Light-weight, Compact Imaging Interferometer for Space

This SBIR topic was initiated to investigate and develop a low weight and low volume hosted IR (MWIR and SWIR) imaging sensor based on interferometric principles. Historically, satellite sensor platforms have been large, heavy and expensive. The size and weight of these satellites drives up launch cost placing limitations on the number of satellites that can be put on orbit. Creating an imaging sensor with reduced SWaP opens up many attractive cost saving options such as flying the sensor as a hosted payload on commercial satellites. Interferometric imaging techniques combine smaller sensors via aperture synthesis to achieve the resolution performance of a larger sensor at a much reduced size, weight and cost. During the original Phase II SBIR, a light-weight, six-element Fizeau interferometer concept for a new space-based imaging sensor was developed. The design leveraged carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) technology for cost and weight reduction and is scalable to meet the requirements of a wide variety of space based IR imaging scenarios ranging from geosynchronous, medium and low earth orbits (GEO/MEO/LEO). The objective of the Sequential Phase II program is to complete and test the prototype Space-based InfraRed Imaging Interferometer (SIRII) sensor.