Innovative lightweight baseplate solution for stable optical benches in space programmes

High precision space optics requires ultra stable lightweight platforms, which have to survive the launch loads and to maintain their stability under space environment. Such benches require a high planarity, small roughness and are usually made of the same material as the carried equipment. For space systems mass is a penalty, thus optical platforms are lightweighted by machining features. Besides of being not too mass efficient, this reduces significantly the load carrying capability of the base material. The challenge for us was to develop, qualify and deliver optical benches, providing a high mass reduction, while maintaining the load carrying capacity of the base material. Such an optical bench has been developed and built by Oerlikon Space and was equipped together with SESO with the high performing optical components for the flight model of the Aladin Mie Spectrometer for Astrium Toulouse. All tests have proven the high strength and stability of the adopted concept.