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Paper: Design of the ST3 Formation Flying Interferometer
Volume: 194, Working on the Fringe: Optical and IR Interferometry from Ground and Space
Page: 366
Authors: Lay, O. P.; Blackwood, G. H.; Dubovitsky, S.; Gorham, P. W.; Linfield, R. P.
Abstract: We present the enabling concept and technology for a dual spacecraft formation-flying optical interferometer, to be launched into a deep space orbit as Space Technology 3 in 2003. The combiner spacecraft makes use of a nested cat's eye delay line configuration that minimizes wavefront distortion and stores 20 m of optical pathlength in a package of 1.7 m length. A parabolic trajectory for the secondary collector spacecraft enables baselines of up to 200 m for spacecraft separations of order 1 km and a fixed 20 m stored delay.
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