The opportunities for precision space instruments will increase if the
y can be accommodated on a non-precise spacecraft or platform. In orde
r to meet the precision requirements of various space instruments, the
objective was to develop a six degree of freedom Vibration Isolation,
Suppression and Steering (VISS) subsystem that interfaces the instrum
ent to the spacecraft or platform. This paper results from a study to
design a flight experiment to validate the VISS subsystem for a Mid-Wa
ve Infra Red (MWIR) Camera on top of a small spacecraft. One of the ma
jor challenges is to develop a long stroke PZT actuator that is redund
ant and compact, with low stiffness and power efficiency. The test per
formance of the actuator design and the predicted VISS performance of
the design is included.