Lateral constraint for thin glass shell: analysis of the requirements and conceptual design for a segmented active mirror

Marcello Agostino Scalera; Runa Briguglio; Ciro Del Vecchio; Marco Xompero; Marco Riva

doi:10.1117/12.2688802

12 July 2023 Lateral constraint for thin glass shell: analysis of the requirements and conceptual design for a segmented active mirror

Marcello Agostino Scalera, Runa Briguglio, Ciro Del Vecchio, Marco Xompero, Marco Riva

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Proceedings Volume 12777, International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2022; 127770B (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2688802
Event: International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2022, 2022, Dubrovnik, Croatia

Abstract

The latest high-performance telescopes for deep space observation employ very large primary mirrors that are made of smaller segments, like the JWST which employs monolithic beryllium hexagonal segments. A very promising development stage of these systems is to make them active and to operate on their reflective surfaces to change their shape and compensate for aberrations as well as to perform a very precise alignment. This is possible by employing a reference body that stores actuators to modify the shape of the shell, like in the SPLATT project where voice coil actuators are used. However, the lack of physical contact between the main body and shell places – along with the many advantages related to the physical decoupling of the two bodies - some concerns related to the retaining of the shell under all the possible acceleration conditions affecting the system during the mission lifetime. This paper aims to study the acceleration environment affecting the spacecraft during its lifetime and to use it as a baseline for operational requirements of a retaining system for the shells. Any solution is selected in this paper to leave complete freedom for the development of a constraining system, just some are qualitatively discussed.

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Marcello Agostino Scalera, Runa Briguglio, Ciro Del Vecchio, Marco Xompero, and Marco Riva "Lateral constraint for thin glass shell: analysis of the requirements and conceptual design for a segmented active mirror", Proc. SPIE 12777, International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2022, 127770B (12 July 2023); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2688802

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