Since the 90s, most of our SESO® optics have been manufactured for space applications. A large product line of Korsch Telescopes was developed through the years. We produced 8 sets of flight models between 2005 and 2012 and 4 of them are currently in orbit. Our Investment in R&D and in new technologies keeps us in the fore front of performance with improvements in Wave Front Error and Weight.

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Pleiades – Korsch Telescope
Thales was in charge of the design and manufacturing of the equipped mirrors (4 mirrors with Fixation Devices) for these 2 High resolution Earth Observation Satellites. [...]

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Export Program 1 – Korsch Telescope
For confidentiality reasons, Thales cannot provide many details on this satellite. They were delivered in 2012. [...]

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KOMPSAT 3 – Korsch Telescope
Multi-Purpose Satellite for the Korean Aerospace Research Institute. Thales was responsible for the mechanical design, manufacturing, assembly of the fixation devices, environmental tests and integration on the carbon Fiber Reinforced baseplates. This system comprised of 5 mirrors In a Korsch-type telescope. 2 Flight Models and a prototype were delivered. [...]

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ETGAR

Project – Korsch Telescope
Thales Manufactured (i.e. lightening, polishing, coating) the 2 sets of 3 mirrors composing the Korsch-type telescope. The largest mirror is aspherical with a diameter of 700mm and a roughness below 5 Å on the whole surface. The others are hyperbolic and elliptic off-axis. The last set was delivered in March 2010 to Israel.

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KOMPSAT-3 – Optical Ground Support Equipment
Designed and manufactured to test the optical telescope also manufactured by Thales in ambient and vacuum conditions. A 9 meter support bench with a 1 meter diameter collimator and a 1 meter diameter motorized mirror for auto-collimation were the main pieces. [...]

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SARAL – Laser retro-reflector array
The LRA is a passive instrument on-board a satellite. It is composed of 9 corner cubes reflecting a laser beam back to earth to determine its position. It was part of the French/Indian SARAL satellite payload and launched in 2013 [...]

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Export program 2 – Korsch Telescope – In progress
We are producing the 2 Korsch-type telescopes composed of 4 mirrors each.

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Meteosat Third Generation – In progress
This program is composed of 6 satellites and Thales will be manufacturing the beam splitters and corner cubes for the interferometer as well as the Cold Optics and the Optical Telescope mirrors.

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Solar Simulator (discontinued product line)
Thales has developed and manufactured about 20 solar simulators to test solar cells or other equipment’s resistance to the sun. They have been designed using the Thales capability in optical systems design, manufacturing and assembly. [...]

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