Radiation, Thermal Gradient and Weight: a threefold dilemma for PLATO

Demetrio Magrin; Roberto Ragazzoni; Giordano Bruno; Daniele Piazza; Francesco Borsa; Mauro Ghigo; Valery Mogulsky; Maria Bergomi; Federico Biondi; Simonetta Chinellato; Marco Dima; Jacopo Farinato; Davide Greggio; Marco Gullieuszik; Luca Marafatto; Valentina Viotto; Matteo Munari; Isabella Pagano; Daniela Sicilia; Stefano Basso; Daniele Spiga; Timothy Bandy; Mathias Brändli; Willy Benz; Thierry De Roche; Martin Rieder; Alexis Brandeker; Maximilian Klebor; Mario Schweitzer; Matthias Wieser; Anders Erikson; Heike Rauer

doi:10.1117/12.2232579

29 July 2016 Radiation, Thermal Gradient and Weight: a threefold dilemma for PLATO

Demetrio Magrin, Roberto Ragazzoni, Giordano Bruno, Daniele Piazza, Francesco Borsa, Mauro Ghigo, Valery Mogulsky, Maria Bergomi, Federico Biondi, Simonetta Chinellato, Marco Dima, Jacopo Farinato, Davide Greggio, Marco Gullieuszik, Luca Marafatto, Valentina Viotto, Matteo Munari, Isabella Pagano, Daniela Sicilia, Stefano Basso, Daniele Spiga, Timothy Bandy, Mathias Brändli, Willy Benz, Thierry De Roche, Martin Rieder, Alexis Brandeker, Maximilian Klebor, Mario Schweitzer, Matthias Wieser, Anders Erikson, Heike Rauer

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9904, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 990430 (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2232579
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2016, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Abstract

The project PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) is one of the selected medium class (M class) missions in the framework of the ESA Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program. The mean scientific goal of PLATO is the discovery and study of extrasolar planetary systems by means of planetary transits detection. The opto mechanical subsystem of the payload is made of 32 normal telescope optical units (N-TOUs) and 2 fast telescope optical units (FTOUs). The optical configuration of each TOU is an all refractive design based on six properly optimized lenses. In the current baseline, in front of each TOU a Suprasil window is foreseen. The main purposes of the entrance window are to shield the following lenses from possible damaging high energy radiation and to mitigate the thermal gradient that the first optical element will experience during the launch from ground to space environment. In contrast, the presence of the window increases the overall mass by a non-negligible quantity. We describe here the radiation and thermal analysis and their impact on the quality and risks assessment, summarizing the trade-off process with pro and cons on having or dropping the entrance window in the optical train.

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Demetrio Magrin, Roberto Ragazzoni, Giordano Bruno, Daniele Piazza, Francesco Borsa, Mauro Ghigo, Valery Mogulsky, Maria Bergomi, Federico Biondi, Simonetta Chinellato, Marco Dima, Jacopo Farinato, Davide Greggio, Marco Gullieuszik, Luca Marafatto, Valentina Viotto, Matteo Munari, Isabella Pagano, Daniela Sicilia, Stefano Basso, Daniele Spiga, Timothy Bandy, Mathias Brändli, Willy Benz, Thierry De Roche, Martin Rieder, Alexis Brandeker, Maximilian Klebor, Mario Schweitzer, Matthias Wieser, Anders Erikson, and Heike Rauer "Radiation, Thermal Gradient and Weight: a threefold dilemma for PLATO", Proc. SPIE 9904, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 990430 (29 July 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2232579

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