HST Primary Mirror Characterization

Abstract

The presence of spherical aberration in the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was announced by NASA on June 21, 1990. Investigation teams were commissioned by NASA to determine the cause of the aberration and then to quantify the amount of aberration in the telescope. This information is critical for the design of future replacement instruments. The Hubble Independent Optics Review Panel (HIORP), a team chaired by Dr. Duncan Moore, coordinated the investigation of the on-orbit data received from the telescope. Different methods of analyzing the images were used including phase retrieval algorithms.