Silicon Carbide Optics for Space Situational Awareness and Responsive Space Needs

Over the past 10 years the application of Silicon Carbide (SiC) materials to space based imaging systems has expanded. The aerospace community has long recognized the technical, cost, and schedule benefits associated with the material, and adoption of the technology is facilitated as more successful flight systems are demonstrated. SiC provides a number of technical advantages, as a result of superior material properties. The material can also be manufactured using near-net-shape fabrication processes which provide significant cost and schedule advantages compared with competing material technologies. These technical and manufacturing advantages make SiC uniquely well suited to address the needs associated with Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Responsive Space (RS) applications. The material has a low coefficient of thermal expansion, and a high thermal conductivity, allowing visible quality imaging in the presence of stressing, and changing, thermal loads. The material’s specific stiffness is high, approximately 70% of Beryllium, allowing stiff, lightweight optical systems to be produced. Passively athermal systems have been produced, demonstrating the ability of the material to provide visible quality imaging, without the need for actively controlled focus adjust mechanisms. In addition, SiC structural elements do not outgas, and have no issues with moisture absorption, allowing rapid on-orbit data acquisition. From the manufacturing perspective the material offers dramatic schedule benefits, these come primarily from L-3 SSG’s near-net-shape manufacturing process which allows complex, lightweighted optical and structural elements to be produced without the need for costly/time-consuming machining processes. These schedule advantages become more dramatic as the aperture of the system increases, and/or as the number of units increases. In this paper we provide an overview of the technical and manufacturing advantages associated with SiC, provide background with respect to the material’s flight heritage, and illustrate the advantages that can be obtained in applying the material to SSA and RS mission scenarios.