Design and simulation of lightweight mirror for space application

The numerical simulation of lightweight mirrors, used in high resolution remote sensing instrument, can predict the mirror deformation caused by gravity and surrounding temperature. This article reports the design process and numerical simulation of lightweight mirror, which considers of the regular geometry, natural frequency and mirror surface deformation derived from gravity and thermal change. Furthermore, the optical performance of lightweight mirror is analyzed and predicted by Zernike polynomials fitting. The numerical result shows that the lightweight mirror geometry is obtained by this approach and the calculated deformation is below the requirements of optical design.