Today there are many Earth Observation satellites in orbit which allow us to collect information which is used in many different applications. There is a drive to improve the quality of this imagery, such as its resolution and the frequency with which it can be collected. The quantity of pictures taken will be increased by launching more systems, the quality of the pictures depends, amongst other factors, on the system’s physical size. To serve those needs, bigger telescopes have to be launched more often. One of the ideas to keep launch costs affordable whilst increasing the sizes of the optical systems is to use deployable optical systems, which are comparatively light and small, but reach their large size once in space. However, positioning of the optical elements in such systems is critical to their performance. The goal of this dissertation is to examine the different thermal and mechanical challenges to the operation of deployable space telescopes for Earth Observation.

Download Thesis