Infrared radiation is almost inaccessible from the ground, because it gets absorbed by gas clouds in the lower tropospheric layers. Thus the desired observations cannot even be made by means of large telescopes on the ground.
The chosen flight altitude is 13 km. To keep the vibration of the jet engines from shaking the telescope, the company CFM Schiller is developing a Vibration Isolation System (VIS), which will be installed around the bar of the dumbbell structure. For this express purpose we have constructed a 1:5-model, to design and test the single constituents (see above).
The VIS completely decouples the telescope from the vibration of the plane. Besides, the position of this 17-tons-telescope-unit can actively be controlled in case of its displacement.
This isolation is realized by means of axial and tangential air springs as well as shock absorbers, which are positioned annularly around the telescope bearing. A pneumatic system with PC-control supplies the necessary compressed air.