The next generation of space telescopes will be designed to meet increasingly challenging science goals. The operating environment and required precision of these telescopes will make complete verification via ground tests impossible, and will place a greater reliance on numerical simulation. The current state of the art in thermal, mechanical and optical modeling involves three disparate computational models, several analysis codes and tools to transition results between these models. However, the active controls necessary to meet the next generation of requirements for space telescopes will require integrated thermal, structural, optical and controls analysis. To meet these challenges, JPL has developed Cielo, an in-house finite element tool capable of multi-physics simulations using a common finite element model, for thermal, structural and optical aberration analysis. In this paper, we will discuss the use of Cielo for analysis of a coronagraph and an occulter designed to observe Earth-like planets around nearby stars. We will compare thermal and structural results from Cielo with results from commercial off the shelf (COTS) tools to verify the new approach. We will perform variations of key parameters to demonstrate how margins and uncertainties can be quantified using the new approach.

Date Published: 25 August 2009
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 7440, Techniques and Instrumentation for Detection of Exoplanets IV, 74400U (25 August 2009); doi: 10.1117/12.828340

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7440:
Techniques and Instrumentation for Detection of Exoplanets IV
Stuart B. Shaklan, Editor(s)