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Pleiades – Telescope


SPACE OPTICS
Pleiade mirrors
Pleiade focal plane
Telescope - Export 1
KARI – Kompsat 3 - Telescope
KARI – Kompsat 3 - OGSE
T2L2 – Transfert de temps par liaison laser
LRA – SARAL – Massive Corner cube
Baffle – sunshade - cryostat polishing and coating
On going
ETGAR projet - For ELOP
SiC scanning mirror (ELOP)
ALADIN – FP Etalon

GROUND-BASED ASTRONOMY
VLT-DSM (Back Plate)
DES (corrector - 980mm lens)
OSIRIS (collimator)
LBT (first light secondary mirror)
MRO (secondary mirror)
WFCAM optics for UK-IR telescope
HRS-SALT Spectrograph optics (incl previous coll + cam)
PEPSI-cross dispersor (incl previous Large prisms)

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMS
X-Ray Mirrors
High Power Lasers

TEST SYSTEMS
SOPHIE
BERSO
Solar Simulator
OGSE - KARI
On going

Pleiades – Telescope

pleiade_thales00High Resolution Earth Observation Satellites
THALES SESO was in charge of the design and manufacturing of the equipped mirrors (4 mirrors with Mechanical Fixation Devices) for the 2 Pleiades satellites.

Two satellites in orbit

This program was based on the cooperation of the French and Italian space agencies. The development is under the CNES responsibility with Thales AleniaSpace as the Telescope prime contractor. There were two identical flight models. Pleiades 1A was launched on 17 December 2011 and Pleiades 1B the 2nd of December 2012. They have a resolution of 0.7m and a coverage of 20x20km² on earth.

Short delivery time

Thales SESO broke some records with only 2.5 years to design, manufacture and qualify 2 prototypes and 2 flight models. It was delivered in 2006.

Impressive optical precision

pleiade_thales01The Wave-Front Error (WFE) for M1 (675mm diameter) and M2 combined is only 22nm RMS

Maturity in space application

Thales SESO engineering is used to face the challenges imposed on space applications (reliability, stability and weight).
- A heavy studies are carried out in order to anticipate any thermic or vibrational problems
- Only high end materials with extremely low CTE are used: Invar for the fixation devices, Zerodur for the mirrors.
- The weight is optimized by removing 85% of the material from the back of the mirrors
- For maximum throughput, a protected Silver Coating (qualified for space applications) is used

pleiade_thales02
pleiade_thales03
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Currently in space taking outstanding pictures

The Pleiades satellites deliver images primarily for defense activities, but also for environmental purposes, including biodiversity surveys, land management, mapping, and plan risk prevention.
Pleiades 1A is already producing 2D and 3D images of earth as shown on the picture below.

pleiade_thales05
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Venise
“Arbre du ciel” Japonais en 3D

Customer Satisfaction

Email from the DGA (french General Directorate for Armament) – Translated in English:
“This project just came to terms with the delivery of the 2nd flight model. During the Delivery Review Board on December 6, Alcatel and the CNES already expressed their global satisfaction for the quality of your products and services
We would like to take this opportunity (closing of our mandate with the CNES) to share our general satisfaction concerning the availability and transparency of your team during this project.”

More information on Pleiade Satellites

http://www.cnes.fr/web/CNES-fr/3227-pleiades.php
http://smsc.cnes.fr/PLEIADES/index.htm