Manufacturing and application of high-precision corner cube retro-reflectors using a counterweight separator process

Existing manufacturing processes for corner cube retro-reflectors (CCRs) suffer from several limitations, including the inability to precisely control the dihedral angle offset (DAO), low processing efficiency, and low production yield. To overcome these challenges, this paper proposes a high-efficiency, high-precision, and quality-assured manufacturing process for spaceborne CCRs with clear apertures ranging from 8 to 175 mm. First, a dedicated fixture for spaceborne CCR manufacturing was developed. During the milling-grinding forming, rough grinding, fine grinding, and rough polishing operations, disk-type batch processing of the CCRs was achieved by successively flipping the fixture. Subsequently, a counterweight separator process was introduced in the fine polishing stage to achieve precise control of the DAO of the spaceborne CCRs. Four typical finite element models of CCR-counterweight assemblies were established to simulate the stress and strain distributions on the polishing surfaces, thereby providing a theoretical basis for practical manufacturing. After manufacturing, the DAO and beam parallelism deviation of the CCRs were inspected using an adjustable-focus autocollimator and a ZYGO interferometer. The results demonstrate that the DAO of the spaceborne CCRs manufactured using the proposed process can be controlled within ±0.1^'' (arcseconds). The product qualification rate increased from approximately 30% with the existing processes to 100%. The manufactured CCRs have been successfully deployed in multiple on-orbit satellite laser reflector arrays, providing an effective technical approach for the batch manufacturing of high-precision spaceborne CCRs.