Development of the SPIRIT III telescope: from design through test

This paper documents the development of the SPIRIT III telescope from the design through its test activities. The SPIRIT III Instrument is the primary infrared instrument on the Mid-Course Space Experiment (MSX). The telescope is an all reflective optical system consisting of twelve mirrors. The nominal collecting apertures is 14 inches. It was designed and built to integrate with a multicolor radiometer and a Michelson interferometer built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory at Utah State University. Key performance features are discussed, and measured test data is presented. The structural/thermal trade-off issues of a satellite-based cryogenic instrument are presented along with a review of the test techniques and test equipment.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.