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The American miniature satellite that makes a huge difference in space

Recently, a miniature satellite with an unusual telescope was launched from the International Space Station. The tasks of the DeMi CubeSat satellite look civilian - looking at distant space objects in the form of stars and exoplanets, but this program is overseen by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Everything is unusual about the DeMi telescope - from a mirror about 2.5 cm in diameter to an intermediate mirror with adjustable deformation.
DeMi Kubsat (Deformable Mirror) was developed by the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The space platform (cubsat) was designed by Blue Canyon Technologies. The mini-satellite boarded the ISS in February this year. It was launched in orbit on July 13th. After that, the satellite successfully contacted and started testing. The mission is expected to last about a year.
The idea of ​​using deformable (flexible) mirrors is that the uneven heating of the mirror in space, vibration, radiation and other factors lead to distortion of the image captured by the telescope. An intermediate mirror with a controlled curvature of the surface is able to compensate for these distortions in real time and transmit an ultra sharp image of distant and even obscure objects next to luminous objects - for example, images of exoplanets next to their brightest fixtures.



The curvature of the deformable mirror surface is controlled by tiny MEMS microelectromechanical matrices. There are 140 such mechanisms, each armed with nanorods to change the curvature of the mirror. About 50 of them are involved in calibrating the mirror surface using built-in lasers, which allows you to adjust the mirror to eliminate distortions in the image.
This project promises to lead to the emergence of space telescopes of very compact dimensions, with the ability to capture images of unprecedented sharpness of stars and other objects in deep space. But is this the interest of the American armed forces? Would you like to know how he throws objects on the floor?

AVnews