Design Trade Study for a 4-Meter Off-Axis Primary Mirror Substrate and Mount for the Habitable-Zone Exoplanet Direct Imaging Mission

Abstract: An extensive trade study was conducted to evaluate primary mirror substrate design architectures for the HabEx mission baseline 4-meter off-axis telescope. The study’s purpose is not to produce a final design, but rather to established a design methodology for matching the mirror’s properties (mass and stiffness) with the mission’s optical performance specifications (static dynamic wavefront error, WFE). The study systematically compares the effect of proven design elements (closed-back vs. o…