FalconSAT-7: a membrane photon sieve CubeSat solar telescope

Andersen, Geoff; Asmolov, Olha; Dearborn, M.E.; McHarg, M. G.

doi:10.1117/12.924250

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Additionally, it is difficult to process such a large aperture reflective optical system with existing optical-processing methods. The diffractive-imaging system with the polyimide (PI) membrane material whose thickness is less than 30 μm has the characteristics of being lightweight and having low surface error requirements, space deployable capacity, and easy replication, which has great potential in the field of high-resolution imaging in the geostationary orbit [ 7 , 8 ]. Clearly, the membrane–Fresnel diffractive lens (M-FDL) is the key to the whole diffractive-imaging system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Membrane–Fresnel Diffractive Lenses with High-Optical Quality and High-Thermal Stability

Liu

et al. 2022

Polymers

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The membrane–Fresnel diffractive lens (M-FDL) has great potential in the field of high-resolution and lightweight imaging in orbit. However, the M-FDL with high-optical quality and high-thermal stability cannot be fabricated to a standard by the existing processing methods. In this paper, we propose a method for fabricating an M-FDL composed of three steps: the improved repeated spin-coating of the polyimide (PI) membrane, the secondary mucosal method of silica-framed membrane mirror, and the high-precision fabrication of a multi-level microstructure on a flexible, ultrathin membrane substrate. The results show that the root mean square (RMS) of the wave-front error for M-FDL obtained by the above method is 1/28λ (F# = 8.7 at 632.8 nm) with an 80 mm clear aperture, the average diffraction efficiency is more than 70%, the silica-framed membrane mirror possesses approximately 40 times the overall thermal stability of the traditional metal-framed mirror, and the weight is less than 40 g. The measurement results indicate that the M-FDL has high-optical quality and high-thermal stability and can satisfy the imaging requirements.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Membrane–Fresnel Diffractive Lenses with High-Optical Quality and High-Thermal Stability

Liu

et al. 2022

Polymers

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“…Also, easy deployment (light and packable) of the membrane optical system virtually eliminates the tight surface shape tolerances and significantly reduces the complexity of the control architecture faced by conventional large reflecting apertures [9,10]. Several ongoing missions equipped with the diffractive membrane elements include the "Eyeglass" telescope mission, the Membrane Optical Imager Real-time Exploitation (MOIRE) mission and the FalconSat-7 mission [9,[11][12][13]. However, the inherent spectral dispersion and wavefront distortion of diffractive primary lead to prominent degradations of the diffractive images, e.g., image blurring, image hazing, and color distortion [14,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Color Restoration Algorithm for Diffractive Optical Images of Membrane Camera

Yang

et al. 2021

Sensors

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In order to verify the technology of the membrane diffractive imaging system for Chinese next generation geo-stationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite, a series of ground experiments have been carried out using a membrane optical camera with 80 mm aperture (Φ80) lens. The inherent chromatic aberration due to diffractive imaging appears in the obtained data. To address the issue, an effective color restoration algorithm framework by matching, tailoring, and non-linearly stretching the image histograms is proposed in this letter. Experimental results show the proposed approach has good performances in color restoration of the diffractive optical images than previous methods. The effectiveness and robustness of the algorithm are also quantitatively assessed using various color deviation indexes. The results indicate that the chromatic aberration of diffractive images can be effectively removed by about 85%. Also, the proposed method presents reasonable computational efficiency.

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“…CubeSat, a standardized satellite with a cube unit of 10 cm, is cost‐ and time‐efficient because of its small size and standardization in terms of aspects such as structure and interface. It has been employed in experimental and challenging flying missions: demonstrating a deployable telescope with FalconSAT‐7 (Andersen et al., 2012); exploring deep space with Mars Cube One (Klesh et al., 2018); and exploring a galactic halo in the Milky Way galaxy with HaloSat (Kaaret et al., 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…CubeSat, a standardized satellite with a cube unit of 10 cm, is cost-and time-efficient because of its small size and standardization in terms of aspects such as structure and interface. It has been employed in experimental and challenging flying missions: demonstrating a deployable telescope with FalconSAT-7 (Andersen et al, 2012); exploring deep space with Mars Cube One (Klesh et al, 2018); and exploring a galactic halo in the Milky Way galaxy with HaloSat (Kaaret et al, 2019). Furthermore, the use of a formation or constellation of multiple CubeSats has been proposed as an alternative to huge space missions like the Dynamic Ionosphere CubeSat Experiment (DICE), in which two 1.5U CubeSats investigated the ionospheric storm enhanced density (Fish et al, 2014), as well as the SeaHawk, which observed changes force model that contains an 8 × 8 spherical harmonic gravity field (EGM2008 model), atmospheric drag (a modified Harris Priester atmospheric density model), and thirdbody perturbations (lunar and solar).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relative navigation technique with constrained GNSS data for formation‐flying CubeSat mission, CANYVAL‐C

2021

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This study introduces and verifies a relative navigation technique for two CubeSats in formation flying as part of the CANYVAL‐C mission. Because the mission requires precision and robustness subject to restricted computational complexity, the technique employs an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and raw GNSS data to achieve relative navigation. The relative navigation technique is composed of two parts: parameter‐tuning using an Adaptive Kalman Filter (AKF) in a ground station, and the application of the adaptively determined parameters to allow onboard EKF. Based on Hardware‐in‐the‐Loop Simulations (HILS), the relative positioning error of the EKF with adaptively determined parameters ranged from 10 to 20 cm on each axis (3σ) and satisfied the mission requirement of 1 m. The simulations confirm that the technique yields reliable relative navigation and a realistic error covariance without imposing a computational burden on the CubeSat, as well as reduces the time required for parameter tuning.

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FalconSAT-7: a membrane photon sieve CubeSat solar telescope

Cited by 8 publications

References 8 publications

Membrane–Fresnel Diffractive Lenses with High-Optical Quality and High-Thermal Stability

Membrane–Fresnel Diffractive Lenses with High-Optical Quality and High-Thermal Stability

A Color Restoration Algorithm for Diffractive Optical Images of Membrane Camera

Relative navigation technique with constrained GNSS data for formation‐flying CubeSat mission, CANYVAL‐C

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