Design and test of a novel solar imaging payload for small satellites

FalconSAT-7 (FS-7), a 3U CubeSat solar telescope, is the first-ever on-orbit demonstration of a lightweight deployable membrane primary optic that is twice the size of the host spacecraft. The telescope payload consists of the deployment structure, optical, electronic subsystems and occupying 1.5 U, while the rest of the volume is used for the bus, including satellite power, control, communications with the ground, etc. The deployment subsystem provides membrane deployment, positioning and tension with high precision for proper imaging, while the optical subsystem includes secondary optics with a camera to record images of the Sun at H-alpha. The electronics subsystem is used to control the primary optics deployment, focusing, image storage and transfer to the bus etc. We conducted an end-to-end flight optical subsystem test and a series of tests of the corrosion of the photon sieve due to atomic oxygen. The flight model build will be completed by October 2015with a launch date set for September 2016.