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 Sheffield and optical engineering specialists have tackled different aspects of these challenges. Using AM equipment at the Royce Discovery Centre in Sheffield (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