The Deformable Mirror Demonstration Mission (DeMi) On-Orbit Analysis

Abstract

The Deformable Mirror Demonstration Mission (DeMi) is a 6U CubeSat mission to demonstrate the use of a 140 actuator microelectromechanical system (MEMS) deformable mirror (DM) and a closed-loop adaptive optics (AO) system in space. DeMi launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on the NG-13 Cygnus resupply mission on February 15, 2020 and was deployed from the ISS into a 51° inclination, 423 km average altitude low-Earth orbit on July 13, 2020. The expected mission lifetime of DeMi was 6 months, however DeMi continues to be operational 9 months post deployment. During its lifetime, DeMi has completed several internal observations with the DM and both imagers using the internal laser source. The team is now working toward external observations of stars and demonstrations of closed-loop wavefront control. The biggest driver of mission success is spacecraft and component health. Looking at spacecraft data over time helps to characterize spacecraft performance and inform adjustments to the lifetime estimate. Additionally, telemetry analysis can alert the operations team of anomalies and provide useful information for resolving those anomalies. This thesis analyzes the spacecraft telemetry received between July 13, 2020 and April 4, 2021 and discusses trends and anomalies in the data. This work provides an overview of spacecraft and payload on-orbit health to date and provides recommendations on paths forward for anomaly resolution.