The NASM may be interested in the telescope.
Wouldn't it be nice if they could still operate the telescope from it, standing on the ground? Would make for some great educational moments.
The scope can’t see anything from the ground. Those wavelengths don’t reach surface scopes. That’s why this scope had to be flown on a 747.
Even if you decided to re-instrument the detectors and use the mirror to collect visible light, it would be a non-starter. The telescope is only free to tilt up-and-down. For the other directions you would point the telescope by pointing the plane (which meant that the flight-plans for SOFIA were essentially a puzzle assembled by thinking about what astronomical targets they were looking at on a given night).
Pointing a telescope by moving around a 747 on the ground would be nuts, and not cheap. I flew on SOFIA several times, and was once on the flight deck for takeoff. Taxiing from the hanger to the runway, I was watching the fuel gauge. The plane burned a literal ton of jet fuel just to get to the point where she could accelerate down the runway.
Thanks for the info about the telescope. Makes the EQ-mount for my own 10-cm. Newtonian seem very simple...
At least the didn't have to bank the plane to tilt the telescope up and down!
The NASM may be interested in the telescope.
Makes some sense. The space astronomy hardware goes to the NASM / Smithsonian - like such items as the Hubble spare mirror.
As for the 747, it goes to an aviation museum, with a dummy telescope instead of the real thing.
I don't think it is shocking to have the two dissociated from each others - if that allows both to be preserved...
It would be a far better fate than that other massively transformed 747 from the 2000's - the one that carried the big missile defense laser: YAL-1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_YAL-1In December 2011, it was reported that the project was to be ended after 16 years of development and a cost of over US$5 billion.[23][24] While in its current form, a relatively low power laser mounted on an unprotected airliner may not be a practical or defensible weapon, the YAL-1 testbed is considered to have proven that air mounted energy weapons with increased range and power could be another viable way of destroying otherwise very difficult to intercept sub-orbital ballistic missiles and rockets. On 12 February 2012, the YAL-1 flew its final flight and landed at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, where it was placed in storage at the AMARG until it was ultimately scrapped in September 2014 after all usable parts were removed.[
The mirror coating system used for SOFIA will be moved from Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) to Ames Research Center (ARC)
https://sam.gov/opp/8ad2926e61b840c0baa8f9f7cd6ce546/viewPre-Solicitation Notice of IntentPublished Date: November 06, 2023
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center (ARC) has a requirement to plan and execute the move of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) Mirror Coater and Ground Support Equipment from the current site in building 703 at the Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) in Palmdale, CA, to ARC, Moffett Field, CA. The contract will include dismantling, packaging, transportation, and unloading. Reassembly, installation, activation, and performance testing will not be included in this contract.
NASA/ARC intends to issue a sole source contract to acquire the services from Vacuum Technology Associates, Inc. (Dynavac) under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(2) and FAR 13.501(a)(1). Competition is limited due to the unique qualifications and capabilities that Dynavac possesses, which are currently not available from any other known source.