Extremely Lightweight Infrared Payload System

To address the Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) need for lightweight electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor payloads for the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) program, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Extremely Lightweight Infrared Payload (ELIP) system based on imaging Fourier transform spectrometer with phase delays controlled by liquid crystal elements. The innovations in EO tunable multispectral/hyperspectral imaging enable the ELIP to have significant advantages including compactness (0.15 m x 0.1 m x 0.1 m), lightweight (<3 kg), low power consumption (7 W), high spatial resolution (1.5 m ground sample distance) and simultaneous 2D spectral imaging with spectral resolution reaching 10 nm, which are not available in current systems. In Phase I, POC successfully proved the feasibility of ELIP by fabricating and demonstrating a breadboard ELIP prototype with 50 nm spectral resolution in the visible range. The Phase II effort will focus on a lightweight EO/IR sensor payload design, mock-ups, and the development of a fully packaged engineering system to be incorporated into Army’s nano/microsatellites and high-altitude aerial platforms. The Phase II ELIP will reach TRL 4-5 as a reliable, launch-ready, and flight-capable VIS and MWIR/SWIR spectral imaging sensor prototype for military target imaging, discrimination, and classification.