Multispectral Thermal Imager optical assembly performance and integration of the flight focal plane assembly

Tammy D. Henson; Leslie Krumel; Richard J. Blake; Steven C. Bender; Donald A. Byrd; R. Wynn Christensen; William M. Rappoport; GonYen Shen

doi:10.1117/12.366298

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27 October 1999 Multispectral Thermal Imager optical assembly performance and integration of the flight focal plane assembly

Tammy D. Henson, Leslie Krumel, Richard J. Blake, Steven C. Bender, Donald A. Byrd, R. Wynn Christensen, William M. Rappoport, GonYen Shen

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Proceedings Volume 3753, Imaging Spectrometry V; (1999) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.366298
Event: SPIE's International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1999, Denver, CO, United States

Abstract

The Multispectral Thermal Imager Optical Assembly (OA) has been fabricated, assembled, successfully performance tested, and integrated into the flight payload structure with the flight Focal Plane Assembly (FPA) integrated and aligned to it. This represents a major milestone achieved towards completion of this earth observing E-O imaging sensor that is to be operated in low earth orbit. The OA consists of an off- axis three mirror anastigmatic (TMA) telescope with a 36 cm unobscured clear aperture, a wide-field-of-view (WFOV) of 1.82 degrees along the direction of spacecraft motion and 1.38 degree across the direction of spacecraft motion. It also contains a comprehensive on-board radiometric calibration system. The OA is part of a multispectral pushbroom imaging sensor which employs a single mechanically cooled focal plane with 15 spectral bands covering a wavelength range from 0.45 to 10.7 micrometer. The OA achieves near diffraction-limited performance from visible to the long-wave infrared (LWIR) wavelengths. The two major design drivers for the OA are 80% enpixeled energy in the visible bands and radiometric stability. Enpixeled energy in the visible bands also drove the alignment of the FPA detectors to the OA image plane to a requirement of less than plus or minus 20 micrometer over the entire visible detector field of view (FOV). Radiometric stability requirements mandated a cold Lyot stop for stray light rejection and thermal background reduction. The Lyot stop is part of the FPA assembly and acts as the aperture stop for the imaging system. The alignment of the Lyot stop to the OA drove the centering and to some extent the tilt alignment requirements of the FPA to the OA.

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Tammy D. Henson, Leslie Krumel, Richard J. Blake, Steven C. Bender, Donald A. Byrd, R. Wynn Christensen, William M. Rappoport, and GonYen Shen "Multispectral Thermal Imager optical assembly performance and integration of the flight focal plane assembly", Proc. SPIE 3753, Imaging Spectrometry V, (27 October 1999); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.366298

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