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,...
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...
The newly built India-TMT Optics Fabrication Facility (ITOFF) was recently inaugurated by Vice President of India Shri. Venkaiah Naidu at the Center for Research and Education in Science & Technology (CREST) of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bengaluru.
TMT Optics and Systems Engineering teams have reached another major milestone, with a successful “gate” review of the TMT optical Test INstruments System (TINS) preliminary design.
TMT Optics and Systems Engineering teams recently conducted a technical evaluation of the primary mirror optical cleaning system, marking a major milestone in its design. The Optics Cleaning System (CLN) for TMT’s segmented primary mirror (M1) as well as the secondary (M2) and tertiary (M3) mirrors successfully passed Preliminary Design Review (PDR) on August 19 and 20, 2020 during a remote conference meeting.
The first TMT primary mirror (M1) metrology frame has been built and delivered to TMT’s technical laboratory near Pasadena. TMT will use the metrology frames, which are auxiliary equipment tools, to accurately locate the M1 mirror segments during installation.
The first of TMT’s Primary Mirror (M1) segment prototypes was recently tested and polished using the Ion Beam Figuring (IBF) process.
The Multi-Segment Integration & Test (MSIT) facility at the TMT lab in Monrovia, California, is now fully populated with seven aluminum mirror segment prototypes.
One of TMT’s most important components – its huge primary mirror that spans over 30 meters – continues to be manufactured around the world.
Pasadena, CA, January 13, 2020 – The design of the Thirty Meter Telescope’s Tertiary Mirror (M3) recently passed the first part of its Preliminary Design Review, which took place over two days in November 2019.
