ULTRA-LIGHTWEIGHT, LARGE APERTURE, DEPLOYABLE TELESCOPE FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS: A TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATOR

The latest results of new technological concepts for large aperture, lightweight telescopes with thin deployable active mirrors are presented. The study is conceived in the frame of an ESA contract for the measurement of water vapour profile in atmosphere at 935.5 mm via DIAL (Differential Absorption Lidar) operating from space. A technology demonstrator was manufactured and tested for investigation of two critical areas: the performances of the long-stroke actuators for the mirror active control and the mirror survivability to launch. This breadboard demonstrates: a) the capacity of the mirror actuators to control the surface shape with adequate accuracy and recover a deployment error; b) the demonstration of the mirror survivability, through electrostatic locking between mirror and back-plane able to withstand without failure a vibration test representative of launch environment. The high versatility of these concepts allows exploiting this technology for any project willing to consider large aperture, segmented lightweight telescopes, such as Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays detection through fluorescence traces in atmosphere through a suited Schmidt-like spaceborne telescope.