Hyper hemispheric lens applications in small and micro satellites

Micro and nanosatellites are being proposed for a variety of space missions, due to the advantages offered in terms of flexibility, cost and development time-scales. However, technological advancements are still needed to make micro and nanosatellite competitive with respect to larger platforms. In this paper, we explore the potentiality offered by hyper hemispheric lens for the development of miniaturized and multi-function sensors for use on board of micro satellites. Hyper hemispheric lens belong to the ultra-wide field-of-view optical objectives. Here a novel optics is presented. Its field of view is 360° in azimuth and 135° for the off-boresight angle. A hyper hemispheric lens may, then, be adopted for electro optical devices in space satellite subsystems, such as star-, Sun- and Earth-sensors, or for monitoring the environment surrounding the satellite in the case of on-orbit servicing or active debris removal operations. Hyper hemispheric lens may be kept quite compact in dimension and the need of a single imaging detector, for a so large field of view, strongly reduces costs. In this paper, we explore possible applications of a multi-purpose space device based on a hyper hemispheric lens on board of micro and nanosatellites.