ENGINEERING

IMS has been contracted by some of the most technologically advanced companies, universities, and laboratories seeking solutions for complex engineering problems that include but are not limited to mechanical, electrical, and controls engineering and design regarding precision machine tools, nano-precision micro stages, and ultra-precision diamond turning machine tools for optics, aerospace, and wafer manufacturing; moreover, special projects including but not limited to Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL) Microfield Exposure Tool, Land and Space Based Telescopes, and Wafer Diagnostic Tools.

Our precision engineering team is capable of designing conventional to ultra-precision machines and subsystems from the ground up. We use advanced solid modeling software for mechanical design and part detailing, and evaluate and optimize those designs using state-of-the-art structural and thermal finite-element analysis software; moreover, our engineering analysis include kinematic coupling design and optimization, Hertz contact stress analysis, hydrostatic bearing design, hexapod design and optimization, flexure system design, error budgeting, gear design, motor performance analysis and more.

Below are a few examples of projects that IMS proudly participated in over a decade of service:

NuSTAR PROJECT

The NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) mission has deployed the first orbiting telescopes to focus light in the high energy X-ray (3 – 79 keV) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Our view of the universe in this spectral window has been limited because previous orbiting telescopes have not employed true focusing optics, but rather have used coded apertures that have intrinsically high backgrounds and limited sensitivity.

During a two-year primary mission phase, NuSTAR will map selected regions of the sky in order to:

• Take a census of collapsed stars and black holes of different sizes by surveying regions surrounding the center of own Milky Way Galaxy and performing deep observations of the extragalactic sky.
• Map recently-synthesized material in young supernova remnants to understand how stars explode and how elements are created.
• Understand what powers relativistic jets of particles from the most extreme active galaxies hosting supermassive black holes.

In addition to its core science program, NuSTAR will offer opportunities for a broad range of science investigations, ranging from probing cosmic ray origins to studying the extreme physics around collapsed stars to mapping microflares on the surface of the Sun. NuSTAR will also respond to targets of opportunity including supernovae and gamma-ray bursts.

The NuSTAR instrument consists of two co-aligned grazing incidence telescopes with specially coated optics and newly developed detectors that extend sensitivity to higher energies as compared to previous missions such as Chandra and XMM. After launching into orbit on a small rocket, the NuSTAR telescope extends to achieve a 10-meter focal length. The observatory will provide a combination of sensitivity, spatial, and spectral resolution factors of 10 to 100 improved over previous missions that have operated at these X-ray energies.

A NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) mission, NuSTAR launched on June 13, 2012.

IMS contributed to the mission by providing mechanical engineering, design, and analysis services for development of two optic assembly machines, and optical frames of the telescope.

NuSTAR TODAY

Galaxy NGC 1068 can be seen in close-up in this view from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. NuSTAR’s high-energy X-rays eyes were able to obtain the best view yet into the hidden lair of the galaxy’s central, supermassive black hole.
 
This active black hole — shown as an illustration in the zoomed-in inset — is one of the most obscured known, meaning that it is surrounded by extremely thick clouds of gas and dust.

The NuSTAR data revealed that the torus of gas and dust surrounding the black hole, also referred to as a doughnut, is more clumpy than previously thought. Doughnuts around active, supermassive black holes were originally proposed in the mid-1980s to be smooth entities. More recently, researchers have been finding that doughnuts are not so smooth but have lumps. NuSTAR’s latest finding shows that this is true for even the thickest of doughnuts.

The most massive black holes in the universe are often encircled by thick, doughnut-shaped disks of gas and dust. This deep-space doughnut material ultimately feeds and nourishes the growing black holes tucked inside.

Until recently, telescopes weren’t able to penetrate some of these doughnuts, also known as tori.

To learn more about NuSTAR and its journey visit the NuSTAR website at http://www.nustar.caltech.edu.

LSST PROJECT

The 8.4m Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is a wide-field telescope facility that will add a qualitatively new capability in astronomy.

The scientific questions that the LSST project will address are profound: What is the mysterious dark energy that is driving the acceleration of the cosmic expansion? What is dark matter, how is it distributed, and how do its properties affect the formation of stars, galaxies, and larger structures?

How did the Milky Way form, and how has its present configuration been modified by mergers with smaller bodies over cosmic time? What is the nature of the outer regions of the solar system? Is it possible to make a complete inventory of smaller bodies in the solar system, especially the potentially hazardous asteroids that could someday impact the Earth? Are there new exotic and explosive phenomena in the universe that have not yet been discovered?

While the questions are profound, the concept behind the design of the LSST project is remarkably simple: conduct a deep survey over an enormous area of sky; do it with a frequency that results in taking repeat images of every part of the sky every few nights in multiple bands, or segments of the electromagnetic spectrum; and continue in this mode for ten years. The result will be astronomical catalogs thousands of times larger than have ever previously been compiled containing the data necessary to begin searching for answers.

For over three years, IMS contributed to the project by providing mechanical engineering, design, and analysis services for the development of the focal plane.

LSST TODAY

The LSST is a new kind of telescope. Currently under construction in Chile, the LSST is designed to conduct a ten-year survey of the dynamic universe. LSST can map the entire visible sky in just a few nights; each panoramic snapshot with the 3200-megapixel camera covers an area 40 times the size of the full moon.

Images will be immediately analyzed to identify objects that have change or moved: from exploding supernovae on the other side of the Universe to asteroids that might impact the Earth.

In the ten-year survey lifetime, LSST will map tens of billions of stars and galaxies. With this map, scientists will explore the structure of the Milky Way, determine the properties of dark energy and dark matter, and make discoveries that we have not yet imagined.

Scientists in the US and Chile, LSST’s International Affiliates, and the general public are invited to share in this voyage of discovery.

The LSST worksite is located in the Fourth Region, Elqui Province, District of Vicuña in Pachón Hill, El Peñón Sector, at 2647 meters above sea level.

To learn more about the LSST mission, please visit their website at http://www.lsst.org.

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