The Spanish company ASE Optics, member of secpho, has been responsible for designing and manufacturing the lens of the DRAGO-2 camera, a space camera operating in the shortwave infrared, designed for Earth observation. The lens, designed and manufactured by ASE Optics Europe, has been key to achieving a qualitative leap in the resolution of the DRAGO-2 camera, developed by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IACTEC-Espacio).
One of the main improvements of the DRAGO-2 camera is the improved resolution of the camera, and this, for the most part, is thanks to the improved optics. “We went from 300 metres per pixel to 50 metres per pixel,” explains Alfonso Ynigo, systems engineer at IACTEC-Space. To achieve these improvements, the team of optical engineers at ASE Optics carried out a study of the characteristics of the DRAGO-2 camera, and after evaluating different configurations, selected the optical design that best suited the objectives set.
One of the biggest challenges encountered by ASE Optics was the absence of precise values for lens materials in traditional optical design software, so we had to implement a correction in the established models to achieve the right optical design,” explains Marta de la Fuente, founder and technical director of ASE Optics.
Another challenge was weight and size: in on-board instruments for satellites and microsatellites, every gram counts. “At all times we were aware that we had to find the perfect balance between optical quality and size and weight restrictions,” says Marta, adding “we decided to go for an optical design that allows the system to be optically athermalised, avoiding the need to add mechanical elements, thus lightening the weight. Both the design and manufacture of this lens was carried out in close coordination with the mechanical and systems engineers at IACTEC-Espacio, for the complete integration of the lens into the camera.
DRAGO-2 was integrated into the Italian company D-Orbit’s ION-SCV 007 Glorious Gratia satellite carrier and has been orbiting the Earth since January 3rd, when it was launched aboard a Space X Falcon 9 rocket. The aim of the instrument is to monitor the Earth from space and characterise climate change phenomena and other phenomena such as forest fires and volcanic activity monitoring.
ASE Optics Europe was founded with the aim to offer an innovative and creative alternative within the optical design and engineering industry: they design and develop tailor-made optical and optoelectronic systems of high precision and quality with high technical performance for demanding applications such as New Space, Fusion, defence or science industry.
