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Tethered Formation Configurations: Meeting the Scientific Objectives of Large Aperture and Interferometric ScienceWith the success of the Hubble Space Telescope, it has become apparent that new frontiers of science and discovery are made every time an improvement in imaging resolution is made. For the HST working primarily in the visible and near-visible spectrum, this meant designing, building, and launching a primary mirror approximately three meters in diameter. Conventional thinking tells us that accomplishing a comparable improvement in resolution at longer wavelengths for Earth and Space Science applications requires a corresponding increase in the size of the primary mirror. For wavelengths in the sub-millimeter range, a very large telescope with an effective aperture in excess of one kilometer in diameter would be needed to obtain high quality angular resolution. Realistically a single aperture this large is practically impossible. Fortunately such large apertures can be constructed synthetically. Possibly as few as three 34 meter diameter mirrors flying in precision formation could be used to collect light at these longer wavelengths permitting not only very large virtual aperture science to be carried out, but high-resolution interferometry as well. To ensure the longest possible mission duration, a system of tethered spacecraft will be needed to mitigate the need for a great deal of propellant. A spin-stabilized, tethered formation will likely meet these requirements. Several configurations have been proposed which possibly meet the needs of the Space Science community. This paper discusses two of them, weighing the relative pros and cons of each concept. The ultimate goal being to settle on a configuration which combines the best features of structure, tethers, and formation flying to meet the ambitious requirements necessary to make future large synthetic aperture and interferometric science missions successful.
Document ID
20010067782
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Farley, Rodger E. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Quinn, David A. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Brodeur, Stephen J.
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2001
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Meeting Information
Meeting: AIAA Space 2001 Conference
Country: Unknown
Start Date: August 27, 2001
End Date: August 31, 2001
Sponsors: American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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