KEYWORDS: Mirrors, Space operations, Planets, Interferometers, Systems modeling, Space telescopes, Electroluminescence, Telescopes, Aerospace engineering, MATLAB
The Terrestrial Planet Finder Interferometer (TPF-I) mission requires a set of formation-flying collector telescopes that direct the incoming light to a beam combiner where the beams are combined and detected to identify habitable planets. A baseline TPF collector design, using a primary mirror of 4.2 meters in diameter, is used here to conduct a dynamic study. The objective is to investigate the effects of dynamic response of the spacecraft on the system optical performance at the presence of disturbances that arise from the reaction wheel assembly and thruster loading, respectively. Frequency responses where the frequency is associated with the flywheel speed are presented in the paper. The results focus on the surface oscillation of the primary mirror and the point at which the secondary mirror is located. Transient response simulations under the baseline four thruster-assembly configuration were conducted using various duty cycles and thrust levels determined by the TPF formation rotation requirements. This paper will also describe an investigation conducted using new IMOS (Integrated Modeling of Optical Systems), which is an open, multi-disciplinary, and Matlab-based dynamic/optical system simulation code. A pre-processor that is able to generate the sub-structure modal models required by ISYSD (Integrated System Dynamics) was developed in new IMOS. ISYSD is used to develop a high-fidelity system dynamic model by integrating the sub-structure modal models. Finally, the paper will summarize current and future work in order to meet the TPF dynamic requirements.
The Terrestrial Planet Finder Interferometer (TPF-I) is a space-based NASA mission for the direct detection of Earth-like planets orbiting nearby stars. At the mid-infrared wavelength range of interest, a sun-like star is ~107 times brighter than an earth-like planet, with an angular offset of ~50 mas. A set of formation-flying collector telescopes direct the incoming light to a common location where the beams are combined and detected. The relative locations of the collecting apertures, the way that the beams are routed to the combiner, and the relative amplitudes and phases with which they are combined constitute the architecture of the system. This paper evaluates six of the most promising solutions: the Linear Dual Chopped Bracewell (DCB), X-Array, Diamond DCB, Z-Array, Linear-3 and Triangle architectures.
Each architecture is constrained to fit inside the shroud of a Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle using a parametric model for mass and volume. Both single and dual launch options are considered. The maximum separation between spacecraft is limited by stray light considerations. Given these constraints, the performance of each architecture is assessed by modeling the number of stars that can be surveyed and characterized spectroscopically during the mission lifetime, and by modeling the imaging properties of the configuration and the robustness to failures. The cost and risk for each architecture depends on a number of factors, including the number of launches, and mass margin. Quantitative metrics are used where possible.
A matrix of the architectures and ~30 weighted discriminators was formed. Each architecture was assigned a score for each discriminator. Then the scores were multiplied by the weights and summed to give a total score for each architecture. The X-Array and Linear DCB were judged to be the strongest candidates. The simplicity of the three-collector architectures was not rated to be sufficient to compensate for their reduced performance and increased risk. The decision process is subjective, but transparent and easily adapted to accommodate new architectures and differing priorities.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.