LDEF (Postflight), AO044 : Holographic Data Storage Crystals for LDEF, Tray E05

The postflight photograph was taken in SAEF II at KSC prior to removal of the experiment tray from the LDEF. The Holographic Data Storage Crystals for LDEF Experiment (AO044) consist of four crystals of lithium niobate, three crystals contain recorded holograms and one crystal is an unrecorded control sample. The Holographic Data Storage experiment is an integral part of the Active Optical System Component Experiment (S0050) that contains 136 test specimen and is located in a six (6) inch deep LDEF peripheral experiment tray. The experiment tray is divided into six sections, each consisting of a 1/4 inch thick chromic anodized aluminum base plate and a 1/16th inch thick aluminum hat shaped structure for mounting the test specimen. The test specimen are typically placed in fiberglass-epoxy retainer strip assemblies prior to installation on the hat shaped mounting structure. Five of the six sections are covered by a 1/8 inch thick anodized aluminum sun screen with openings that allowed 56 percent transmission over the central region. Two subexperiments, The Optical Materials and UV Detectors Experiment (S0050-01) consist of 15 optical windows, filters and detectors and occupies one of the trays six sub-sections and The Optical Substrates and Coatings Experiment (S0050-02 ) that includes 12 substrates and coatings and a secondary experiment, ThePyroelectric Infrared Detectors Experiment with twenty detectors, are also mounted in the integrated tray. The experiment structure was assembled with non-magnetic stainless steel fasteners. The experiment hardware appears to be intact with no apparent damage. The excess blue color in the flight photograph is no longer present. The paint dots on the tray clamp blocks, initially white, are brown and tray flanges appear to have a light tan discoloration. The experiment sun screens and base plate also appear to have the same discoloration. The exposed experiment test specimen and their fiberglass-epoxy mountings appear to have survived the mission. The fiberglass-epoxy mounting strip colors have changed from the typical greenish-gray to a slate gray and the colors of the test specimen appear to be much darker than in the prelaunch photograph.

NASA Identifier: L90-13450 KSC-390C-1035.05