Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
3-D Test: 25.4 x 10.2 x 5.1cm (10 x 4 x 2 in.)
Materials:
Overall - all metallic except for electrical insulation and optical components
This is a mockup of a grazing incidence X-ray spectrometer typical of those flown by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) on Aerobee sounding rockets in the 1950s. This so-called "breadboard model" was built at NRL from discarded Aerobee Model IV era parts by DeWitt Purcell. He also incorporated several pieces from an original flight instrument. It has a shiny metal cover, which is removed for display. It was transferred to NASM in 1993.
Transferred from the Naval Research Laboratory
