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Goodrich's Electro-Optical Systems (EOS) designed, built,
integrated, tested, and delivered this 28 cm diameter,
high-performance, athermalized telescope system to observe faint
visible and ultraviolet sources (0.15 to 0.65 microns) from a
satellite in geosynchronous orbit. The telescope assembly was
mounted in a two-axis gimbal that provided coarse pointing and
despin. Fine pointing was provided by a scan mirror mechanism
and control system that is part of the telescope assembly. The
telescope operated successfully in space.
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Goodrich was responsible for the complete telescope assembly
design and fabrication, including the optics, structure, and
mechanisms, and the thermal, electronic, and contamination
control subsystems.
Key features of the VUE telescope included precision optics,
high-performance optical coatings, thermal stability, low scatter,
out-of-field baffling and high-energy quality at the focal plane.
VUE is a three-mirror astigmat, with a 2-meter effective focal
length, providing a square 0.85 degree field of view (FOV).
Consisting of a lightweight beryllium structure and flexure-mounted
super-polished low scatter Zerodur® optics, the system limits
straylight on the detectors to 2.2x10-14 Watts per
pixel. The optics are precisely aligned to contain 80% of the
energy within the focal spot diameter of 35 microns for the
visible and 110 microns for the UV.
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The VUE telescope was completed and delivered in just 9 months.
Zerodur is a registered trademark of Schott Glaswerke Corporation.
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