CESIC? - A NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR LIGHTWEIGHT AND COST EFFECTIVESPACE INSTRUMENT STRUCTURES AND MIRRORS

摘要

Since years Alcatel Space is interested in thedevelopment of a new material to produce lightweight,stiff, stable and cost effective structures and mirrors forspace instrument. Cesic? from ECM has been selectedfor its intrinsic properties (high specific modulus, highconductivity, quite low thermal expansion coefficientand high fracture toughness for a ceramic material),added to ample manufacturing capabilities.Under ESA responsibility, a flight representative opticalbench of Cesic? has been designed, manufactured andtested. The optical bench has been submitted withsuccess to intensive vibration tests up to 80 g on shakerwithout problem and was tested down to 30 K showingvery high stability.Cesic? is also envisaged for large and lightweight spacetelescope mirrors. Coatings on the Cesic? substratehave been developed and qualified for the moststringent optical needs.To prove the lightweight capability, a large Cesic?mirror D=950 mm with an area mass of less than 25Kg/m2 has been designed, sized again launch loads andWFE performance, and then manufactured.Cesic? is also envisaged for large future focal planeholding a large amount of detectors assuring an highstability thank to its high thermal conductivity. A fullsize Cesic? focal plan has been already successfullybuilt and tested.Based on these successful results, Alcatel Space is nowin position to propose for space project this technologymastered in common with ECM both, for mirrors andstructures with new innovative concepts thanks to themanufacturing capabilities of this technology.