Common interface visible sensor

The Lockheed Martin Optical Payload Center of Excellence (OPCoE) collaborated with government customers and leading companies in the aerospace and optics industries to field a space imaging instrument, achieving multi-spectral, wide field, high resolution imaging capability in a compact, lightweight, all reflective architecture. The heart of the instrument is an unobscured three mirror anastigmat collimator. The afocal design consists of a physical entrance pupil accepting a collimated input, an intrinsic internal focus and pupil, and in a compact folded geometry to achieve a balance between critical sampling, radiometric sensitivity, and field of view. Light-weighted, thermally stable materials and robust coatings coupled with low stress, thermal and dynamically stable optical mounts have demonstrated diffraction limited performance during test and over predicted mission conditions. Metrology features were made a central part of the optical component design to facilitate the use of spatial analysis tools and alignment techniques for merit function prescription optimization. The optical components are mounted to a composite egg crate bench, designed to reduce structural mass while ensuring rigid alignment of the optical components. Active thermal control reduces diurnal variations to the optical alignment and ensures stable optical performance. Design innovations include a filter wheel assembly designed to minimize exported force and torque and an internal radiometric calibrator based on high reliability light emitting diodes for focal plane gain calibration. The instrument currently hosts a large format staring focal plane for wide field imaging, but the flexibility of the design can accommodate various sensor packages.