Gratings, Spectrograph, UV, V-2

Two gratings from a series of forty ruled in 1946 at The John Hopkins University by Professor John Strong and Mr. Wilbur H. Perry. They were used in the first generation of spectrographs prepared by the Naval Research Laboratory to be flown on V-2 missiles, Viking and Aerobee sounding rockets. The overall project was under the guidance of Dr. E.O Hulburt, Superintendent of the Optics Division, and was managed within Dr. R. Tousey's Micron Waves Branch. One grating was flown and recovered in perfect condition; the other was broken because of a hard impact. The gratings are of Rowland design, 40 mm radius, with 15,000 lines per inch ruled in an aluminum layer produced by vapor deposition.

These gratings are part of a suite of Naval Research Laboratory-designed instruments transferred to NASM in December 1983. See also A19840018000.