Investigating Semi-Rigid Kapton Panels for use in Space Telescopes

Paper number

IAC-05-C2.1.B.05

Author

Jonathan Black, University of Kentucky, United States

Year

2005

Abstract

The tens of thousands of images captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, and the scientific knowledge they have yielded, have created a strong base of public support in the US for billion dollar space-based astronomy missions.  The result has been a demand for significantly larger and more powerful space telescopes.  Two major challenges, however, must be overcome to substantially increase telescope performance beyond that of Hubble.  The first is to increase the diameter of the telescope mirror, which is limited by the size of the launch vehicle.  The second is to decrease the telescope mass, which is restricted by the lifting capacity of launch vehicles.

The primary mirror on Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), will be 6.5 meters in diameter and comprised of semi-rigid, flat panels of lightweight beryllium, which will be folded for launch and deployed on orbit.  Although this particular lightweight mirror technology is a marked improvement over the rigid, heavy ground glass mirror of Hubble, future missions will require even larger apertures, which this technology may not be able to accommodate.  The next generation of orbital aperture technology may therefore make use of ultra-lightweight and inflatable “gossamer” structures.

Ultra-lightweight and inflatable gossamer space structures, designed to be tightly packaged for launch and deployed or inflated once in space, have the potential to inexpensively and significantly enhance the capabilities of orbital telescopes and other satellites and spacecraft.  Designs under current study use a combination of ultra-thin membranes and light-weight inflatable booms and tori.  The extreme flexibility of these structures presents many challenges that have dictated unique approaches to sensing, testing, and modeling over the last decade.  To enable the future launch of apertures tens of meters in diameter, however, next-generation gossamer structures may have increased stiffness over early designs.  Such structures would combine ultra-low inertias with increased stiffness, constituting a new class of gossamer structures.  Static and dynamic characterization, modeling tools and procedures, and measurement method development must all be undertaken before these new, next-generation structures can be seriously considered for use in space.

This paper will detail the static characterization and numerical modeling of individual, hexagonal, thermalformed, ultra-lightweight, semi-rigid Kapton panels – one of the members of the new class of gossamer structures.  A methodology for using these data as well as numerical models to predict the behavior of an array of panels that may approach tens of meters in diameter will be outlined.  The static characterization will include the determination of the response of the panels to point and distributed forces under various support conditions, and an investigation of any non-linearities present in the panel behavior.  Numerical models will be correlated to the experimental data.

Abstract document

IAC-05-C2.1.B.05.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-05-C2.1.B.05.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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