Research Summaries

Back Key Technologies for Large Segmented Mirror Space Telescopes

Fiscal Year 2011
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Investigator(s) Agrawal, Jr., Brij N.
Sponsor National Reconnaissance Office (DoD)
Summary This is a continuing project from fiscal year 2010. For an imaging spacecraft to provide truly persistent surveillance capability, the satellite should be in a higher orbit, requiring large aperture lightweight deployable mirrors, in the range of 10-20 meters in diameter. Achieving high surface accuracy for these mirrors is very challenging and adaptive optics techniques are under development to meet this challenge. The objective of this research program is to develop key technologies for large segmented mirror space telescope. Spacecraft Design Center (SRDC) at NPS has been very active for the last several years in developing these technologies. SRDC has participated in the development of the Segmented Mirror Demonstrator (SMD), Segmented Mirror Testbed (SMT), and Advanced Mirror Development (AMD).This participation has helped SRDC to identify the critical technologies to be developed in this area and has developed new surface control techniques and wavefront sensors. Several testbeds have also been developed to validate these techniques.
Keywords
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal