The mounting system of lenses in ASPIICS coronagraph

Abstract

This article describes the mounting system of lenses in a coronagraph ASPIICS (Association of Spacecraft for Polarimetric Imaging Investigation of the Corona of the Sun). ASPIICS is developed and produced in cooperation of twenty partners from seven countries. It is a part of the ESA's PROBA-3 mission, which includes a formation flight of a pair of satellites at orbit. Coronagraph itself consists of three objectives, where the last one is composed by one objective tube for each lens plus holder and Lyot stop. To achieve high accuracy of mounting of the individual lenses, it was necessary to achieve tight geometric and dimensional tolerances for manufacturing of the objectives barrels. In order to minimize the stress and to prevent the displacement of the lens from ideal position during a temperature change on orbit, an athermal solution was proposed. This is achieved by inserting a Teflon ring of a suitable thickness between the lens surface, objective barrel and the spring washer with a precisely defined contact force. It was necessary to find a suitable technological process of manufacturing, because of the specific behavior of PTFE during turning and complex design of other parts. All parameters of mounting system were repeatedly verified by a thermomechanical analysis in FEM software, based on tests of real parts.