Small-ELF (SELF) is a 3.5-meter telescope currently entering the manufacturing phase and will serve as a technology precursor for the much larger telescope named ELF (Exo-Life Finder). The primary objective of the proposed design approach is to to radically improve the system’s capabilities for the detection of biomarkers and life in the atmospheres of exoplanets while keeping costs well below the current flagship observatories and thus maintaining cost-effectiveness. This is achieved through innovative approaches in motion and shape control, machine learning, and the integration of tensegrity techniques. SELF's manufacturing phase will commence in 2024-2025, with detailed design and manufacturing specifics outlined in this paper. To further mitigate technical risks, a small 0.25-meter prototype named MicroELF is also being designed and built in 2024. MicroELF incorporates the proposed optical and mechanical design to allow varying degrees of freedom for each component and utilizes distributed aperture principles akin to SELF. The degrees of freedom in MicroELF are controllable based on optical image feedback and a machine learning model. The paper details the optomechanical complexity of MicroELF, designed for successful construction and demonstration within 2024. SELF and MicroELF, as technology demonstrators, address prevalent cost and scalability challenges in existing telescopes, intending to introduce a novel paradigm in large telescope structural design.
This work investigates the design of a new class of three dimensional tensegrity tower structures with nodes lying on a cylinder. The novel aspect of the proposed topology is the fact that all bars in all stages are oriented in the same way, clockwise or counterclockwise. We investigate the existence of conditions for static equilibrium of such towers with an arbitrary number of stages and uniform force distribution.
A new topology for a prestressed tensegrity plate, the unstable-unit tensegrity plate (UUTP), is introduced, together with a detailed algorithm for its design. The plate is a truss made of strings (flexible elements) and bars (rigid elements), which are loaded in tension and compression, respectively, where bars do not touch each other. Given the outline dimensions of the desired plate, and the number of bars along the plate's width and length, the algorithm solves for the nodes' positions and the prestress forces that make a plate in equilibrium. This is done by solving a non-linear matrix equation via Newton's method. This equation reflects static equilibrium conditions. We've designed several such plates, proving the feasibility of the proposed topology and the effectiveness of its design algorithm. Two such plates are characterized in detail, both statically and dynamically (via simulation). The proposed algorithm may be extended to solve for other tensegrity structures having different topologies and/or different shapes. The UUTP may be used as a building block of many types of structures, both uncontrolled and controlled, either large-scale or miniature-scale.
Conference Committee Involvement (2)
Modeling, Signal Processing, and Control
27 February 2006 | San Diego, California, United States
Modeling, Signal Processing, and Control
7 March 2005 | San Diego, California, United States
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