QuickBird telescope: the reality of large high-quality commercial space optics

The QuickBird telescope represents a significant accomplishment as the first large-aperture, high-resolution, totally unobscured optical system developed as a fixed-price commercial product. The telescope was aligned and tested in a dedicated facility at Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. specially developed to reduce the total process time of building and testing complex optical systems. This presentation summarizes design features, mirror- manufacturing results, telescope alignment, and test results.