Tests au sol du télescope spatial XMM

peer reviewe

Smart co-phasing system for segmented mirror telescopes

Space observations of fainter and more distant astronomical objects constantly require telescope primary mirrors with a larger size. The diameter of monolithic primary mirrors is limited to 10 m because of manufacturing and logistics limitations. For space telescopes, monolithic primary mirrors are limited to less than 5 m due to fairing capacity. Segmented primary mirrors thus constitute an alternative solution to deal with the steadily increase of the primary mirror size. The optical path difference between the individual segments must be close to zero (few nm) in order to be diffraction limited over the full telescope aperture. In this paper a new system that may co-phase 7 segments at once with the light of a star and without artificial one is proposed. First the measuring methods and feedback system is explained, then the breadboard setup is presented and the results are analyzed and discussed, finally a comparison with Keck telescope is performed. This system can be adapted in order to be used in the co-phasing system of future segmented mirrors, its dynamic range starts from several hundred of microns till some tenths of nanometer

Baffles design of the PROBA-V wide FOV TMA

Proba-V payload is a successor of the Vegetation instrument, a multispectral imager flown on Spot-4 and subsequently on Spot-5, French satellites for Earth Observation and defence. The instrument, with its wide field of view, is capable of covering a swath of 2200 km, which, in combination with a polar low Earth orbit, guarantees a daily revisit. The lifetime of Spot-5 expires in early 2013, and to ensure the continuity of vegetation data, BELSPO, the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office, supported the development of an instrument that could be flown on a Proba type satellite, a small satellite developed by the Belgian QinetiQ Space (previously known as Verhaert Space). The challenge of this development is to produce an instrument responding to the same user requirements as Vegetation, but with an overall mass of about 30 kg, while the Vegetation instrument mass is 130 kg. This development had become feasible thanks to a number of new technologies that have been developed since the nineties, when Vegetation was first conceived, namely Single Point Diamond Turning fabrication of aspherical mirrors and efficient VNIR and SWIR detectors. The Proba-V payload is based on three identical reflective telescopes using highly aspherical mirrors in a TMA (Three Mirrors Anastigmat) configuration. Each telescope covers a field of view of 34o to reach the required swath. One of the challenges in the development of the PROBA-V instrument is the efficient reduction of stray light. Due to the mass and volume constraints it was not possible to implement a design with an intermediate focus to reduce the stray light. The analysis and minimization of the in-field stray light is an important element of the design because of the large FOV and the surface roughness currently achievable with the Single Point Diamond Turning. This document presents the preliminary baffle layout designed for the Three Mirrors Anastigmatic (TMA) telescope developed for the Proba-V mission. This baffling is used to avoid 1st order stray light i.e. direct stray light or through reflections on the mirrors. The stray light from the SWIR folding mirror is also studied. After these preliminary analyses the mechanical structure of the TMA is designed then verified in term of vignetting and stray light

Digital Holographic Interferometry in the Long-Wave Infrared for the Testing of Large Aspheric Space Reflectors

Digital holographic (DH) interferometry has been developed in the long-wave infrared spectral range with CO2 lasers and microbolometer arrays. This application has been driven by the European Space Agency’s constant need of techniques for monitoring large displacements of large structures. Here the study focuses on the case of aspheric mirrors, like parabola and ellipses. Usually they are tested through interferometric wavefront error measurements which require expensive null-lenses matching each of the reflectors considered. In the case of monitoring deformation a holographic technique can be considered where the wavefront is compared with itself at different instant. Therefore the optical can be quite simple and easily reconfigurable from one reflector to another. The advantage of using long wavelength is that large deformations can be measured at once, in addition to being more immune against environmental perturbations. Another advantage of DH at such wavelengths is that the ratio between the wavelength and the pixel size allows reconstructing objects 5 to 10 times larger than with DH in the visible. In this project we considered first the case of a 1.1 meter diameter parabola for submillimeter range observations. Such specimen shows strong specular reflectivity. We have developed several set-ups with different ways to illuminate the object and to collect rays to form the object beam: either through point source or through and extended diffuser working by reflection of the laser beam. Both possibilities have been compared in terms of fringe quality as well as measurement range. We selected the diffuser illumination for applying the set-up into a large vacuum facility for measuring the deformation of the parabola between 224 and 107 K. Results of this measurement campaign are presented. A further application has been shown by observation of off-axis ellipse. In this case interferometric testing is difficult to achieve and LWIR DHI with diffuser illumination is found quite simple to implement and gives straightforward results.GSTP HOLODI

Experimental validation of opto-thermo-elastic modeling in OOFELIE Multiphysics

The objective of this work is to demonstrate the correlation between a simple laboratory test bench case and the predictions of the Oofelie MultiPhysics software in order to deduce modelling guidelines and improvements. For that purpose two optical systems have been analysed. The first one is a spherical lens fixed in an aluminium barrel, which is the simplest structure found in an optomechanical system. In this study, material characteristics are assumed to be well known: BK7 and aluminium have been retained. Temperature variations between 0 and +60°C from ambient have been applied to the samples. The second system is a YAG laser bar heated by means of a dedicated oven. For the two test benches thermo-elastic distortions have been measured using a Fizeau interferometer. This sensor measures wavefront error in the range of 20 nm to 1 μm without physical contact with the optomechanical system. For the YAG bar birefringence and polarization measurements have also been performed using a polarimetric bench. The tests results have been compared to the predictions obtained by Oofelie MultiPhysics which is a multiphysics toolkit treating coupled problems of optics, mechanics, thermal physics, electricity, electromagnetism, acoustics and hydrodynamics. From this comparison modelling guidelines have been issued with the aim of improving the accuracy of computed thermo-elastic distortions and their impact on the optical performances

Design status of ASPIICS, an externally occulted coronagraph for PROBA-3

The "sonic region" of the Sun corona remains extremely difficult to observe with spatial resolution and sensitivity sufficient to understand the fine scale phenomena that govern the quiescent solar corona, as well as phenomena that lead to coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which influence space weather. Improvement on this front requires eclipse-like conditions over long observation times. The space-borne coronagraphs flown so far provided a continuous coverage of the external parts of the corona but their over-occulting system did not permit to analyse the part of the white-light corona where the main coronal mass is concentrated. The proposed PROBA-3 Coronagraph System, also known as ASPIICS (Association of Spacecraft for Polarimetric and Imaging Investigation of the Corona of the Sun), with its novel design, will be the first space coronagraph to cover the range of radial distances between ~1.08 and 3 solar radii where the magnetic field plays a crucial role in the coronal dynamics, thus providing continuous observational conditions very close to those during a total solar eclipse. PROBA-3 is first a mission devoted to the in-orbit demonstration of precise formation flying techniques and technologies for future European missions, which will fly ASPIICS as primary payload. The instrument is distributed over two satellites flying in formation (approx. 150m apart) to form a giant coronagraph capable of producing a nearly perfect eclipse allowing observing the sun corona closer to the rim than ever before. The coronagraph instrument is developed by a large European consortium including about 20 partners from 7 countries under the auspices of the European Space Agency. This paper is reviewing the recent improvements and design updates of the ASPIICS instrument as it is stepping into the detailed design phase

A LATERAL SENSOR FOR THE ALIGNMENT OF TWO FORMATION-FLYING

The coarse lateral sensor is a system able to measure the lateral position between two satellites. It bridges the gap between the alignment accuracy achieved with the radio frequency metrology, and the alignment accuracy required the highprecision optical metrology (fine-lateral and longitudinal sensor). The coarse lateral sensor developed at Centre Spatial de Liège (CSL) is a standalone unit. Once connected to an unregulated 28V power-supply, it delivers, the lateral position of a corner cube retro-reflector (within an angle of 10 arcdeg and from 25 to 250 m) and tracks this position at a rate of 10 Hz. The system is operational with the sun in its fieldof- view. Real time centroidisation algorithms allow tracking the image position and feed the on-board computer with this information via a RS422 link, allowing further position stabilization. The coarse lateral sensor has successfully undergone thermal qualification (40°C and -30 °C), and vibration test (high-level sinus, random and shock test in the 3– axis)

Design and modelisation of a straylight facility for space optical instrument

In the framework of instrument calibration, straylight issues are a critical aspect that can deteriorate the optical performances of instrument. To cope with this, a new facility is designed dedicated for in-field and far field straylight characterization: up to 10-8 for in-field and up to 10-10 for far field straylight in the visible to NIR spectral ranges. Moreover, from previous straylight test performed at CSL, vacuum conditions are needed for reaching the 10-10 rejection requirement mainly to avoid air/dust diffusion. The major constrains are to design a straylight facility either for in-field and out-field straylight measurements. That requires high dynamic range at source level and a high radiance point source allowing small diverging collimated beam. Moreover, the straylight facility has to be implemented into a limited envelope and has to be built with vacuum compatible materials and black coating. As checking the facility performance requires an instrument better than the facility itself, that is no easy to find, so that the performances have been estimated through a modelisation into a non sequential optical software. This modelisation is based on CAD importation of mechanical design, on BRDF characteristics of black coating and on statistical averaging of ray tracing at instrument entrance.PROBA

Alignement et optimisation d'un simulateur solaire d'une configuration de 1SC à une configuration à 10SC.

Ce papier décrit les tâches réalisées dans le cadre d’un projet de modification du simulateur solaire de l’ESA afin de l’adapter et le faire passer d’une configuration où le flux est de une constante solaire vers une configuration à 10 constantes solaires. Nous exposons les tâches réalisées par le Centre Spatial de Liège en ce qui concerne la modélisation et la simulation des configurations ainsi que les éléments mis au point pour l’alignement des miroirs du simulateur solaire et pour la mesure d’uniformité de flux.LS