Title
The ESA GAIA mission ; Designing in Silicon Carbide and related issues
Author
Braam, B.C.
Meijer, E.A.
Nijenhuis, J.N.
Vink, R.J.P.
Kamphues, F.G.
TNO Industrie en Techniek
Publication year
2009
Abstract
TNO is developing the Basic Angle Monitoring Opto-Mechanical Assembly for the GAIA mission of ESA, a space telescope that will create a map of the universe including distant stars and planets. GAIA is being built by EADS Astrium and scheduled for launch in 2011. Due to its stability and hardness properties, Silicon Carbide has been chosen for the structure, payload mirrors and most components of GAIA. The Basic Angle Monitoring subsystem was developed by TNO and is a metrology system for monitoring the angle between the two GAIA telescopes. With the Basic Angle Monitoring an Optical Path Difference as small as 1.5 picometers RMS can be measured. During the design phase of the Basic Angle Monitoring subsystem, TNO also developed solutions for ultra stable mounting of non-Silicon Carbide optical components. These components have to withstand launch with preservation of the alignment and retain optical properties from ambient to 100 K in vacuum. The manufacturing of off-axis Silicon Carbide mirrors of the Basic Angle Monitoring down to nm-level represented another challenge. A comprehensive program was conducted on SiC manufacturing of freeform optics. Status: the Basic Angle Monitoring has past the Critical Design Review.
Subject
Aviation
Basic angle monitoring
Critical design reviews
Design phase
Eads astrium
Freeform optics
Gaia mission
In-vacuum
Metrology systems
Non-silicon
Off-axis
Optical components
Optical path difference
Optomechanical
Launching
Mirrors
Optical properties
Optical telescopes
Silicon carbide
Monitoring
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http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:2f71328d-da27-4a6c-9ba7-cc2a6c49a7c5
TNO identifier
364452
ISBN
9781615679089
Source
60th International Astronautical Congress 2009, IAC 2009. 12 October 2009 through 16 October 2009. Daejeon. Conference code: 80592, 2, 1246-1253
Document type
conference paper