The TMT Laser Guide Star Facility (LGSF) has successfully completed the first phase of its Preliminary Design Review (PDR1). The LGSF will be responsible for generating artificial laser guide stars that will be used with TMT’s Adaptive Optics (AO) systems, including NFIRAOS, the Observatory’s first-light AO facility.
The optical metrology and test set for TMT’s primary mirror segments has arrived at its warehouse in California. It was sent by Arizona Optical Systems (AOS) in Tucson, Arizona, on May 11 and arrived safely the day after at the TMT storage facility after a 500-mile journey. All fabrication and test tooling for the complete metrology system were also included in the freight.
The handling equipment for TMT primary mirror (M1) segment recently passed its Preliminary Design Review. The custom-designed equipment and tooling will be used to safely handle mirrors within the observatory during operational activities.
A virtual meeting was conducted on April 5, 2021 between representatives of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ, TMT Japanese Partner Institution) and the TMT Project Office (TMTPO) Telescope Structure Subsystem (STR), Systems Engineering (SE) and Project Management (PM) teams. The goal of this closeout meeting was to verify closure of all major actions from the STR Production Readiness Review (PRR) 1 which was conducted...
TIO recently celebrated the completion of another eight newly polished roundels produced for the TMT primary mirror by Canon in Japan. The TIO and NAOJ teams responsible for the mirror polishing held a face-to-face meeting virtually on April 27, 2021 to confirm that the polishing results met the demanding requirements for these parts.
TMT and Coherent reached a new milestone this month with the completion of the first two roundels for TMT’s Primary Mirror (M1). Coherent precisely contoured and polished the optical surfaces of the roundels under the direction of TIO. They are the first of 231 roundels Coherent will provide for the TMT primary mirror array, nearly half of the total of 492 required to complete the telescope.
TMT, in partnership with Larson Packaging Company, recently celebrated the successful design and completion of TMT’s Primary Mirror Assembly Shipping Container (PMASC). The shipping container will enclose and protect TMT’s primary mirror segments during transport and storage between their international destinations.
A major milestone for the international Thirty Meter Telescope project (TMT) was reached in October 2020, as TMT selected California-based Coherent, Inc. for the Hexagonal cutting of the US allocation of its Primary Mirror (M1) segments. Coherent is one of the world’s leading providers of photonic solutions, including lasers and custom optics, and has extensive experience in large-scale precision optics and assemblies, such as those required...
The Thirty Meter Telescope Optics Group recently reached a critical production milestone, with the approval of the first polished roundel (# SN023) for TMT’s Primary Mirror (M1). Teams at TIO, NAOJ, and Canon reviewed the manufacturing operations required to turn a meniscus mirror blank into a polished roundel, and the roundel was confirmed to meet all requirements set by the TMT Project. This approval obtained in December 2020 validates years...
As an extremely complex organization of systems all interacting together, TMT will require an elaborate Telescope Utility Services (TUS) infrastructure to enable operations within the observatory, across the summit facilities, enclosure, and telescope. The first tier of TMT’s TUS successfully passed its Final Design review, covering elements of the design that pertain to the Telescope Structure and its various interfaces, via video...
