Abstract
The Surrey Space Centre (SSC) and Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) are collaborating in a Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation (CEOI) funded programme to develop a deployable optical telescope system for small satellites. Current Earth observation optical telescopes are launched with a fixed focal length that dictates the size of the satellite it is launched on. A deployable telescope offers the possibility of launching on smaller satellite platforms, reducing the cost, with no reduction in resolution because the focal length in orbit is the same. A trade-off study showed that a structure of a large diameter concentric tubes would provide a suitable structure. A novel deployable telescope mechanism is designed that utilises a gear and leadscrew arrangement to deploy. A breadboard model, consisting of flight materials and 3D printed parts, shows a high level of deployment repeatability. Future work includes more extensive testing of a development model.