Deep Purple Payload Qualifies for NASA Launch, Could Provide New Method for Real-Time Space-Domain Awareness

In January 2024, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Space Program fully assembled and qualified its Deep Purple payload. It will be on board NASA's Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-R (PTD-R), scheduled to launch on the SpaceX Transporter 11 in July 2024. The Livermore team designed, developed, qualified, and delivered the Deep Purple payload in approximately one year and has now been integrated into the PTD-R satellite, a 6U (36 cm x 23 cm x 10 cm) bus constructed by a Laboratory Collaborative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) partner Terran Orbital. NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Programs' PTD-R space vehicle containing the Deep Purple payload was developed to replace an earlier NASA technological demonstration (PTD-2). LLNL utilized this opportunity to rapidly prototype a payload utilizing a new design for LLNL-developed ultra-violet (UV, 230nm – 310nm) and short-wave infrared (SWIR, 1000nm – 1700nm) monolithic Cassegrain telescopes. Deep Purple will demonstrate LLNL's monolithic UV and SWIR optical sensing platforms from space for the first time via two co-boresighted, 85mm aperture telescopes. A new compact electronics module and a novel, lightweight, carbon-composite optical housing and radiator save considerable weight, cost, and lead time while boosting optical performance. The dual optical module and the electronics are contained in a 23 cm x 15 cm x 10 cm package (about the size of a loaf of bread). The Deep Purple payload showcases the rapid development, test, and build cycles needed for responsive space missions. The modular optical housing developed for PTD-R allows future missions to rapidly integrate and gang telescopes for an even quicker time-to-flight. What traditionally takes years can now be accomplished in just a few months. Once operational, Deep Purple will perform simultaneous UV and SWIR observations from high-UV stars and the Milky Way's galactic bulge. Furthermore, it will attempt to capture time-domain galactic and extra-galactic events as well as demonstrate real-time space domain awareness using these unique sensing bands. The Space Program at LLNL continues to demonstrate its leadership in developing and delivering small satellite tools and capabilities.