Shrinked Telescope to Revolutionize UAV-Mounted Space Missions

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Optical sensors mounted on UAVs and drones can serve a vast array of space missions. However, their size and weight sometimes hinder the use of these sensors on small UAVs. Now, Lockheed Martin revealed the first images from an experimental, ultra-thin optical instrument, showing it could be possible to shrink space telescopes to a sliver of the size of today’s systems while maintaining equivalent resolution.

Weighing 90% less than a typical telescope, the Segmented Planar Imaging Detector for Electro-Optical Reconnaissance (SPIDER) opens a path for extremely lightweight optical instruments, allowing for more hosted payloads or smaller spacecraft, according to the company’s website. More broadly, the sensor technology has applications for aircraft and other vehicles—anywhere that depends on small optical sensors. The future could see UAVs with imagers laid flat underneath their wings, and cars could have imaging sensors that are flush against their grills.

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funded the SPIDER project research, and the company independently completed this phase of research at its Advanced Technology Center (ATC).

“This is generation-after-next capability we’re building from the ground up,” said Scott Fouse, ATC vice president. “Our goal is to replicate the same performance of a space telescope in an instrument that is about an inch thick. That’s never been done before. We’re on our way to make space imaging a low-cost capability so our customers can see more, explore more and learn more.”

The system uses tiny lenses to feed optical data divided and recombined in a photonic integrated circuit (PIC), which was originally designed for telecommunications at the University of California, Davis. Using these chips in a different way, Lockheed Martin researchers unlocked new potential for ultra-thin telescopes.

The tests involved a PIC aligned to a series of 30 lenses, each smaller than a millimeter across. An optical system simulated the distance from space to the ground, where scenes were illuminated and rotated.