Production of mirrors made of HB-Cesic~? for an airborne reconnaissance telescope system

摘要

In support of a new airborne telescope system the Multi-Spectral Telescope for a new Reconnaissance Program ECM was contracted by Carl Zeiss Optronics to produce 20 mirrors made of HB-Cesic~?, each mirror with a diameter of 315 mm. The contract requirements were that the mirrors remain stable under extreme mechanical and thermal loads and that the production schedule is 12 months.rnThe main challenges of the project were achieving consistent optical performance of the mirrors and meeting the tight schedule of delivering the mirrors, in lots of four, every two months for a total delivery time of twelve months.rnIn this paper we present the lessons learned in producing the HB-Cesic~? mirrors, including all the steps up to the final integration of the mirrors into the telescope system and establishing reliable repeatability of the production cycles.