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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 253 records · Page 14
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NASA NTRS2019

NIRCam: The JWST Near-IR Camera and Slitless Spectrograph

NIRCam is the primary near-infrared camera for JWST. It is well-suited for a wide variety of star formation and other scientific studies and will also be used for aligning the JWST primary mirror segments and telescope. NIRCam will provide high sensitivity, high spatial resolution images in a variety of filters over the 0.6 - 5 μm wavelength region including coronagraphic modes and slitless spectroscopic capabilities. NIRCam consists of two identical optical modules that have adjacent 2.2' x 2.2' fields of view on the sky. Each module is composed of two channels that observe the same field at short (< 2.4 μm) or long (> 2.4 μm) wavelengths simultaneously, with optimized spatial sampling in each channel. NIRCam optical elements include narrow (R = 100), medium (R = 10), and wide (R <= 4) filters, coronagraphic imaging spot and bar masks, and grisms that provide wide-field or time-series slitless spectroscopy. These major NIRCam features will be introduced, and some applications to galactic star formation will be briefly presented.

Greene, Thomas↗
NASA NTRS2017

Keck Segment Surface Artifacts: Impacts on Segment Phasing and Image Quality

We show that the segments of the Keck telescopes su er from small but signi cant surface artifacts that limit segment phasing accuracy. Both the segment surface artifacts themselves and the limits they place on segment phasing have important implications for adaptive optics, high contrast imaging, and seeing limited observations. These surface artifacts are likely by-products of the segment polishing, most likely the Ion Beam Figuring (IBF) process that constitutes the nal step of the segment surface guring. The surface artifacts di ract a signi cant amount of light out past 3.5 arcseconds and generate chromatic e ects that limit segment phasing accuracy. We present on-sky measurements of the di racted intensity. Segment surface roughness measurements are also presented, which show that surface roughness is not the source of the problem. These results have direct relevance to segment manufacturing for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and other segmented mirror telescopes.

Brock, Neal↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TriTruss Strut-to-Joint Bond Test: Analysis and Setup

The TriTruss is a novel structural module developed by researchers at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) that can be used in space to assemble large backing structures for a variety of applications. One such application is the metering truss or primary mirror backbone support structure of an in-space assembled telescope (iSAT). For the iSAT application, the TriTruss will be supporting mirror segments, payloads and instruments, all of which require them to have robust structural integrity. Structural proof tests are needed to ensure the integrity of the bonded interface between the joint and structural struts that make up a TriTruss module. For the first phase of the analysis and test setup effort, described in this paper, a series of analyses were performed to determine the optimal setup for applying a single set of loads to a module to verify the integrity of the bonds. This paper describes all the test setup configurations and loads considered and summarizes the final set of loading states that were selected for proof testing each module.

TriTruss↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Exoplanet Yield Sensitivity for the Hybrid Lyot Coronagraph from end-to-end modeling for LUVOIR-A

NASA's future direct imaging flagship mission will require telescope mirror segmentation to survey a statistically significant population of nearby stellar systems by increasing aperture size beyond that achieved by traditional space-borne monolithic apertures thus far. Segmentation is a path for the size expansion, but it entails a challenge due to the introduction of temporal pupil discontinuities in terms of both phase and amplitude. Modeling of the integrated performance of the coronagraph with the expected dynamical profile of the telescope is an important step toward realistic estimates of the mission's science yields. We present results of a study using the hybrid Lyot coronagraph with a 15-m on-axis, segmented optical telescope assembly (OTA), akin to that of the Large UV / Optical /Infrared (LUVOIR) mission. We have developed a high-fidelity, end-to-end model as part of the Segmented Coronagraph Design and Analysis (SCDA) study that includes diffractive optical propagations at the 1e-10 contrast level across the optical train including the OTA and intermediate re-imaging optics inside the coronagraph instrument. We perform a sensitivity analysis to assess the contrast sensitivity to wavefront perturbations for a set of key telescope terms including segment-level low-order and mid-spatial frequency aberrations and evaluate expected exoplanet yields obtained in the presence of these sets of aberrations. Industry-provided segment-level wavefront aberration datasets involving the following mechanisms are input to the end-to-end model: (1) thermal gradients and accelerations, and (2) telescope dynamics including line-of-sight and segment jitter. Dynamically averaged PSFs in the presence of aberrations are fed into AYO (Altruistic Yield Optimization), a mission design reference simulator, that then assesses the scientific yield sensitivities.

high-contrast imaging↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Testing of Bonds in a TriTruss Module

The TriTruss is a novel structural module developed by researchers at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) that can be used in space to assemble large backing structures for a variety of applications. One such application is the metering truss or primary mirror backbone support structure of an in-space assembled telescope (iSAT). For the iSAT application, the TriTruss will be supporting mirror segments, payloads, and instruments, all of which require the TriTruss to have robust structural integrity. Structural proof tests are needed to ensure the integrity of the bonded interface between the joint and struts that make up a TriTruss module. The test setup configurations and loads to be applied to the TriTruss module will be described in this paper. Also, the results obtained from tests will be summarized, including a comparison with analytical results.

TriTruss, Finite Element Analysis, Testing, Design↗
NASA NTRS2023

Elastic Modulus Testing for TriTruss Struts

The TriTruss is a novel structural module developed by researchers at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) that can be used in space to assemble large backing structures for a variety of applications. One such application is the metering truss and primary mirror backbone support structure of an in-space assembled telescope(iSAT). For the iSAT application, the TriTruss will be supporting mirror segments, payloads, and instruments, all of which require the TriTruss to have robust structural integrity. An accurate elastic modulus value is crucial to the finite element analysis(FEA) of the structure. Initial testing indicated that the equivalent elastic modulus provided by the manufacturer and used in the analyses did not accurately predict the behavior of the structure. In this paper, the in-house testing method developed at LaRC to accurately measure the equivalent elastic modulus of the composite struts for use in the analyses is described. A tensile and compressive equivalent elastic modulus was computed from the data obtained in this test. The testing resulted in a tensile equivalent elastic modulus of 24.6 Msi (standard deviation of 0.888 Msi) or 169 GPa (standard deviation of 6.20 GPa) and a compressive equivalent elastic modulus of 22.8 Msi (standard deviation of 0.780 Msi) or 157 GPa(standard deviation of 5.38 GPa) for the single wall thickness struts. For double wall thickness struts, the testing resulted in a tensile equivalent elastic modulus of32.1 Msi (standard deviation of 1.003 Msi) or 221 GPa (standard deviation of 6.91GPa) and a compressive equivalent elastic modulus of 31.9 Msi (standard deviation of 1.123) or 220 GPa (standard deviation of 7.74 GPa).1

TriTruss↗
NASA NTRS2024

Structural Characterization of a TriTruss Module

The TriTruss is a novel structural module developed by researchers at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) that can be used in space to assemble large support structures for a variety of applications. One such application is the metering truss or primary mirror backbone support structure of an In-Space Assembled Telescope (iSAT). For the iSAT application, the TriTruss will be supporting mirror segments, payloads, and instruments, all of which require the TriTruss to have a high stiffness. Structural characterization from testing and analysis is needed to ensure the integrity of the struts that make up a TriTruss module is maintained when subjected to loads representative of the application. The test setup and loads applied to the TriTruss module as well as the analytical methods used to predict the response of the structure under conditions representative of those implemented during testing will be discussed. Also, the results obtained from testing and analysis will be summarized. The goal for the characterization study was to achieve a correlation within 10% between the test data and the analysis. Overall, the correlation varied for the struts with a few struts still having a larger error margin after further studies were conducted to improve the correlation through additional analysis.

Characterization↗
NASA NTRS2018

Mirror Design Study for a Segmented HabEx System

NASA is exploring telescope and mirror technology options to meet the demanding science goals of the proposed HabEx space telescope. A key priority for the HabEx mission concept would be to leverage affordable telescope solutions that can meet challenging telescope performance requirements with a demanding program timeline. The baseline approach for HabEx is to use an unobscured, monolithic primary mirror with a coronagraph to optimize system performance. NASA is performing an initial study to investigate the feasibility of a HabEx Lite concept which would not leverage a coronagraph and would therefore, have lower exoEarth yield as a consequence, but could provide system mass, cost, and schedule advantages. The HabEx Lite concept leverages replicated, ULE® mirror segments to provide an attractive, alternative telescope architecture to meet the HabEx threshold mission needs. We present the initial mirror design and performance assessment for the HabEx Lite concept.

Schulz, Kevin↗
NASA NTRS2002

Global Radius of Curvature Estimation and Control for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope

A system, which estimates the global radius of curvature (GroC) and corrects for changes in GroC on a segmented primary mirror has been developed for and verified on McDonald Observatory's Hobby Eberly Telescope (HET). The GroC estimation and control system utilizes HET's primary mirror control (PMC) system and the Segment Alignment Maintenance System (SAMS), an inductive edge sensor system. A special set of boundary conditions is applied to the derivation of the optimal edge match control. The special boundary conditions allow the further derivation of an observer, which enables estimation and control of the Groc mode to within HET's specification. The magnitude of the GroC mode can then be controlled despite the inability of the SAMS edge sensor system, by itself, to observe or control the GroC mode. The observer can be extended to any segmented mirror telescope. It will be shown that the observer improves with accuracy as the number of segments increases. This paper presents the mathematical theory of the observer. Simulation results will demonstrate the inherent accuracy and robustness of the system. Performance verification data from the HET will be presented.

Rakoczy, John↗
NASA NTRS2012

Dispersed Fringe Sensing Analysis - DFSA

Dispersed Fringe Sensing (DFS) is a technique for measuring and phasing segmented telescope mirrors using a dispersed broadband light image. DFS is capable of breaking the monochromatic light ambiguity, measuring absolute piston errors between segments of large segmented primary mirrors to tens of nanometers accuracy over a range of 100 micrometers or more. The DFSA software tool analyzes DFS images to extract DFS encoded segment piston errors, which can be used to measure piston distances between primary mirror segments of ground and space telescopes. This information is necessary to control mirror segments to establish a smooth, continuous primary figure needed to achieve high optical quality. The DFSA tool is versatile, allowing precise piston measurements from a variety of different optical configurations. DFSA technology may be used for measuring wavefront pistons from sub-apertures defined by adjacent segments (such as Keck Telescope), or from separated sub-apertures used for testing large optical systems (such as sub-aperture wavefront testing for large primary mirrors using auto-collimating flats). An experimental demonstration of the coarse-phasing technology with verification of DFSA was performed at the Keck Telescope. DFSA includes image processing, wavelength and source spectral calibration, fringe extraction line determination, dispersed fringe analysis, and wavefront piston sign determination. The code is robust against internal optical system aberrations and against spectral variations of the source. In addition to the DFSA tool, the software package contains a simple but sophisticated MATLAB model to generate dispersed fringe images of optical system configurations in order to quickly estimate the coarse phasing performance given the optical and operational design requirements. Combining MATLAB (a high-level language and interactive environment developed by MathWorks), MACOS (JPL s software package for Modeling and Analysis for Controlled Optical Systems), and DFSA provides a unique optical development, modeling and analysis package to study current and future approaches to coarse phasing controlled segmented optical systems.

Sigrist, Norbert↗
NASA NTRS2000

Gasdynamic Mirror Fusion Propulsion Experiment

A gasdynamic mirror (GDM) fusion propulsion experiment is currently being constructed at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to test the feasibility of this particular type of fusion device. Because of the open magnetic field line configuration of mirror fusion devices, they are particularly well suited for propulsion system applications since they allow for the easy ejection of thrust producing plasma. Currently, the MSFC GDM is constructed in three segments. The vacuum chamber mirror segment, the plasma injector mirror segment, and the main plasma chamber segment. Enough magnets are currently available to construct up to three main plasma chamber segments. The mirror segments are also segmented such that they can be expanded to accommodate new end plugging strategies with out requiring the disassembly of the entire mirror segment. The plasma for the experiment is generated in a microwave cavity located between the main magnets and the mirror magnets. Ion heating is accomplished through ambipolar diffusion. The objective of the experiment is to investigate the stability characteristics of the gasdynamic mirror and to map a region of parameter space within which the plasma can be confined in a stable steady state configuration. The mirror ratio, plasma density, and plasma "b" will be varied over a range of values and measurements subsequently taken to determine the degree of plasma stability.

Emrich, Bill↗
NASA NTRS2016

Design and Analysis of an X-Ray Mirror Assembly Using the Meta-Shell Approach

Lightweight and high resolution optics are needed for future space-based x-ray telescopes to achieve advances in high-energy astrophysics. Past missions such as Chandra and XMM-Newton have achieved excellent angular resolution using a full shell mirror approach. Other missions such as Suzaku and NuSTAR have achieved lightweight mirrors using a segmented approach. This paper describes a new approach, called meta-shells, which combines the fabrication advantages of segmented optics with the alignment advantages of full shell optics. Meta-shells are built by layering overlapping mirror segments onto a central structural shell. The resulting optic has the stiffness and rotational symmetry of a full shell, but with an order of magnitude greater collecting area. Several meta-shells so constructed can be integrated into a large x-ray mirror assembly by proven methods used for Chandra and XMM-Newton. The mirror segments are mounted to the meta-shell using a novel four point semi-kinematic mount. The four point mount deterministically locates the segment in its most performance sensitive degrees of freedom. Extensive analysis has been performed to demonstrate the feasibility of the four point mount and meta-shell approach. A mathematical model of a meta-shell constructed with mirror segments bonded at four points and subject to launch loads has been developed to determine the optimal design parameters, namely bond size, mirror segment span, and number of layers per meta-shell. The parameters of an example 1.3 m diameter mirror assembly are given including the predicted effective area. To verify the mathematical model and support opto-mechanical analysis, a detailed finite element model of a meta-shell was created. Finite element analysis predicts low gravity distortion and low sensitivity to thermal gradients.

module↗
NASA NTRS2016

Meta-shell Approach for Constructing Lightweight and High Resolution X-Ray Optics

Lightweight and high resolution optics are needed for future space-based x-ray telescopes to achieve advances in high-energy astrophysics. Past missions such as Chandra and XMM-Newton have achieved excellent angular resolution using a full shell mirror approach. Other missions such as Suzaku and NuSTAR have achieved lightweight mirrors using a segmented approach. This paper describes a new approach, called meta-shells, which combines the fabrication advantages of segmented optics with the alignment advantages of full shell optics. Meta-shells are built by layering overlapping mirror segments onto a central structural shell. The resulting optic has the stiffness and rotational symmetry of a full shell, but with an order of magnitude greater collecting area. Several meta-shells so constructed can be integrated into a large x-ray mirror assembly by proven methods used for Chandra and XMM-Newton. The mirror segments are mounted to the meta-shell using a novel four point semi-kinematic mount. The four point mount deterministically locates the segment in its most performance sensitive degrees of freedom. Extensive analysis has been performed to demonstrate the feasibility of the four point mount and meta-shell approach. A mathematical model of a meta-shell constructed with mirror segments bonded at four points and subject to launch loads has been developed to determine the optimal design parameters, namely bond size, mirror segment span, and number of layers per meta-shell. The parameters of an example 1.3 m diameter mirror assembly are given including the predicted effective area. To verify the mathematical model and support opto-mechanical analysis, a detailed finite element model of a meta-shell was created. Finite element analysis predicts low gravity distortion and low thermal distortion. Recent results are discussed including Structural Thermal Optical Performance (STOP) analysis as well as vibration and shock testing of prototype meta-shells.

Lightweight and high resolution optics↗
NASA NTRS1984

Nonstandard representations of aspheric surfaces in a telescope design

Space-based telescopes for sub-mm astronomy may require large, segmented primary mirrors. While spherical segments are the easiest to manufacture and test, a fast sphere produces large aberrations which must be corrected by one or more aspheric surfaces. Attention is presently given to an f/10 system with an f/0.7 spherical primary mirror and a field of view of + or - 1.5 min of arc. The third and fourth mirrors are conics, and the secondary is a 24th-degree power series on a base sphere. For sub-mm astronomy, a reasonable target for this design is a diffraction-limited image at 30 microns. In an effort to improve performance, the Wassermann-Wolf (1949) approach to aspheric design was applied.

Rodgers, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Spherical Primary Optical Telescope (SPOT): An Architecture Demonstration for Cost-effective Large Space Telescopes

This paper summarizes efforts underway at the Goddard Space Flight Center to demonstrate a new type of space telescope architecture that builds on the rigid, segmented telescope heritage of the James Webb Space Telescope but that solves several key challenges for future space telescopes. The architecture is based on a cost-effective segmented spherical primary mirror combined with a unique wavefront sensing and control system that allows for continuous phasing of the primary mirror. The segmented spherical primary allows for cost-effective 3-meter class (eg, Midex and Discovery) missions as well as enables 30-meter telescope solutions that can be manufactured in a reasonable amount of time and for a reasonable amount of money. The continuous wavefront sensing and control architecture enables missions in low-earth-orbit and missions that do not require expensive stable structures and thermal control systems. For the 30-meter class applications, the paper discusses considerations for assembling and testing the telescopes in space. The paper also summarizes the scientific and technological roadmap for the architecture and also gives an overview of technology development, design studies, and testbed activities underway to demonstrate it s feasibility.

Feinberg, Lee↗
NASA NTRS2004

Spherical Primary Optical Telescope (SPOT): An Architecture Demonstration for Cost-effective Large Space Telescopes

This paper summarizes efforts underway at the Goddard Space Flight Center to demonstrate a new type of space telescope architecture that builds on the rigid segmented telescope heritage of the James Webb Space Telescope but that solves several key challenges for future space telescopes. The architecture is based on a cost-effective segmented spherical primary mirror combined with a unique wavefront sensing and control system that allows for continuous phasing of the primary mirror. The segmented spherical primary allows for cost-effective 3-meter class (e.g., Midex and Discovery) missions as well as enables 30-meter telescope solutions that can be manufactured in a reasonable amount of time and for a reasonable amount of money. The continuous wavefront sensing and control architecture enables missions in low-earth-orbit and missions that do not require expensive stable structures and thermal control systems. For the 30-meter class applications, the paper discusses considerations for assembling and testing the telescopes in space. The paper also summarizes the scientific and technological roadmap for the architecture and also gives an overview of technology development, design studies, and testbed activities underway to demonstrate its feasibility.

Feinberg, Lee D.↗