A Novel Lateral Deployment Mechanism for Segmented Mirror/Solar Panel of Space Telescope

Abstract

Space telescopes require large aperture primary mirrors to capture High Definition (HD) ground image while orbiting around the Earth. Fairing Volume of launch vehicles is limited and thus the size of monolithic mirror is limited to fairing size and solar panels are arranged within a petal formation in order to provide a greater power to volume ratio. This generates need for deployable mirrors for space use. This brings out a method for designing new deployment mechanism for segmented mirror. Details of mechanism folding strategy, design of components, FE simulations, realization and Lab model validation results are discussed in order to demonstrate the design using prototype.