless looked for ways to continue the project in Spain. We finally persuaded the IAA to take up the challenge of the development, fabrication,
testing, and supply of various models for ISOPHOT-S in collaboration with
the Spanish firm CASA. The IAA did not succeed in carrying the project forward, so the IAC decided in 1988 to resume work on it under the leadership
of Dr. F. Garzón. We continued with CASA as principal contractor and
worked together with them.
I should add that the IAA has now entered into the space arena, and with
vision and great effort have positioned themselves among the European scientific institutes capable of leading space missions.
F. Sánchez