Laminated electroformed shape memory composite for deployable light-weight optics

Advances in earth and space instrumentation will come from future optical systems that provide large, deployable collecting areas of low areal mass density (< 10 kg/sq meter), affordable costs of fabrication ($10k/sq meter), and production times of a few years or less. Laminated optics comprised of an electroformed, replicated nickel optical surface supported by a reinforced shape memory resin composite substrate have the potential to meet the requirements for rapid fabrication of lightweight, monolithic, stowable, large optics, where large is defined to be 8 meters in diameter or larger. The high stiffness of a deployable composite substrate and a high quality, thin, electroformed metal optical surface combine the best properties of these disparate materials to provide a robust yet lightweight mirror system to meet the needs of future missions. The unique properties of shape memory resins in the composite provide a larger range of design parameters for production of usable optics. Results are presented from optical and structural tests of various surface and substrate constructions that may be solutions to the key issues, which are primarily material interface stress control, stability, and deployment repeatability. Initial requirements analysis and material properties measurements that determine both system and individual material target performance are presented.