FLITECAM: a 1- to 5-μm camera for testing the performance of SOFIA

We describe the requirements, constraints, and goals for FLITECAM, the first light IR test experiment camera being built at UCLA for SOFIA. The camera must allow testing of the testing of the telescope/observatory and provide first- light images for public outreach and publicity. In addition, the camera should become a facility-class instrument for use by the general SOFIA user community. The camera is relatively simple and inherits many of the designs from previous instruments built in the IR Imaging Detector Laboratory at UCLA. It will offer wide-field imaging, high- resolution imaging for observing diffraction-limited images at >= 3 micrometers , low-resolution grism spectroscopy, and pupil-viewing. FLITECAM will be delivered for observatory tests in early 2001. The project will not formally start until NIRSPEC is delivered and commissioned at the Keck Observatory.