Open Access Paper
20 November 2017 Thales SESO’s hollow and massive corner cube solutions
Denis Fappani, Déborah Dahan, Vincent Costes, Clément Luitot
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Proceedings Volume 10564, International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2012; 1056430 (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2309121
Event: International Conference on Space Optics 2012, 2012, Ajaccio, Corsica, France
Abstract
For Space Activities, more and more Corner Cubes, used as solution for retro reflection of light (telemetry and positioning), are emerging worldwide in different projects. Depending on the application, they can be massive or hollow Corner Cubes. For corners as well as for any kind of space optics, it usual that use of light/lightened components is always a baseline for purpose of mass reduction payloads. But other parameters, such as the system stability under severe environment, are also major issues, especially for the corner cube systems which require generally very tight angular accuracies.

For the particular case of the hollow corner cube, an alternative solution to the usual cementing of the 3 reflective surfaces, has been developed with success in collaboration with CNES to guarantee a better stability and fulfill the weight requirements.. Another important parameter is the dihedral angles that have a great influence on the wavefront error. Two technologies can be considered, either a Corner Cubes array assembled in a very stable housing, or the irreversible adherence technology used for assembling the three parts of a cube. This latter technology enables in particular not having to use cement. The poster will point out the conceptual design, the manufacturing and control key-aspects of such corner cube assemblies as well as the technologies used for their assembling.
© (2017) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Denis Fappani, Déborah Dahan, Vincent Costes, and Clément Luitot "Thales SESO’s hollow and massive corner cube solutions", Proc. SPIE 10564, International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2012, 1056430 (20 November 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2309121
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