High resolution observation instruments: how to reach the best performance

Thanks to development heritage of High and Very High Resolution earth observation optical instruments, Thales Alenia Space has mastered the structural stability of large telescopes for many years (National and Export programs). This has raised earth observation performances in Europe. The very high stability of structure and optical components is key to ensure image quality, and line of sight stability for accurate images geo-localization. Telescopes pupil diameter increases in order to reach higher resolutions. Associated optical layouts then become more sensitive. So size of these telescopes increases in same time as their stability requirements become more stringent. Moreover satellite agility requirements are more and more severe and instruments shall be compatible with quick evolutions of thermal environment. Considering all these constraints, each telescope architecture shall be optimized to master developments for each mission in terms of performances, cost, schedule and risks.