Francis Bennet, Australian National University; Doris Grosse, Australian National University; Marcus Lingham, Australian National University; Visa Korkiakoski, Australian National University; T. Travouillon, Australian National University; Celine d’Orgeville, Australian National University; Ben Sheard, EOS Space Systems; Craig Smith, EOS Space Systems
Keywords: Adaptive optics, space environment management, photon pressure
Abstract:
Adaptive optics can be used for more than astronomical imaging with large telescopes. The Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) and the Space Environment Management Research Centre (SERC) at the Mount Stromlo Observatory in Canberra, Australia, have been developing adaptive optics (AO) for space environment management.
Turbulence in the atmosphere causes optical signals to become degraded during propagation, which reduces the effective aperture of your transmitting or receiving telescope. An AO system measures and corrects for the turbulence in the atmosphere, allowing for greater resolution of optical signals. AO can be used to correct a laser beam propagating from the ground into space for space situational awareness. We are developing an AO system to correct a high-power CW laser to measure the flux in-orbit. The ultimate goal of this project is to provide a photon pressure experiment in which a ground-based laser is used to perturb the orbit of a debris object.
SERC is launching a payload consisting of two photodiodes and beacon lights into a low Earth orbit in order to measure the flux of the ground-based laser and AO system. This will provide information on the performance of the AO system, telescope, and confirm our atmospheric propagation models and simulations. We present simulations along with experimental results for the development of space-based photodiodes which can be used to directly measure AO system performance with a ground-based laser.
Date of Conference: September 11-14, 2018
Track: Poster