Hybrid Electrostatic/Flextensional Deformable Membrane Mirror for Lightweight, Large Aperture and Cryogenic Space Telescopes, Phase II

TRS Technologies proposes innovative hybrid electrostatic/flextensional membrane deformable mirror capable of large amplitude aberration correction for large aperture and light weight space telescopes, and proposes to investigate the performances of single crystal piezoelectric actuators in space environment. The innovative hybrid deformable mirror concept is expected to eliminate actuator cross talk in electrostatic membrane mirror, while the large stroke (> 300 um) flextensional actuators provide large dynamic range by more than an order of magnitude over the current state of the art. The proposed membrane DM retains the characteristics of membrane mirrors such as light weight, adaptable to large aperture and low cost. Flextensional actuator arrays with stroke of > 300 um will be developed and a hybrid electrostatic/flextensional membrane deformable mirror will be prototyped and characterized. The single crystal piezoelectric actuators produced at TRS offer large stroke, low hysteresis, and an excellent cryogenic strain response. Further investigation on using single crystal piezoelectric actuators in space environment will explore the possibility of using low profile, lightweight, and high performance piezoelectric actuations for positioning, alignment and shape control in space applications.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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