A Fast Steering Mirror Using Magnetic Suspension

Abstract

Fast steering mirrors (FSMs), which are mounted on observation satellites, are required to have a large aperture and realize tip-tilt-piston and wide-bandwidth operation for the corrections of broader and high-resolution satellite images. A FSM system having a large-diameter mirror which is supported by magnetic suspension and driven by high response voice coil motors in the tip-tilt angular and out-of-plane directions is proposed. The prototype FSM having a dummy mirror with a diameter of 80 mm was designed and fabricated. In the prototype FSM, a bandwidth of more than 1,000 Hz and a driving range of ±1.1° in the tip-tilt angular directions for image correction and a drive range of ±500 μm in the outof-plane direction for focus correction were experimentally achieved.