India-TMT Optics Fabrication Facility ITOFF Visit. TIO engineers walk through the air handling system located in the upper floor power supply rooms.
The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Telescope Structure serves as the framework onto which all other subsystems (mirrors, science instruments, cables, refrigerant lines, laser guide star facility, etc.) get attached. The telescope structure is divided into two main rotating systems: the azimuth and the elevation structures. The azimuth structure supports the elevation structure and the multiple scientific instruments located on the two Nasmyth platforms. The telescope, about 50 meters tall and 55 meters wide, will be enclosed within a very compact dome. It will weigh close to 3000 metric tons and will be capable of completing a full azimuth rotation in less than 3 minutes.
The three-story building of nearly 3,600 square meters is a world class optical facility dedicated to TMT primary mirror segments fabrication.
The Vice President of India with distinguished Professors of the India Institute of Astrophysics and India-TMT members participated in the opening ceremony and were guided in viewing the new building on 29 December 2020.
New integration facility for NFIRAOS, TMT first light Adaptive Optics (AO) at NRC-HAA research center in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where NRC-HAA and industrial subcontractors are developing NFIRAOS. The building will allow the integration and test of NFIRAOS with its first light instrument IRIS. This is illustrated in the top right figure, which shows a CAD rendering of NFIRAOS and IRIS installed in the building.
TMT Senior Opto-Mechanical Engineer, Alastair Heptonstall, positioning the portable CMM, an advanced metrology system used to measure and check the feature locations of TMT M1 aluminum segments that will be integrated in the mirror cell platform at the Monrovia technical lab.
TMT's relative size is small given its mirror size.
The Indian large optics facility will be dedicated to TMT primary mirror segment production: grinding, polishing, hexagonal cutting and support assembly mounting.
The new facility, which is close to completion, is located on the Hosakote campus of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and is part of the Centre for Research and Education in Science and Technology (CREST). The facility will host the production of TMT mirror segments and high-tech optical equipment.
From left: Large granite slab is mined, Granite slab is coarse cut, Transportation of granite to Nanjing, Granite Slab has been ground down to a 5m rotational table, Rear Surface of Granite Table Polished, Large Rotational Gear under Fabrication, Rotational Table Base Structure & Centre Connection, Base being lowered into pit, Base in position.
Cross sectional view of TMT enclosure revealing the observatory structure and components.
TMT engineers in the Monrovia laboratory close to TMT’s headquarters in California, after the installation of the first TMT Primary Segment Assembly (PSA) in the Multi-Segment Integration and Test Facility (MSIT). From left to right: Fred Kamphues, Chris Carter, Bryan Smith and Alan Tubb.
