TELESCOPE FIELD ROTATOR FOR THE GTC (GRAN TELESCOPIO DE CANARIAS)

Spain

IDOM was responsible for the design, manufacturing, integration and verification of the two Folded Cassegrain Stations for the Gran Telescopio de Canarias (GTC). Each of the Folded Cassegrain Stations include an Instrument Rotator, a Cable Rotator for the instrument and the Acquisition and Guiding (AG) and Wavefront Sensing (WS) System.

The conceptual design proposed by IDOM for the Folded Cassegrain Stations was driven by the need for a compact design integration the different functions in a lightweight system. IDOM integrated in the design an innovative cable wrap concept, which has been replicated in other projects like the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) Prime Focus Rotator, the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) Cassegrain Station and the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) Prefocal Station.

The Instrument Rotator is able to position a Science Instrument of up to 1000 kg along a range of 530º with an accuracy below 2 arc seconds. The maximum slewing speed for motion is 15º/sec. The Acquisition and Guiding System is able to point a reference star and correct the telescope drives and optics to accurately follow that reference star with a lateral positioning error and stability lower than 50 microns.

Astronomy & Space : Precision Instruments