Prof. Dirk Vandepitte Profile

Prof. Dirk Vandepitte

at KU Leuven

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Publications (10)

Proceedings Article | 23 August 2024 Presentation + Paper

The CubeSpec mission: high resolution spectroscopy from a CubeSat

Bart Vandenbussche, Gert Raskin, Hugues Sana, Dirk Vandepitte, Jeroen De Maeyer, Pierre Royer, Leonardo Peri, Andrew Tkachanko, Sibo Van Gool, Jorden Windey, Philippe Neuville, Dominic Bowman, Johan Morren, Jake Pember, Maddalena Reggiani, Wim De Munter, Maarten Kempenaers, Bram Vandorden, Tjorven Delabie

Proceedings Volume 13092, 1309206 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3021372

KEYWORDS: Spectroscopy, Stars, Telescopes, Space operations, Spectrographs, Sensors, Spectral resolution, Beam steering

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Proceedings Article | 23 August 2024 Poster + Paper

CubeSpec: development of the payload control unit for a high-resolution spectroscopy CubeSat

Sibo Van Gool, Jan Goris, Gert Raskin, Bart Vandenbussche, Hugues Sana, Jeroen De Maeyer, Leonardo Peri, Jorden Windey, Pierre Royer, Wim De Munter, Wannes Verstraeten, Jakob Pember, Tjorven Delabie, Maddalena Reggiani, Philippe Neuville, Dominic Bowman, Andrew Tkachenko, Dirk Vandepitte

Proceedings Volume 13092, 130922S (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3017965

KEYWORDS: Actuators, CMOS sensors, Field programmable gate arrays, Sensors, Spectroscopy, Spectrographs, Control systems, Prototyping

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Proceedings Article | 23 August 2024 Poster + Paper

CubeSpec: optical payload

Gert Raskin, Jeroen De Maeyer, Philippe Neuville, Maddalena Reggiani, Pierre Royer, Hugues Sana, Andrew Tkachenko, Sibo Van Gool, Wannes Verstraeten, Jorden Windey, Leonardo Peri, Wim De Munter, Tjorven Delabie, Jakob Pember, Dominic Bowman, Dirk Vandepitte, Bart Vandenbussche

Proceedings Volume 13092, 130922R (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3018839

KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Spectrographs, Mirrors, Image sensors, Stars, Spectral resolution, Space operations, Signal to noise ratio, CMOS sensors, Image quality

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SPIE Journal Paper | 21 August 2024 Open Access

High-bandwidth, compact fine-steering mirror design for the CubeSpec space mission

Jeroen De Maeyer, Gert Raskin, Bart Vandenbussche, Dirk Vandepitte

JATIS, Vol. 10, Issue 03, 034005, (August 2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JATIS.10.3.034005

KEYWORDS: Mirrors, Design, Actuators, Stars, Space operations, Deformable mirrors, Spectrographs, Deformation, Chemical elements, Analog to digital converters

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The primary goal of the CubeSpec mission is to show the feasibility of high-resolution optical astronomical spectroscopy from a small and cheap space platform. In its showcase mission, this 12U CubeSat space telescope will observe a time series of spectra of multiple β-Cephei pulsators. The inner structure of these stars can be derived from the spectral line profile variations. The optical payload, composed of an off-axis Cassegrain telescope and compact optical bench with a spectrograph, occupies half of the available volume and measures ∼10×20×30 cm3. During the observations, the star should be imaged on the spectrograph entrance slit of 20×50 μm (2.6″×6.5″) for at least 80% of the time to reach the sensitivity required. This leads to strict pointing requirements for the mission that cannot be met with the attitude determination and control system (ADCS) architecture of CubeSats. Therefore, we implemented a second control loop, based on a high-precision pointing platform (HPPP) that relies on its own sensor and actuator to measure the pointing error to a few arcsec accuracy and apply the proper compensation. In contrast to the ADCS, the HPPP does not change the spacecraft attitude but changes the optical path within the payload to project the image of the star inside the spectrograph slit. This paper describes the mechanical design of the fine-steering mirror (FSM), one of the key components of the HPPP. The design fits within the tight volume constraints of CubeSats and CubeSpec in particular and satisfies all mechanical challenges defined by the system dynamics and launch conditions. The three degrees of freedom design has a peak-to-peak tip/tilt range larger than 7 mrad along two tip/tilt axes and a first structural mode at 810 Hz while meeting the dimensional constraints. Especially the combination of a large actuated mirror with the small dimensions of the mechanism is a step forward with respect to commercially available FSM mechanisms, which typically do not match the CubeSat volume constraints. The concept can be easily scaled to various applications with different sets of requirements at a reasonable cost using commercial-of-the-shelf components.

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Proceedings Article | 27 August 2022 Paper

CubeSpec: optical payload design

Gert Raskin, Jeroen de Maeyer, Bart Vandenbussche, Dominic Bowman, Jan Goris, Maarten Kempenaers, Jacob Pember, Pierre Royer, Job Schuermans, Andrew Tkachenko, Dirk Vandepitte, Wim De Munter, Jelle Lanting, Hugues Sana

Proceedings Volume 12180, 121802Z (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630480

KEYWORDS: Mirrors, Telescopes, Spectrographs, Sensors, Zerodur, Stars, Space operations, Cameras, Signal to noise ratio, Prisms

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Proceedings Article | 27 August 2022 Paper

CubeSpec: optical payload design

Proceedings Volume 12180, 121802Z (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630480

KEYWORDS: Mirrors, Telescopes, Spectrographs, Sensors, Zerodur, Stars, Space operations, Cameras, Signal to noise ratio, Prisms

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Proceedings Article | 27 August 2022 Presentation + Paper

The CubeSpec mission

Bart Vandenbussche, Gert Raskin, Pierre Royer, Dominic Bowman, Hugues Sana, Andrew Tkachenko, Jan Goris, Job Schuermans, Dirk Vandepitte, Jeroen De Maeyer, Filip Heylen, Wim De Munter, Maarten Kempenaers, Jelle Lanting, Bram Vandoren, Tjorven Delabie, Philippe Saey, Arne Verhoeven, Vincent Moreau, Etienne Renotte, Peter Davidsen, Karl Kaas

Proceedings Volume 12180, 1218007 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2628252

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Stars, Telescopes, Spectroscopy, Space operations, Spectral resolution, Spectrographs, Optical instrument design

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Proceedings Article | 13 December 2020 Presentation

CUBESPEC: stellar spectroscopy on a CubeSat platform

Bart Vandenbussche, Gert Raskin, Hugues Sana, Tjorven Delabie, Bram Vandoren, Pierre Royer, Wim De Munter, Dominik Bowman, Andrew Tkachenko, Owais Ahmad Bhat, Jan Goris, Olivier Verhamme, Warre Verheyden, Dirk Vandepitte, Jeroen De Maeyer, Filip Heylen, Maarten Kempenaers, Ries Vanderperren, Jelle Lanting, Vincent Moreau, Etienne Renotte, Leonardo Ghizoni, Jacob Mølbach Nissen, Arne Verhoeven

Proceedings Volume 11443, 114431G (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2562121

KEYWORDS: Stars, Spectroscopy, Sensors, Spectrographs, Spectral resolution, Mirrors, Space operations, Optical design, Standards development, Telescopes

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Proceedings Article | 24 July 2018 Paper

CUBESPEC: low-cost space-based astronomical spectroscopy

Gert Raskin, Tjorven Delabie, Wim De Munter, Hugues Sana, Bart Vandenbussche, Bram Vandoren, Victoria Antoci, Hans Kjeldsen, Christoffer Karoff, Alex de Koter, Jean-Michel Désert, Tom Mladenov, Dirk Vandepitte

Proceedings Volume 10698, 106985R (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2314074

KEYWORDS: Stars, Mirrors, Space telescopes, Spectrographs, Telescopes, Exoplanets, Spectral resolution, Space operations, Sensors, Spectroscopy

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