The TMT Refrigeration Cooling System (REFR) will proceed to the Preliminary Design phase next year after successfully passing its Conceptual Design Review closeout meeting on May 3, 2023.
How will TMT make its 492 primary mirror segments behave as a single mirror of 30 meter diameter? TMT’s Alignment and Phasing System (APS) team has come up with the solution that will keep all of TMT’s mirrors aligned to a high precision of about 10 nm root-mean-square (RMS).
TMT’s Optics and M1 Segment Support Assemblies (SSA) is ready to enter production following a successful Fabrication Readiness Review that assessed the production of the hardware required to support the primary mirror segments. Larsen and Toubro (L&T), which is supplying the SSAs, is now one step closer to start production and shall proceed with the procurement of raw material.
TMT’s telescope structure subsystem (STR) recently completed two successful Production Readiness Reviews (PRR2 and PRR3) to assess the availability of adequate resources and planning for production, and later for assembly, integration and verification. The STR’s design and future fabrication are activities led by NAOJ and their prime contractor Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO) in Japan.
The second TMT India roundel has been completed! The roundel was polished at the Coherent facilities in Richmond, California by the India TMT Coordination Centre (ITCC) staff, using ITCC equipment under the supervision of Coherent’s staff.
A few months ago, TMT Optical engineers traveled to the Netherlands to support the Dutch company TNO install a TMT Segment Support Assembly (SSA) onto an SSA Module Acceptance Test Tool (SMATT). This is an important step in the design and construction of the M1 optics system, a 492-segment primary mirror for the TMT.
The teams working on TMT’s Segment Handling System (SHS) and utility system design received some good news following a series of critical review meetings earlier this spring. The TMT Telescope Structure Subsystem (STR) and Summit Facility (SUM) groups conducted the reviews and based on the outcome, the teams mays now proceed independently with the final design of their systems toward production preparation.
India-TMT and industry partners Larsen and Toubro (L&T) successfully manufactured and assembled the first TMT Segment Support Assembly (SSA) in L&T Coimbatore facility. Hard work paid off and India-TMT successfully passed an Assembly Readiness Review a few weeks ago, presenting their first and recently assembled TMT SSA, including all separate compliant components, which are about 450 precision parts.
TMT’s Wide-Field Optical Spectrometer (WFOS), one of its three first-light instruments, successfully completed its Conceptual Design Review in February 2022. This review completed the conceptual design phase and ushered WFOS into its Preliminary Design Phase.
The fabrication of TMT’s primary mirror segments at Coherent Inc. in California continues to progress well. To date, a total of 19 M1 polished roundels have been delivered to TMT’s secure warehouse facility for storage.
