Thermoelastic Stability of Deployable Space Telescopes

Imagery collected from space provides very useful information about our planet. Today there are many Earth Observation satellites in orbit which allow us to collect information which is used for environmental monitoring, response to catastrophes, surveillance and security, urban planning, economic analysis and many other applications. Thus, there is a drive to improve the quality of this imagery, such as its resolution and the frequency with which it can be collected. The quantity of pictures taken will be increased by launching more systems, the quality of the pictures depends, amongst other factors, on the system’s physical size. To serve those needs, bigger telescopes have to be launchedmore often.....