Highly Accurate Inflatable Reflectors

Abstract : Analytic and experimental studies were performed to see if inflatable reflectors could be made with rms surface errors of less than 0.1 mm (a 1.0 mm capability had already been demonstrated). Surveys of film vendors resulted in the selection of several approaches including heat forming, laser-welding of gores, prestretching of gores, and gore reinforcement. Results show that inaccuracies less than 0.1 mm rms are feasible. The preferred approaches require heat forming, use of thick films and improved accuracy of flat pattern calculation.