Optical: systems and elements – Compound lens system – Telescope
Patent
1990-05-16
1992-04-28
Henry, Jon W.
Optical: systems and elements
Compound lens system
Telescope
359429, 359350, 359577, 359618, G02B 2304, G02B 2306, G02B 2316, G02B 720
Patent
active
051081687
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 employes 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 a 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 activities. The cost of the telescope scales with the first power of the aperture rather than its third power as in conventional telescopes.
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Carnahan L. E.
Gaither Roger S.
Henry Jon W.
Moser William R.
The United States of America as represented by the United States
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