Structural design and mitigation of mirror deformations in lunar-based telescopes
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL (United States)
Structural design and analysis of the optical systems for lunar-based telescopes is a challenging task. A driving concern of the Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope Experiment (LUTE) preliminary design study was the degradation of the LUTE optical figure due to thermal deformations, during a temperature cycle of 65 to 265 K at the reference 40 deg latitude, 0 deg longitude landing site. In addressing this task, temperature effects were characterized, and primary-mirror thermal deformations calculated for use in the optical analyses. Trade studies evaluated the qualitative performance of various design schemes. Results indicated that statically determinate mirror supports with bottom-mounted flexures created less optical disturbance under thermal loading than mirror supports at the inner or outer periphery. Another trade indicated that a telescope`s baseplate must be athermalized with respect to the mirrors by matching thermal distortion coefficients. A comparison of three materials for the primary mirror predicted that silicon carbide would be the best material for resisting thermally induced figure deformations on the moon. 15 refs.
- Research Organization:
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Huntsville, AL (United States). George C. Marshall Space Flight Center
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 57345
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 31, Issue 6; Other Information: PBD: Nov 1994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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