A General Purpose Astronomy Small Satellite: An approach to low-cost space telescope design using space-qualified ground telescopes
The General Purpose Astronomy - Small Satellite (GPA-SS) project studied the feasibility of developing a useful space telescope with a cost to launch below $100 million. An optical telescope assembly (OTA) designed for ground use is proposed for use in a space mission in order to take advantage of t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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SPIE
2011
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61370 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9527-7904 |
| _version_ | 1811088103984594944 |
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| author | Bosanac, Natasha Do, Sydney Wen, Hui Ying Wicht, Anthony Charles |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Bosanac, Natasha Do, Sydney Wen, Hui Ying Wicht, Anthony Charles |
| author_sort | Bosanac, Natasha |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The General Purpose Astronomy - Small Satellite (GPA-SS) project studied the feasibility of developing a useful space telescope with a cost to launch below $100 million. An optical telescope assembly (OTA) designed for ground use is proposed for use in a space mission in order to take advantage of the economies of scale in existing mirror fabrication processes. This paper details the additional design, manufacture and test tasks required to flight-qualify the ground telescope. A near-infrared imaging space telescope was costed as a potential mission. Key subsystems were designed at a conceptual level. This design was used both to estimate subsystem costs and to inform the science achievable from a given telescope design. Subsystem costs were estimated from the design through a combination of previously published cost estimating relationships and vendor quotes. This paper concludes that the space-qualification of an existing ground telescope is a potential approach for making significant cost savings when designing a low cost space telescope. Additional work on design and cost estimation around the framework presented in this paper could be undertaken to add certainty to the cost estimate. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:56:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/61370 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:56:20Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | SPIE |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/613702022-09-28T17:12:26Z A General Purpose Astronomy Small Satellite: An approach to low-cost space telescope design using space-qualified ground telescopes Bosanac, Natasha Do, Sydney Wen, Hui Ying Wicht, Anthony Charles Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Bosanac, Natasha Bosanac, Natasha Do, Sydney Wen, Hui Ying Wicht, Anthony Charles The General Purpose Astronomy - Small Satellite (GPA-SS) project studied the feasibility of developing a useful space telescope with a cost to launch below $100 million. An optical telescope assembly (OTA) designed for ground use is proposed for use in a space mission in order to take advantage of the economies of scale in existing mirror fabrication processes. This paper details the additional design, manufacture and test tasks required to flight-qualify the ground telescope. A near-infrared imaging space telescope was costed as a potential mission. Key subsystems were designed at a conceptual level. This design was used both to estimate subsystem costs and to inform the science achievable from a given telescope design. Subsystem costs were estimated from the design through a combination of previously published cost estimating relationships and vendor quotes. This paper concludes that the space-qualification of an existing ground telescope is a potential approach for making significant cost savings when designing a low cost space telescope. Additional work on design and cost estimation around the framework presented in this paper could be undertaken to add certainty to the cost estimate. 2011-03-02T13:19:24Z 2011-03-02T13:19:24Z 2010-07 2010-06 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper 0277-786X http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61370 Natasha Bosanac, Sydney Do, Hui Ying Wen and Anthony Wicht, "A general purpose astronomy small satellite: an approach to low-cost space telescope design using space-qualified ground telescopes", Proc. SPIE 7731, 77311P (2010); doi:10.1117/12.858018 © 2010 SPIE https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9527-7904 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.858018 Proceedings of SPIE--the International Society for Optical Engineering Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf SPIE SPIE |
| spellingShingle | Bosanac, Natasha Do, Sydney Wen, Hui Ying Wicht, Anthony Charles A General Purpose Astronomy Small Satellite: An approach to low-cost space telescope design using space-qualified ground telescopes |
| title | A General Purpose Astronomy Small Satellite: An approach to low-cost space telescope design using space-qualified ground telescopes |
| title_full | A General Purpose Astronomy Small Satellite: An approach to low-cost space telescope design using space-qualified ground telescopes |
| title_fullStr | A General Purpose Astronomy Small Satellite: An approach to low-cost space telescope design using space-qualified ground telescopes |
| title_full_unstemmed | A General Purpose Astronomy Small Satellite: An approach to low-cost space telescope design using space-qualified ground telescopes |
| title_short | A General Purpose Astronomy Small Satellite: An approach to low-cost space telescope design using space-qualified ground telescopes |
| title_sort | general purpose astronomy small satellite an approach to low cost space telescope design using space qualified ground telescopes |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61370 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9527-7904 |
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