Lightweight Design of a Kind of Primary Mirror Component for Space Telescope

With the improvement of space optics technology, lightweight design is becoming more and more important in the process of designing a space telescope. The primary mirror component is a main part in the space telescope system, the deadweight of it affects the weight of the whole telescope. The paper makes a lightweight design for a kind of primary mirror component. The primary mirror component has three parts. These three parts are primary mirror, supports, and support plate. Special hexagonal holes are dug on the back of primary mirror. Furthermore, the back of mirror has a particular curvy surface. The purpose is to make the primary mirror lighter. The supports are three bipod supports, which have some flexible links. The support plate adopts the symmetrical design, and most areas of it have been hollowed out with unique method for weight loss. What’s more, some region of support plate has stiffeners and ribs for high reliability. Structural analysis, which is based on the finite element method, is conducted under different kinds of load cases. The results of simulations show that the structure is reliable with a large safety margin. The structure has enough strength, stiffness, and stability. It indicates that lightweight design in this paper is feasible.