Surface Control of Actuated Hybrid Space Mirrors

Abstract

This paper presents active surface control techniques for space mirrors. These techniques use adaptive optics concepts for correcting aberration in images due to air turbulence. Due to mirror surface error, a reference beam can be distorted and this error is measured by a wavefront sensor. A control system is used to provide input to the actuators based on the wavefront errors. This paper discusses the control techniques and experimental results for mirror surface control. This technology has great potential for reducing mission risk and cost for space telescopes with large mirrors. This paper presents active surface control techniques for space mirrors. These techniques use adaptive optics concepts for correcting aberration in images due to air turbulence. Due to mirror surface error, a reference beam can be distorted and this error is measured by a wavefront sensor. A control system is used to provide input to the actuators based on the wavefront errors. This paper discusses the control techniques and experimental results for mirror surface control. This technology has great potential for reducing mission risk and cost for space telescopes with large mirrors. This paper presents active surface control techniques for space mirrors. These techniques use adaptive optics concepts for correcting aberration in images due to air turbulence. Due to mirror surface error, a reference beam can be distorted and this error is measured by a wavefront sensor. A control system is used to provide input to the actuators based on the wavefront errors. This paper discusses the control techniques and experimental results for mirror surface control. This technology has great potential for reducing mission risk and cost for space telescopes with large mirrors.