Space Surveillance Telescope: focus and alignment of a three mirror telescope
The Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) is a three-mirror Mersenne-Schmidt telescope with a 3.5 m primary mirror. It is designed to rapidly scan for space objects, particularly along the geosynchronous belt, approximately 36,000 km above the Earth. The SST has an unusually short focal ratio of F/1.0...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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SPIE
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/80363 |
| _version_ | 1826191162717765632 |
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| author | Woods, Deborah Freedman Shah, Ronak Y. Johnson, Julie Anne Szabo, Alexander Pearce, Eric C. Lambour, Richard L. Faccenda, Walter J. |
| author2 | Lincoln Laboratory |
| author_facet | Lincoln Laboratory Woods, Deborah Freedman Shah, Ronak Y. Johnson, Julie Anne Szabo, Alexander Pearce, Eric C. Lambour, Richard L. Faccenda, Walter J. |
| author_sort | Woods, Deborah Freedman |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) is a three-mirror Mersenne-Schmidt telescope with a 3.5 m primary mirror. It is designed to rapidly scan for space objects, particularly along the geosynchronous belt, approximately 36,000 km above the Earth. The SST has an unusually short focal ratio of F/1.0 and employs a camera composed of curved charge-coupled devices to match the telescope’s inherent field curvature. The field-of-view of the system is 6 square degrees. While the unique system design is advantageous for space surveillance capabilities, it presents a challenge to alignment due to an inherently small depth of focus and the additional degrees of freedom introduced with a powered tertiary mirror. The alignment procedure developed for the SST at zenith pointing is discussed, as well as the maintenance of focus and alignment of the system across a range of elevation and temperature conditions. Quantitative performance metrics demonstrate the success of the system alignment during the telescope’s first year of operation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:51:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/80363 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:51:16Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | SPIE |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/803632022-09-30T11:44:09Z Space Surveillance Telescope: focus and alignment of a three mirror telescope Woods, Deborah Freedman Shah, Ronak Y. Johnson, Julie Anne Szabo, Alexander Pearce, Eric C. Lambour, Richard L. Faccenda, Walter J. Lincoln Laboratory Woods, Deborah Freedman Shah, Ronak Y. Johnson, Julie Anne Szabo, Alexander Pearce, Eric C. Lambour, Richard L. Faccenda, Walter J. The Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) is a three-mirror Mersenne-Schmidt telescope with a 3.5 m primary mirror. It is designed to rapidly scan for space objects, particularly along the geosynchronous belt, approximately 36,000 km above the Earth. The SST has an unusually short focal ratio of F/1.0 and employs a camera composed of curved charge-coupled devices to match the telescope’s inherent field curvature. The field-of-view of the system is 6 square degrees. While the unique system design is advantageous for space surveillance capabilities, it presents a challenge to alignment due to an inherently small depth of focus and the additional degrees of freedom introduced with a powered tertiary mirror. The alignment procedure developed for the SST at zenith pointing is discussed, as well as the maintenance of focus and alignment of the system across a range of elevation and temperature conditions. Quantitative performance metrics demonstrate the success of the system alignment during the telescope’s first year of operation. United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Air Force Contract FA8721-05-C-0002) 2013-09-06T14:29:25Z 2013-09-06T14:29:25Z 2013-05 2013-04 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0091-3286 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/80363 Woods, Deborah Freedman. “Space Surveillance Telescope: focus and alignment of a three mirror telescope.” Optical Engineering 52, no. 5 (May 1, 2013): 053604. en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/1.oe.52.5.053604 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 | Woods, Deborah Freedman Shah, Ronak Y. Johnson, Julie Anne Szabo, Alexander Pearce, Eric C. Lambour, Richard L. Faccenda, Walter J. Space Surveillance Telescope: focus and alignment of a three mirror telescope |
| title | Space Surveillance Telescope: focus and alignment of a three mirror telescope |
| title_full | Space Surveillance Telescope: focus and alignment of a three mirror telescope |
| title_fullStr | Space Surveillance Telescope: focus and alignment of a three mirror telescope |
| title_full_unstemmed | Space Surveillance Telescope: focus and alignment of a three mirror telescope |
| title_short | Space Surveillance Telescope: focus and alignment of a three mirror telescope |
| title_sort | space surveillance telescope focus and alignment of a three mirror telescope |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/80363 |
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