Corner cube model for internal metrology system of Space Interferometer Mission (SIM)
A corner cube (CC) articulation model has been developed to evaluate the SIM internal metrology (IntMet) optical delay bias (with the accuracy of picometer) due to the component imperfections, such as vertex offset, reflection coating index error, dihedral error, and surface figure error at each facet. This physics-based and MATLAB-implemented geometric optics model provides useful guidance on the flight system design, integration, and characterization. The first portion of this paper covers the CC model details. Then several feature of the model, such as metrology beam footprint visualization, roofline straddling/crossing analysis, and application to drive the sub-system design and the error budget flow-down, are demonstrated in the second part.