Description
The 6u Active Deployable Optical Telescope (A-DOT) is to feature an unfolding diffraction limited 36cm segmented primary aperture. It is an affordable, flexible and scalable design in development for several astronomy science cases, such as surveys, transient follow-up and solar system object fly-bys. Simulating a telescope before it is built presents significant challenges. A realistic model must account for numerous factors to establish a prior for diagnosing system performance once on-sky while ensuring that science objectives can be met post commissioning. This task becomes particularly complex for a segmented aluminium optical telescope. Properly aligning and phasing the segments requires careful consideration of deployment accuracy, thermal effects, drift, and jitter. These challenges are even more pronounced in the optical regime compared to near-infrared and longer wavelengths. This work summarises simulation efforts and bench tests aimed at aligning and phasing A-DOT, relying solely on a static detector.
