Getting Ready for the 2024 Campaign
Refurbishment and Testing of Sunrise III completed!
Sunrise III is ready for the next stratospheric adventure. The refurbishment of telescope, scientific instruments and gondola has been successfully completed. All systems are in an excellent state and Sunrise is ready for the shipment to Kiruna.
The arrival is planned for April 8th, 2024 at the Esrange Swedish Space Center. 4 weeks later the assembly of the Sunrise III observatory will be finalized with the so-called ‘first light’: hanging from a crane, the telescope will be pointed towards the Sun and for the first time all science instruments will see sunlight. After 2-3 more weeks of testing and NASA reviews, Sunrise III is ready to fly to Canada!
The Sunrise mirrors M1 to M4 in the coating chamber at Calar Alto Observatory, Spain (Nov 2023).