The presentation will report on the Advanced Multilayer Adaptive Thin Shell (AMATS)
project aimed at developing actively controlled deployable primary reflectors with collecting
area significantly larger than the size of the satellite. The project, supported by the ESA
GSTP program, involves MateriaNova (Mons, Belgium) and Universite Libre de Bruxelles
(ULB). By utilizing a flexible polymer substrate material with an integrated piezoelectric
polymer control layer, the reflector can be folded into a small space while using active control
to compensate for thermal, viscoelastic and manufacturing errors. The targeted applications
are in the Long Wave Infrared (LWIR, λ = 10μm) which is gaining interest for Earth
observation, astronomical applications, and up- and downlink laser satellite communication
(because data transmission under adverse weather conditions is possible in LWIR). These
applications would benefit enormously from the increase of the reflector size while the surface
figure accuracy for LWIR seems to be achievable with active control.
The project builds on a previous demonstration of the control of a spherical thin polymer
shell using a piezoelectric polymer (PVDF-TrFE) activated by an array of independent
electrodes on the back side of the reflector. In the AMATS project, the design has been
improved by the addition of a thermal balancing layer, and the geometry is being adapted
to a petal-design suitable for folding into a 3U CubeSat.
The presentation will report on:
1. Progress in manufacturing of the petal polymer reflector.
2. The thermal response of the reflector.
3. The recent developments of a metrology system adapted to the in-lab measurements
of the surface figure of a petal spherical reflector with large aberrations, an extension
of the Software Configurable Optical Testing System (SCOTS) initially developed in
the University of Arizona.
4. The numerical simulation of the folding-deployment phases, the estimation of viscoelas-
tic aberration and their control.