One Novel Distributed Space Telescope With Payload Formation

Abstract

Large aperture space technology is critical for next-step astrophysics missions with high resolution requirement. The distributed telescope has been proven as an appealing solution to break the technical limitation in obtaining large apertures. However, the stringent interference imaging condition puts forward extremely high control accuracy requirement on the distributed telescope which is still a challenge task and need to be further studied. This paper thus presents one distributed space telescope with payload formation by synthesizing the non-contact electro-magnetic actuators. The distributed optical apertures are connected by using the deployed mechanical structure while the non-contact actuators are further employed for high precision payload formation. Large equivalent aperture is obtained due to the achievable long baseline configuration, in addition, the ultra-high control accuracy of the distributed telescope is guaranteed. The dynamics modeling and the corresponding control strategy are also provided. The effectiveness of the proposed distributed space telescope is evaluated using simulation studies.