Optical: systems and elements – Compound lens system – Telescope
Patent
1991-08-02
1992-10-27
Henry, Jon W.
Optical: systems and elements
Compound lens system
Telescope
359637, 359366, 359429, G02B 1700, G02B 2304, G02B 2312, G02B 2710
Patent
active
051594897
ABSTRACT:
A large effective-aperture, low-cost optical telescope with diffraction-limited resolution enables ground-based observation of near-earth space objects. The telescope has a non-redundant, thinned-aperture array in a center-mount, single-structure space frame. It employs speckle interferometric imaging to achieve diffraction-limited resolution. The signal-to-noise ratio problem is mitigated by moving the wavelength of operation to the near-IR, and the image is sensed by a Silicon CCD. The steerable, single-structure array presents a constant pupil. The center-mount, radar-like mount enables low-earth orbit space objects to be tracked as well as increases stiffness of the space frame. In the preferred embodiment, the array has elemental telescopes with subaperture of 2.1 m in a circle-of-nine configuration. The telescope array has an effective aperture of 12 m which provides a diffraction-limited resolution of 0.02 arc seconds. Pathlength matching of the telescope array is maintained by an electro-optical system employing laser metrology. Speckle imaging relaxes pathlength matching tolerance by one order of magnitude as compared to phased arrays. Many features of the telescope contribute to substantial reduction in costs. These include eliminating the conventional protective dome and reducing on-site construction activites. The cost of the telescope scales with the first power of the aperture rather than its third power as in conventional telescopes.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3502387 (1970-03-01), Hadley
patent: 4856884 (1989-08-01), Fender et al.
Massie et al., "High-Resolution Imaging", Institutional Research & Development, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, May 25, 1989.
Oster et al., "Low-Cost, High-Resolution Telescopes for Imaging Low-Earth Orbit Satellites", SPIE Conf. Paper, Tuscon, Az., Feb. 1990.
Massie Norbert A.
Oster Yale
Henry Jon W.
Moser William R.
Sartorio Henry P.
The United States of America as represented by the United States
Valdes Miguel A.
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