UA, Hughes lose telescope contract to Md. group

By Staff Reports
Arizona Daily Wildcat
January 15, 1997

UA, Hughes lose telescope contract to Md. group

The multi-million dollar SOFIA project being pursued by UA researchers was awarded instead to a team led by the Universities Space Research Association of Columbia, Md.

The $48.2 million contract calls for the USRA team to acquire, develop and operate the new Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy, according to a NASA news release. The contract was awarded to the association last month.

The contract will be managed by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif., the news release stated.

The USRA proposal calls for operating the Boeing 747, which will be mounted with a large infrared telescope, out of Moffett Airfield, also in Mountain View.

Dr. Jim Slagle, who was part of the team to bring the SOFIA contract to the University of Arizona in conjunction with Hughes Missile Systems Co., praised the university's efforts.

"We put in 14 months of hard work, and now we are back to our original jobs," Slagle said. "The UA and Hughes had a first-class, low-risk proposal for NASA, and I am very proud of the effort."

-D. Shayne Christie