FEM Correlation and Shock Analysis of a VNC MEMS Mirror Segment

E. Aguayo[1], R. Lyon[2], M. Helmbrecht[3], S. Khomusi[1]
[1]The Newton Corporation, Bowie, MD, USA
[2]NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
[3]Iris AO, Inc., Berkeley, CA, USA
Publié en 2014

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are becoming more prevalent in today’s space technologies. The Visible Nulling Coronagraph (VNC) instrument, being developed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, uses a MEMS Mirror to correct wavefront errors. This MEMS, the Multiple Mirror Array (MMA), will enable the VNC instrument to detect Jupiter and ultimately Earth size exoplanets.

The MMA faces several challenges associated with spaceflight. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is being used to predict the behavior of a single MMA segment under different spaceflight-related environments. Finite Element Analysis results are used to guide the MMA design and ensure its survival during launch and mission operations. A Finite Element Model (FEM) has been developed of the MMA using the COMSOL Multiphysics® software.