Patent ID: 7782530

Claim:
A deployable thin-film mirror telescope, comprising: a thin-film sheet comprising at least one thin-film primary minor, wherein the at least one thin-film primary minor comprises an adaptively controlled minor; a base structure comprising at least one rolling member adapted to convey the thin-film sheet wherein the at least one rolling member is further adapted to receive the thin-film sheet rolled therearound in an undeployed state, and wherein the at least one rolling member is further adapted to unroll and to extend the thin-film sheet in a deployed state; and the base structure further comprising at least one actuator controllable to expand the base structure from the undeployed state to the deployed state, and further controllable to contract the base structure from the deployed state to the undeployed state; a secondary mirror; a metering structure coupled to the base structure and the secondary minor, the metering structure adapted to fold in the undeployed state and further adapted to unfold and to position the secondary minor at a greater relative distance from the at least one thin-film primary mirror in the deployed state; and wherein the telescope is configurable from the undeployed state to a deployed state.