Putting it Together
| John Schwenker contemplates how to get the thing aligned, midway through the instrument assembly at Ball Aerospace. Although the instrument looks complete, there is a lot more to do hidden under its outer skin. |  |
| Here it is, all assembled. John is holding it with all the care usually reserved for a newborn. Once the outer skin was re-installed, MIPS was ready for photons! |  |
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And here MIPS is on the baseplate for the Multiple Instrument Chamber (MIC) along with IRS and the Pointing Control Reference Sensor (PCRS), which is mostly hidden between the two instruments. The MIC mounts at the top of the SIRTF cryostat, and once we got on orbit a cover was removed from a hole in the cryostat shell so light could get to the instruments. |
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