Nanosatellites, such as CubeSats, offer a way to greatly increase access to space-based imaging. Whether these telescopes are looking to space for astronomical measurements, or to earth to track climate and weather, the costs are fraction of the large-scale satellites.
The requirements of the nanosatellites are broadly the same as their large-scale counterparts, with an extreme priority on weight saving. As such, additive manufacturing (AM; 3D-printing) is seen as a highly desirable manufacturing route. Implementing lattices, reducing the number of parts and bespoke designs may all be useful if implemented successfully.
Several projects between the University of º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ and optical engineering specialists have tackled different aspects of these challenges. Using AM equipment at the Royce Discovery Centre in º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ (Aconity Mini, Aconity Lab, Arcam) prototype mirrors have been developed for future use. These have included a Cassegrain primary mirror with the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK-ATC) and secondary mirror with the Thai Space Consortium (TSC).
Further experiments have also used Royce equipment to investigate the best microstructures for AM mirrors. These have included:
- Defect removal with a Hot Isostatic Press (HIP) experiment
- Investigation of potential surface contamination with XRD analysis
- The effect of feedstock on resultant mirrors using various powder analysis techniques