Design and production of the METOP satellite IASI corner cube mechanisms

Abstract

The concept of the mechanisms relies heavily on flexure structure technology (FLEXTEC) developed by CSEM over more than two decades. With this approach, high-accuracy linear guiding is possible without the need for sliding surfaces or bearings. Two flexure guide membranes with two compensated parallelograms support the mobile stage, which carries the corner cube. The compensated parallelogram is machined in a high-strength copper-beryllium alloy linking the mobile stage to the structure through an intermediate stage. A linear scan mechanism for an interferometer was developed with the delivery of three Flight Models for an infrared atmospheric sounding interferometer on a meteorological satellite (METOP). The high precision mechanism was designed to achieve low lateral shift deviations, very long life, no exported forces to the instrument and a launch lock device that generates no shocks. Flexure technology was used throughout the mechanism to achieve the demanding requirements.