A development roadmap for critical technologies needed for TALC: a deployable 20m annular space telescope

Autor: MacEwen, Howard, Fazio, Giovanni, Lystrup, Makenzie, Batalha, Natalie, Siegler, Nicholas, Tong, Edward, Sauvage, Marc, Amiaux, Jerome, Austin, James, Bello, Mara, Bianucci, Giovanni, Chesné, Simon, Citterio, Oberto, Collette, Christophe, Correia, Sébastien, Durand, Gilles, Molinari, Sergio, Pareschi, Giovanni, Penfornis, Yann, Sironi, Giorgia, Valsecchi, Giuseppe, Verpoort, Sven, Wittrock, Ulrich
Přispěvatelé: Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation (AIM (UMR_7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112)), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), CEA, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Gyf Sur Yvette, France, Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), Università di Pisa - UNIPISA (Pisa, Italy), Laboratoire de Mécanique des Contacts et des Structures [Villeurbanne] (LaMCoS), Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (INSA Lyon), Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Bio, Electro And Mechanical Systems (BEAMS), Université Libre de Bruxelles [Bruxelles] (ULB), Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation (AIM (UMR7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Pisa - Università di Pisa
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
Zdroj: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation
SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, Jun 2016, Edinburgh, France. ⟨10.1117/12.2231867⟩
Popis: Astronomy is driven by the quest for higher sensitivity and improved angular resolution in order to detect fainter or smaller objects. The far-infrared to submillimeter domain is a unique probe of the cold and obscured Universe, harboring for instance the precious signatures of key elements such as water. Space observations are mandatory given the blocking effect of our atmosphere. However the methods we have relied on so far to develop increasingly larger telescopes are now reaching a hard limit, with the JWST illustrating this in more than one way (e.g. it will be launched by one of the most powerful rocket, it requires the largest existing facility on Earth to be qualified). With the Thinned Aperture Light Collector (TALC) project, a concept of a deployable 20 m annular telescope, we propose to break out of this deadlock by developing novel technologies for space telescopes, which are disruptive in three aspects: • An innovative deployable mirror whose topology, based on stacking rather than folding, leads to an optimum ratio of collecting area over volume, and creates a telescope with an eight times larger collecting area and three times higher angular resolution compared to JWST from the same pre-deployed volume; • An ultra-light weight segmented primary mirror, based on electrodeposited Nickel, Composite and Honeycomb stacks, built with a replica process to control costs and mitigate the industrial risks; • An active optics control layer based on piezo-electric layers incorporated into the mirror rear shell allowing control of the shape by internal stress rather than by reaction on a structure. We present in this paper the roadmap we have built to bring these three disruptive technologies to technology readiness level 3. We will achieve this goal through design and realization of representative elements: segments of mirrors for optical quality verification, active optics implemented on representative mirror stacks to characterize the shape correction capabilities, and mechanical models for validation of the deployment concept. Accompanying these developments, a strong system activity will ensure that the ultimate goal of having an integrated system can be met, especially in terms of (a) scalability toward a larger structure, and (b) verification philosophy.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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