Last results of technological developments for ultralightweight, large aperture, deployable mirror for space telescopes
Year: 2012
Authors: Gambicorti L., D’Amato F., Lisi F., Riccardi A., Vettore C., Duò F., Guercia A., Gallieni D., Lazzarini P., Tintori M., Patauner C., Biasi R., Zuccaro Marchi A., Pereira do Carmo J.
Autors Affiliation: National Institute of Optics (CNR-INO), L. go E. Fermi, 6 – 50125 Firenze, Italy
INAF Arcetri Astrophysics Observatory, L. go E. Fermi, 5 – 50125 Firenze, Italy
Compagnia Generale dello Spazio (CGS), Via Gallarate 15, 20151 Milano, Italy
ADS International, Via Roma, 87 – 23868 Valmadrera (LC), Italy;
Microgate Srl, Via Stradivari 4, Bolzano, Italy;
ESA – ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1 – 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Abstract: The aim of this work is to describe the latest results of new technological concepts for Large Aperture TelescopesTechnology (LATT) using thin deployable lightweight active mirrors. This technology is developed under the European Space Agency (ESA) Technology Research Program and can be exploited in all the applications based on the use of primary mirrors of space telescopes with large aperture, segmented lightweight telescopes with wide Field of View (FOV) and low f/#, and LIDAR telescopes. The reference mission application is a potential future ESA mission, related to a space borne DIAL (Differential Absorption Lidar) instrument operating around 935.5 nm with the goal to measure water vapor profiles in atmosphere. An Optical BreadBoard (OBB) for LATT has been designed for investigating and testing two critical aspects of the technology:1) control accuracy in the mirror surface shaping.2) mirror survivability to launch.The aim is to evaluate the effective performances of the long stroke smart-actuators used for the mirror control and todemonstrate the effectiveness and the reliability of the electrostatic locking (EL) system to restraint the thin shell on the mirror backup structure during launch. The paper presents a comprehensive vision of the breadboard focusing on how the requirements have driven the design of the whole system and of the various subsystems. The manufacturing process of the thin shell is also presented.
Conference title: International Conference on Space Optics 2012
Place: Ajaccio (F)
KeyWords: lightweight mirror; deployable mirror; active optics; space telescope; LIDAR