Silver Engineering | Joint Astrophysical Plasma Experiment (JPEX)

Silver Engineering, Inc. contributed to the ARGOS program providing electrical, software, mechanical and manufacturing. The JPEX mission marks a radical advance in incorporating a spectrometer with an unprecedented combination of high effective area and high spectral resolving power. The JPEX experiment payload is launched on
a sounding rocket with the scientific goal to understand the evolutionary paths which lead
from the diverse central stars of planetary nebulae
to the observed population of white dwarfs.

Buffers image for slower speed transmission to PCM Encoder

80C51 based control with Actel 1280 logic section

SRAM buffer storage

Sounding rocket flight duration

The JPEX sounding rocket was launched February 21, 2001 from White Sands Missle Range, New Mexico. The flight was highly successful with the acquiring of four high-resolution spectra (from the four multilayer-coated diffraction gratings)

Silver Engineering, Inc. designed the JPEX sounding rocket CCD camera interface box
and the BLDC motor controller for the detector door. SEI designed the rocket interconnect systems and is responsible for electrical interface management.

Silver Engineering, Inc. designed and built the JPEX ground support equipment that supports integration and test of the rocket during rocket integration and launch preparations.

of the white dwarf star G191-B2B, which was the sole target of the mission. The pointing control and aspect camera worked flawlessly, enabling to correct the spectral images down to the
arc-second level, something that may have never been done before on sounding rocket flights except when pointing at the sun (a brighter and easier target). Some quick-look spectra shall be out soon, but the real science questions about helium in the star's outer atmosphere, complex
and difficult questions (because the spectra are quite complex) shall demand a full analysis with the highest spectral resolution from the instrument