Telescopes

Airborne produces carbon fibre reinforced structures for astronomy telescopes. These telescopes are research instruments used for astronomical science, to make high-resolution images of the galaxies, planets and stars and to better understand fysics and origin of the universe.

Advanced composites have several major advantages for the use in these high-precision instruments:
The material and design can be optimised to an ultra-low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) which is essential to maintain the shape of the reflector under all temperature conditions
The high stiffness combined with the much lower weight increases the structural performance and reduces deformations under gravitational and wind loads
The production of complex double curved shapes is more cost-efficient than with metal materials

The performance of telescopes is determined by accuracy of the shape, and by the size of the reflector. The required accuracy is directly determined by the required wave-length that one wants to observe, and the diameter determines the collective area and thereby the resolution of the image. The accuracy is the sum of the deviations after production, plus the deformations in operational use due to thermal differences, wind loads and gravitational loads. If the telescope is large, deviations due to thermal and mechanical loads will increase. Large reflectors for short wave-lengths are therefore only possible in composites, the thermal and mechanical deformations would be too large in metals. For these type of telescopes, composites are a true enabler.