ARGOS testbed: study of multidisciplinary challenges of future spaceborne interferometric arrays

Future spaceborne interferometric arrays must meet stringent optical performance and tolerance requirements while exhibiting modu- larity and acceptable manufacture and integration cost levels. The Mas- sachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Adaptive Reconnaissance Golay-3 Optical Satellite (ARGOS) is a wide-angle Fizeau interferometer spacecraft testbed designed to address these research challenges. De- signing a space-based stellar interferometer, which requires tight toler- ances on pointing and alignment for its apertures, presents unique mul- tidisciplinary challenges in the areas of structural dynamics, controls, and multiaperture phasing active optics. In meeting these challenges, emphasis is placed on modularity in spacecraft subsystems and optics as a means of enabling expandability and upgradeability. A rigorous theory of beam-combining errors for sparse optical arrays is derived and flown down to the design of various subsystems. A detailed elaboration on the optics system and control system is presented based on the per- formance requirements and beam-combining error tolerances. The space environment is simulated by floating ARGOS on a frictionless air- bearing that enables it to track both fast and slow moving targets. © 2004

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