ROCKY MOUNTAIN SECTION OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
                              &
           IEEE LASERS AND ELECTROOPTICS SOCIETY


                       Sept. Meeting

Date:  Thursday, 30 Sept. 1999
Time:  7:00 PM refreshments, 7:30 PM talk
Place: National Institute of Standards and Technology
       325 Broadway, Boulder, CO
       Room 1103/1105


NASA's Chandra Telescope: How just $300M invested in optics 
can provide amazing X-ray images of the Universe.

       Dr. Steve Jordan
       Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
       Boulder, CO 80306-1062


Abstract:

Chandra is the latest of NASA's Great Observatories, 
following Hubble and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, and 
preceding SIRTF, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility.  X-
rays provide a unique perspective on the Universe, and allow 
us to see physical processes invisible in the other 
wavelength bands.  The technology used to produce the best 
astronomical X-ray images ever obtained is truly a wonder of 
modern engineering.  Dr. Jordan will discuss the Chandra 
Telescope and its mission, provide a status report on its 
inaugural month, and comment on some of the early pictures 
being released.


Biography:

Dr. Steve Jordan has worked on the Chandra Telescope 
(formerly AXAF) since 1985, and was glad to see it launched 
on July 23, 1999.  Dr. Jordan has been employed at Ball 
Aerospace in Boulder since 1985, where he began designing one 
of Chandra's original scientific instruments, a very high 
resolution spectrometer based on Bragg reflection, which 
unfortunately fell victim to NASA's budget cuts in 1991. In 
1992 Dr. Jordan assisted an Italian company, Laben, in 
designing 3 instruments for the Italian X-ray satellite SAX.  
In 1993 Dr. Jordan rejoined the Chandra project to lead a 
group of engineers in building the Science Instrument Module, 
an environmental control module for the 2 remaining 
scientific instruments on Chandra.  Dr. Jordan is currently 
working advanced conceptual designs for future X-ray and 
Gamma ray missions at Ball.