Currently MSFC is enhancing its Advanced Metrology Laboratory (AML) to include a next generation SSD. The NSSD will also be a cluster of seven segments, but it is designed to be more of a permanent laboratory testbed like the PAMELA. The NSSD is equipped with inductive edge sensors and the latest generation of processing electronics from Blue Line. The actuators are New Focus picomotors. The "set-and-forget" picomotors operate at much lower bandwidths than the voice coils. Using the picomotors makes the NSSD more closely resemble next generation space telescopes, which, because of the benign environments of their anticipated orbits, don’t require high-bandwidth compensation. NSSD’s control loop is closed by a PC, on which resides all the control system software.

The NSSD is intended to pursue wavefront sensing and control methodologies utilizing edge sensors and image-plane data. A CCD camera is connected to the PC. Image-plane wavefront sensing algorithms, implemented in software on the PC, utilize the CCD images to estimate wavefront errors. The edge sensors not only supplement the image-plane based techniques, but they themselves are used to evaluate "self-forming" optics methodologies. Such "self-forming" techniques are proposed for use in the Segment Alignment Maintenance System (SAMS) for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope. Additionally, hierarchical phasing approaches can be evaluated in NSSD. For example, a segmented primary mirror may be initially aligned in a coarse manner through relatively low accuracy edge sensors. After all the light is brought into the capture range of the CCD camera, image-plane techniques can take over for finer resolution adjustments. The NSSD complements the PAMELA with flexibility and different capabilities to investigate a broad range of segmented mirror wavefront control issues.