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news and media
April 15th, 2008
The TMT Observatory Corporation has commissioned IMTEC’s Engineering Services to design the Segment Support Assembly for the telescope due to IMTEC’s reputation as a leader in the design and development of highly stable optical mounts. IMTEC’s engineers have spent thousands of hours over the last two-and-a-half years developing this mount system. The system will support a mirror built from 492 hexagon-shaped segments because it is impossible to build a single thirty meter mirror for this application.
IMTEC Continues Thirty Meter Telescope Development
Los Alamos, New Mexico - IMTEC Corporation’s Engineering Services Division continues the work on the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) for the TMT Observatory Corporation. The TMT will be the largest optical telescope ever built, enabling scientists to see farther into the universe and with greater detail than ever before. The TMT promises to create new opportunities for discovery such as allowing scientists to directly view planets orbiting stars other than the sun. Such observations will allow scientists to determine the presence of water, a requirement for life as we know it.
The TMT Observatory Corporation has commissioned IMTEC’s Engineering Services to design the Segment Support Assembly for the telescope due to IMTEC’s reputation as a leader in the design and development of highly stable optical mounts. IMTEC’s engineers have spent thousands of hours over the last two-and-a-half years developing this mount system. The system will support a mirror built from 492 hexagon-shaped segments because it is impossible to build a single thirty meter mirror for this application.
IMTEC Engineering Services is designing and planning a study for the tertiary mirror of the TMT. The tertiary mirror will sit in the middle of the primary mirror and direct light to instruments located on platforms on the periphery of the primary mirror. When completed, the tertiary mirror will be the world’s largest flat optical mirror.
“IMTEC appreciates the opportunity to participate in this landmark undertaking,” said Engineering Services Product Manager, Thomas Nora. “We look forward to continued involvement with the TMT Project.”
First light of the project is scheduled for 2016.