Book/Report

FZJ-2026-02460

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Impact of Geometry Transfer Errors on Structural-ThermalOptical-Performance (STOP) Analysis in Spaceborne Optical Systems

Kakabadze, G. (Corresponding author)FZJ* ; Partzsch, M.FZJ* ; Wolters, J.FZJ* ; Natour, G.FZJ*

2026
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Zentralbibliothek, Verlag Jülich

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Please use a persistent id in citations: doi:10.34734/FZJ-2026-02460

Report No.: 4451

Abstract: Thermal loading during on-orbit operations can induce significant structural deformations, which in turn can degrade the performance of optical devices used for scientific analyses. Accurate Structural-Thermal-Optical-Performance (STOP) analyses are therefore vital to predict image quality under coupled thermal and mechanical influences. An essential step in such multidisciplinary workflows of STOP analyses is the transfer of deformation data from thermomechanical simulations into optical analysis tools. This work highlights the challenges arising from the use of STL file formats for geometry transfer, where inaccuracies in topology representation introduce distortions that directly impact the fidelity of optical predictions. The implications of these artifacts on image quality are analysed and discussed within the framework of the SHIPAS project, a small satellite mission carrying a remote sensing payload for temperature field measurements in the upper atmosphere (60 km – 110 km). The study demonstrates how improper data transfer can undermine STOP analysis reliability and provides a newly developed algorithm, implemented as an ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL) script, that decomposes thermo-mechanically induced deformations of optical bodies into their individual components — rigid body translation, rotation, scaling, and asymmetric strain — and transfers them to the optical simulation environment without geometry format-induced distortions. As an illustration, the algorithm is applied to the optical subsystem of the satellite, demonstrating the elimination of file-format artifacts, thus, allowing the true influence of thermal deformations on image quality to be assessed reliably.

Note: This work was supported by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (SRNSFG) [grant number: JFZ-23-015]

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Contributing Institute(s):

1. Institute of Technology and Engineering (ITE)

Research Program(s):

1. 2112 - Climate Feedbacks (POF4-211) (POF4-211)

Appears in the scientific report 2026

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