Environmental Qualification of a Single- Crystal Silicon Mirror for Spaceflight Use

This innovation is the environmental qualification of a single-crystal silicon mirror for spaceflight use. The single-crystal silicon mirror technology is a previous innovation, but until now, a mirror of this type has not been qualified for spaceflight use. The qualification steps included mounting, gravity change measurements, vibration testing, vibration-induced change measurements, thermal cycling, and testing at the cold operational temperature of 225 K.