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US 7,009,764 B1Granted
Multi-aperture high fill factor telescope
AssigneeLockheed Martin Corporation
InventorsRobert Dayton Sigler, Alan Lee Ducan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A space-based multi-aperture telescope is capable of achieving high fill factors, on the order of at least 50% and more preferably at least 80%. High fill factors can be achieved according to the present invention by providing a combiner section that combines the light collected by plural sub-aperture telescopes at the exit pupil of the telescope.
Claims32
A high fill factor telescope, comprising:
- a collector section, the collector section comprising a plurality of sub-aperture telescopes disposed to collect light from an image;
- a combiner section, the combiner section comprising a plurality of mirrors;
- and
- a relay section for relaying the light from the collector section to the combiner section;
- wherein the combiner section further comprises an array of mirrors, each mirror in the array being located substantially at a real exit pupil of each of the sub-aperture collector telescopes, and each mirror in the array being disposed to combine light from the plurality of sub-aperture telescopes and to focus the combined light at an image plane.
2 more elements
A space-based multi-aperture telescope comprising:
- a plurality of sub-aperture telescopes which are deployable in space so as to form a multi-operative telescope array having a diameter of at least about eight meters, and wherein the array of sub-aperture telescopes have a fill factor of at least about 50% and wherein the space-based multi-aperture telescope further comprises a combiner section having an array of mirrors, each mirror in the array being located substantially at the real exit pupil of each of the sub-aperture collector telescopes so as to produce a substantially unvignetted field of view.
An optical system for use in space, comprising:
- plural collector means for collecting light from object space;
- and
- relay means for relaying the collected light to a combiner means, the combiner means comprising an optical array of mirrors, each mirror in the array being located substantially at a real exit pupil of one of the plural collector means, and
- wherein the optical array has a fill factor of at least about 50%.
1 more element
A method of achieving a fill factor of at least about 50% in a multi-aperture telescope system, comprising:
- collecting light from a plurality of sub-aperture telescopes;
- and
- relaying the collected light with relay optical components to a combining section which combines the relayed light with an array;
- and
- an array of mirrors, wherein one mirror in the array is located substantially at a real exit pupil of each of the sub-aperture collector telescopes.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.