OTHER FUNCTIONS: NRA AWARD MANY OF THE CORONAGRAPHS BEING STUDIED AND DEVELOPED FOR SPACE-BASED EXOPLANET DETECTION RELY ON MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEM (MEMS) DEFORMABLE MIRRORS (DM) TO CONTROL OPTICAL WAVEFRONTS AT PICOMETER LEVELS. FAILURE OF EVEN A SINGLE DM ACTUATOR COULD RENDER THE CORONAGRAPH USELESS BECAUSE OF THE STRINGENT CONTRAST REQUIREMENTS. DESPITE THIS, RELATIVELY LITTLE EFFORT HAS BEEN DIRECTED TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTAL TESTING OF MEMS MIRRORS FOR SPACE QUALIFICATION. ATTENDING TO MEMS DM FLIGHT QUALIFICATION IS ESSENTIAL TO FURTHER ADVANCING THE TRL OF CORONAGRAPHS IN GENERAL. THE FIRST MILESTONE FOR THIS RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP FEM MODELS OF EXISTING IRIS AO DM DESIGNS AND VALIDATE THEM WITH MEASURED DATA FROM AN APPROPRIATE SAMPLE OF DMS. EARLY IN THE RESEARCH, A SET OF DMS WILL BE DESTRUCTIVELY TESTED AND THE FAILURES WILL BE CORRELATED WITH THE VALIDATED FEM MODEL. ALSO, THE MIRRORS WILL BE TESTED FOR SHOCK AND ACOUSTIC LOADS OVER A FLIGHT ENVELOPE OF TYPICAL LAUNCH VEHICLES TO ASSESS ANY POTENTIAL WEAKNESSES IN THE DESIGNS THAT COULD RESULT IN FAILURES DURING LAUNCH. THE FEM STUDIES AND TESTING HERE WILL BE FOCUSED ON THE IRIS AO DM TECHNOLOGY AND ITS USE IN THE VNC.