Free form optical telescopes
Programme
GSTP
Programme Reference
GT17-409MM
Prime Contractor
OHB System AG
Start Date
End Date
Status
Closed
Country
Germany
Objectives
The objective of the activity is the manufacturing, characterisation and aligningment of two innovative ultra-compact but highly performance free form optical telescopes to be used in future flight missions.
Description
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Free form optics (FFO) are more and more commonly used all over the optics industry. This technology can be a game changer for future space missions, because allows a better performance with a reduced number of optical elements, in a smaller volume and with lower mass. Moreover, free form optical designs bear a high potential to significantly reduce the time required for integration and alignment. In summary, time and cost from design to space readiness can be significantly reduced by introducing free form surfaces in optical instruments. Size can vary for different level of large space telescopes with deployable mirrors up to several meters in diameter. Free form optics will be beneficial for instrument types like hyperspectral or multi spectral (e.g. for CO2 / CH4 monitoring), thermal infrared, and high ground resolution imagers, as well as for missions that require a very large field-of-view. However, due to the tough requirements in space applications, the innovation step to be taken for a free form telescope is quite high compared to classical spherical and aspherical designs. The proposed activity shall therefore serve as a pre-cursor and a risk reduction measure for future flight hardware projects in real missions in this domain.
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The activity will provides not only a higher TRL of pure hardware and production related technologies for FFO telescopes, but also of the major technologies relevant for the full development life cycle of such a product.
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In the proposed activity two free form optical telescopes shall be designed, built and characterized for performance, starting from a given preliminary design. One telescope will be designed for a compact hyperspectral instrument or imager (CHI) for Earth observation with performance requirements similar to CHIME. The other telescope will be designed for a thermal infrared imager (TIR).
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The main technical steps proposed in this activity are:
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- Detailed design of a TIR and a CHI telescope
- Definition of the Integration, alignment and test approach
- GSE design amp; procurement
- Manufacturing of the two telescopes
- Integration and alignment of the two telescopes
- Characterisation and testing (only optical performance) of the two telescopes
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At the end of the activity two Elegant Bread Boards will be produced, one for TRI and one for CHI, both beingfully representative in mass, volume, material, optical performance. The two EBBs will be fully characterized with respect to optical performance and could be refurbished after this activity to a QM or a FM.
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Application Domain
Generic Technologies
Technology Domain
16 - Optics
17 - Optoelectronics
Competence Domain
5-Radiofrequency & Optical Systems and Products
Initial TRL
TRL 2
Target TRL
TRL 5
Achieved TRL
TRL N/A