Chapter 354: Space telescope lens problem

"Boss, if these important parts are produced in our country, then the overall performance of our communication satellites and exploration satellites will drop by 15%-20%! Even more than that, there is no way to satisfy the company’s performance. Communication and detection needs!
It is impossible for the space telescope, which the boss pays more attention to, to use domestic parts to replace it! Because if those low-performance parts are used, the entire space telescope can be said to be useless! And the most important lens problem I guess is that our domestic technology cannot make it barely usable! Let me give you an example, boss, you know.
Take the Hubble Space Telescope, a space telescope that is about to be retired. Its lens is the Hubble primary mirror that was polished in May 1979 by PerkinElmer of Dunbury, Connecticut.
The mirror and optical system of the telescope are the most critical parts, so there are very strict specifications in the design. In general telescopes, the accuracy of mirrors after polishing is about one-tenth of the wavelength of visible light, but because the observation range of space telescopes is from ultraviolet to near infrared.
Therefore, it needs ten times higher resolution power than previous telescopes, and the accuracy of its mirror after polishing reaches one-twentieth of the wavelength of visible light, which is about 30 nanometers.
PerkinElmer deliberately used an extremely complex computer-controlled polishing machine to polish the mirror, but there was a problem with the most cutting-edge technology; Kodak was commissioned to use traditional polishing technology to make a spare mirror (the mirror of Kodak is now Permanently preserved in the Smithsonian Institution).
In 1979, PerkinElmer began to grind lenses, using ultra-low expansion glass. In order to minimize the weight of the mirror, honeycomb lattices were used. Only the surface and the bottom surface are each inch of thick glass.
The polishing of the mirror lasted from 1979 to May 1981. The progress of the polishing has fallen behind and exceeded the budget. At this time, NASA reports began to question PerkinElmer's management structure.
In order to save money, NASA stopped supporting the production of lenses and postponed the launch date to October 1984. The lens was completed at the end of 1981 and was plated with 75nm thick aluminum to enhance reflection and 25nm thick magnesium fluoride protective layer.
Because the budget for the optical telescope portfolio continues to expand and the progress is also behind, doubts about PerkinElmer's ability to follow-up work continue. In response to what was described as an "undetermined and fickle daily report", NASA extended the launch date to April 1985.
However, PerkinElmer's progress continued to increase at a rate of one month per quarter, and the time delay also reached a continuous lagging behind every working day. NASA was forced to postpone the launch date, first to March 1986, and then to September 1986. At this time, the total cost of the entire project has reached US$1.175 billion.
A few weeks after the telescope was launched, the returned pictures showed serious problems with the optical system. Although the first image looks sharper than that of a ground-based telescope, the telescope clearly did not achieve the best focus, and the best image quality obtained was far below the original expectations.
The image of the point source is diffused into a circle with a radius of more than one arc second, instead of the standard in the design guidelines: the point diffuse function image is concentrated within 0.1 arc second in diameter and has concentric circles.
The analysis of the pattern defects showed that the root of the problem was that the shape of the primary mirror was worn out. The edge of the mirror is too flat, about 2.2 microns away from the desired position, but this difference causes catastrophic and serious spherical aberration. The reflected light from the edge of the mirror cannot be collected at the same focal point as the reflected light in the center.
Although the problem was solved by technical means later, from this example, the boss must have seen the difficulty of manufacturing parts such as lenses in the space telescope!
Let's talk about the lens of the James Webb Space Telescope. The mass of the James Webb Space Telescope is about 6.2 tons, which is about half of the Hubble Space Telescope. The primary mirror is made of beryllium, has a diameter of 6.5 meters and an area more than 5 times that of the Hubble Space Telescope. It can operate in an environment close to absolute zero (equivalent to minus 273.15 degrees Celsius).
The technology and time required to manufacture such high-performance lenses are also very long, so if our company develops such high-precision lenses by ourselves, then our space telescopes are estimated to have to wait a long time to go to the sky!
Moreover, our company has not entered such a field at present. If you want to develop such lenses, you need to start from scratch. Boss, you should not accept such a long wait, right?
What's more, we are not only encountering this problem. Although we have been studying other aspects of high-performance equipment, we are still a long way from success. Therefore, we thought of purchasing these parts from European and American countries first and completing our The current space telescope and satellite construction.
As for the components developed by ourselves can be used in future space telescopes and various satellites, the advantage of doing so is that there is no need to slow down the entire company's space program due to component problems! Kong Yuxiao explained in detail.
Hearing Kong Yu laughed like this, Lei Tiantang finally understood the reason why he came to him this time. The experts who participated in the space telescope and satellite projects are really not to blame for such a situation. They also considered very much. Well thought out, after all, they already have the action to develop these core components.
It’s just that the progress can’t keep up with the company’s space program~EbookFREE.me~ You must know that the most important engine problem of the rocket has been basically completed. After some tests, the rocket can be tested. At that time If the satellite and space telescope have not been completed, the rocket can't launch anything into space, right?
"Well, you ask them to send me a detailed catalog of parts that need to be purchased, as well as their specific parameters and performance requirements. Let me solve the problems of these parts!
However, I can only help you solve such things once or twice at most. After all, relying on such methods cannot help the company's long-term development. You know this too!
Therefore, the company can increase investment in the research and development of these parts! For businesses like lenses that we haven’t been involved in, it’s really slow to start from the beginning, but you can acquire a company like this and incorporate its experience and R&D accumulation into the company. I believe that with our current strength, There should be no problem at all to acquire such a company!
You can also use this method for other parts to solve the initial experience accumulation process. After all, it is difficult to go from zero to one, but from one to ten is much easier! "Lei Tiantang said after thinking about it.