The ITCC Polishing Team
The ITCC Polishing Team
The TMT Optics team is excited to announce the successful completion of the ITCC’s Stress Mirror Polishing Fabrication Readiness Review (FRR). The FRR was held on February 5, 2026 and was attended remotely by the TIO reviewers and chaired by Ben Gallagher, the TIO Optics Lead. The India-TMT Coordination Center (ITCC) team was led by the Work Package Manager, Dr. S. Sriram.
This FRR was the culmination of a nine year effort that included constructing a state-of-the-art polishing facility at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) CREST campus, contracting with Coherent (now Attalon) in Richmond, CA to build the manufacturing equipment, months of training on the equipment, and the standup of the polishing facility in India.
Mirror Fabrication Facility at the IIA CREST Campus; Bangalore, India
The ITCC team has successfully completed the polishing and metrology of a test roundel at the CREST facility that meets all the TMT requirements, demonstrating their mastery of the manufacturing process.
To support the FRR, the panel reviewed upwards of 50 documents and procedures and generated 109 questions/actions for the ITCC team. By the conclusion of the review, about 90% were answered or resolved, with the remaining requiring only simple updates to documentation. “The ITCC team has worked incredibly hard to build a factory and master the fabrication tools and processes”, stated Lou Marchetti, a member of the TIO Review Panel. “They have a very strong team and are going to be very successful in polishing roundels. I am looking forward to working closely with them over the next few years”.
The FRR marks a significant progression in the M1 Segment Polishing development. TIO commends the ITCC team for their excellent review and looks forward to the commencement of low rate initial production (LRIP) for roundels over the next months, followed by full rate production.
We extend our gratitude to all participants and look forward to continued success as we advance on completing the polishing of the M1 Mirror segments!
Attendees of the FRR held on February 5, 2026