NRL Rocket-borne Experiments
The High Resolution Telescope and Spectrograph (HRTS) experiment has collected spectroscopic observations of the Sun while flying on suborbital rockets since its first flight in 1975. The Very high Angular resolution ULtraviolet Telescope (VAULT) is a new spectroscopic imaging instrument that will eventually completely replace HRTS. VAULT has collected extremely high resolution images (0.2 arc sec) of the Sun in the important Lyman-alpha (121.6 nm) line during its first flight in 1999. Calibration of the four EUV imager wavelengths of SOHO/EIT is provided by a second EIT instrument that makes its measurements during a short duration rocket flight. INTERFEROMETRICS designed, implemented, and tested the onboard software to operate several of the most recent flights of HRTS, VAULT, and EIT-rocket.