Conceptual Design of the MSE Telescope
On November 16th, the mid-term review of the Conceptual Design for the Telescope of the Mauna Kea Spectroscopic Explorer was successfully held in IDOM office in Minneapolis.
Mauna Kea is one of the best sites in the world for astronomy. However, it is as well an ecologically sensitive area. The location of the current 3.6m CFHT Telescope is arguably one of the best observation points in Mauna Kea, and thus, it was resolved to overcome building restrictions and to minimize impact on the site by decommissioning the 3.6 meter CFHT Telescope and using their former facility to build and host a larger 10-meter class telescope for the MSE Project.
The telescope design developed by IDOM features a novel architecture concept that combines well proven and robust technologies, integrated in a way that the entire telescope assembly delivers optomechanic and mechatronic performances exceeding those of the most renowned currently operative 10-meter class telescopes, which are the largest telescopes built up to now.
The developed solution offers a very high stiffness-to-mass ratio that leads to optimal seeing performance. It also incorporates a high efficiency seismic protection system and other remarkable features.
Kei Szeto, Project Engineer of the MSE Project Office, emphasized that “We are very impressed with the design progress so far. In less than two months, IDOM’s engineering team has developed a solid telescope concept. With excitement, we look forward to the completion of the conceptual design.”
