Advanced, Real-Time Telescope Completes Critical Review

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation, which is working under a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract to develop the Membrane Optic Imager Real-Time Exploitation (MOIRE) telescope, announces the completion of the Preliminary Design Review (PDR).

This is a critically important milestone for the entire program. What DARPA wants to obtain is a telescope capable of surveying the ground, and providing real-time video feedback to soldiers on the ground. This could help them make better decisions, and improve their survivability.

The space vehicle would be placed in a geosynchronous orbit around the planet. The large, lightweight spacecraft would use an advanced diffractive optics membrane to obtain the necessary magnification.

“The use of membrane optics is an unprecedented approach to building large aperture telescopes. With the technology being developed on the MOIRE program, Ball Aerospace is broadening its role in geosynchronous imaging,” Ball Aerospace President and CEO David L. Taylor explains.