ABSL Space Products completes ALFA-F Project
25th January 2008
ABSL Space Products is proud to be able to announce the successful completion of the ALFA-F project for Thales Alenia Space.
This pre-development work on a high resolution optical filter system for a state-of-the-art LIDAR instrument was undertaken with project partner LIDAR Technologies. The project demonstrated how the fragile optics of the system can be successfully protected against the mechanical demands of a satellite launch environment. Having overcome the design challenges of the precise mounting of delicate, high-precision optical lenses and other components and in protecting them against the stresses imposed both by the launch itself and in the operational environment, the testing of the assembly was successfully completed, leading to the space qualification of the High Resolution Filter design.
Commented Dr Rob Bond, Project Manager at ABSL responsible for the successful conclusion of the work, “This challenging but ultimately very successful ruggedisation of sensitive optical filter assemblies for operation in space will provide the basis for further developments in highly accurate LIDAR systems for space instruments.”
Mr Rob Spurrett, Director of ABSL, was equally enthusiastic about this latest success within the company’s Optics department, and said “The clear commitment of the organisation to continued innovation in space product design is paying off. In the field of optics, we are probably best known for our world-leading radiometric calibration systems, which provide the highly precise in-orbit calibration of the ATSR series of Earth Observation instruments. With our expertise and heritage, we believe we can make an important contribution to the development of new technologies for forthcoming Earth Observation missions.”
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