Duration: 12 months
IDOM proposes to further develop the ESA patented ScanCam concept, a combined scanner-camera concept allowing up to 360 degrees rotation of line of sight (ESA PAT 608). The implementation proposed by ESA consists of a scanning mirror feeding the system at 45º, another fixed folding mirror working in double-pass and providing the image correction which might be needed for the imaging system and a concave mirror providing the power required by the system.
Although the applications of the invention are multiple (earth observation, optical communications, robotics, LIDAR systems, etc.), an implementation for earth observations is proposed by IDOM.
The feedback of several end users with interest in this development (ADS, TAS, Iceye, OpenCosmos), and whose interest letters are included, has been used to draft a first set of specifications which is to be discussed with ESA.
IDOM proposes to further develop an implementation of the system for a 100mm aperture earth observing camera with scanning capacity for acquisition configuration, jitter compensation, agility in case of alerts, etc. Needless to say the proposed concept is scalable to submetric resolution cameras (e.g. 500mm aperture and beyond).
For this implementation, the folding mirror described in ESA Patent is proposed to be replaced by alternative methods for improving the image quality rendered by a single mirror telescope: an entrance achromatic corrector working in double pass, a prime focus corrector of a combination of both.
Nevertheless, the focus will be put on the combined scanner-camera rotation mechanism and on the power/signal transfer mechanism. A preliminary configuration that could be easily implemented on the proposed breadboard is included in this document.
For this development IDOM proposes a team experienced in the development of optical and mechatronic systems like optical payloads [1][2] and ground-based telescopes [7][10] and instrument rotators and focal stations [3][4][9], among others.
