Optomechanical Design and Structural Analysis of Linear Astigmatism Free - Three Mirror System Telescope for CubeSat and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

We are developing an optomechanical design of infrared telescope for the CubeSat and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) which adapts the Linear Astigmatism Free- Three Mirror System in the confocal off-axis condition. The small entrance pupil (diameter of 40 mm) and the fast telescope (f-number of 1.9) can survey large areas. The telescope structure consists of three mirror modules and a sensor module, which are assembled on the base frame. The mirror structure has duplex layers to minimize a surface deformation and physical size of a mirror mount. All the optomechanical parts and three freeform mirrors are made from the same material, i.e., aluminum 6061-T6. The Coefficient of Thermal Expansion matching single material structure makes the imaging performance to be independent of the thermal expansion. We investigated structural characteristics against external loads through Finite Element Analysis. We confirmed the mirror surface distortion by the gravity and screw tightening, and the overall contraction/expansion following the external temperature environment change (from -30℃ to +30℃).