DURHAM’s Centre for Advanced Instrumentation (CfAI) is working with businesses and other researchers to develop high-resolution thermal infrared space telescopes that will monitor the energy efficiency of buildings around the world.

The CfAI, based at NETPark, in Sedgefield, is also part of a second project to benefit from the investment, which aims to improve communication speeds in tiny nano-satellites called cubeSats.

The funding was announced by the UK Space Agency, which provides technical advice on the Government’s National Space Strategy.

A total of £726,978 was awarded to the University of Cambridge which is working with the CfAI on developing thermal infrared telescopes together with Open Cosmos Ltd and S4 Limited.

The telescopes can monitor the energy output of buildings, which makes them a powerful tool for ensuring that governments, companies and even individuals are on track to meet internationally agreed carbon emission goals.

The team will develop prototypes of an innovative unfolding telescope as part of a small-scale nanosat constellation to accurately produce thermal images of buildings and infrastructure. 

Dr Cyril Bourgenot, the Durham University lead on the project, explains: “The primary mirror of the telescope is made of four independent mirrors which will open up like the petals of a flower. Each mirror will then need to get in position within a submicron accuracy of each other, to efficiently reconstruct the larger primary aperture.

“Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope is another example of an unfolded telescope but on a much bigger satellite”.

Another £644,617 was awarded to the University of Northumbria at Newcastle which is working with the CfAI, SMS Electronics Limited, e2E Group and EnduroSat on laser communications for a 3 Units CubeSats – a type of miniaturised space satellite normally made of three individual units, each unit measuring 10cm cubed and weighing up to 1.3kg.

The aim of the project is to replace the existing low-speed radio frequency transceiver used in cubeSats with high-speed, light weight and lower power free-space optical transceivers.

The research will bring a step-change in the approach to space science missions and communications constellations – where satellites work together as a system.

The CfAI will be responsible for the optomechanical design of the system and the project will benefit from its in-house space optics manufacturing facility at NETPark.

The CfAI’s Precision Optics Laboratory, is equipped with state-of-the-art ultra-precision diamond machine, which can produce freeform optical surfaces within sub-micron accuracy.

Dr Bourgenot, who is also technology development lead at the CfAI, said: “This new technology will enable communication between satellites at an unprecedented speed.

“The challenge, in this project, is to fit all this cutting edge technology in only three cubeSat units, basically the size of a whisky bottle box.”

Dr Jurgen Schmoll, the CfAI’s senior optical engineer, has the role of designing the satellite’s duplex receiver and transmitter optical head.

He said: “It is interesting to apply telescope technology that is normally used on much larger scales to such a compact space envelope, opening the way to new practical applications for it.”

Separately, the CfAI is involved in some of the world’s biggest and most prestigious telescope projects.

It has made some of the optics for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Near Infrared Spectrograph’s (NIRSpec) Integral Field Unit instrument and Durham’s scientists have been involved in the new telescope’s scientific development.

The James Webb Space Telescope, which is the replacement for the Hubble Telescope, is due to launch in December and is the largest, most powerful space telescope ever built.

Durham University’s astronomers will be among the first to use the new telescope to hunt for dark matter and investigate early galaxy formation.

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