Rapid SiC Primary Mirror Fabrication Techniuqe Suitable for Reusable Launch Vehicle Application

"Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLVs) and small low-cost launch platforms are a critical technology for future space based remote sensing applications. These platforms have been proposed for scenarios requiring rapid deployment of multiple space-based remotesensing systems. Development of these launch vehicles is underway, in parallel, technologies that will allow the fabrication of electro-optical sensors within stringent schedule constraints need to be identified and developed. When presented with theproblem of producing a meter class telescope system in a month the first area which needs to be addressed is the production of the primary mirror. Conventional mirror fabrication techniques, at this size and requirement, can easily be in excess of a year.SSG proposes the combination of two low-cost, high speed, processing techniques to provide high quality Silicon Carbide (SiC) aspheric optics in a cost/time effective manner. A slip casting manufacturing process provides SiC mirror substrates in alow-cost fashion, optical finishing of these optics is done using a Computer Controlled Optical Surfacing (CCOS) process which has been developed by SSG's Tinsley subsidiary. We propose to modify these technologies in order to make meter class primarymirror development consistent with a just-in-time manufacturing mentality. During Phase I we will determine what needs to be done in order to make the processing times associated with these techn