CHIME (Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment) is one of the six Sentinel Expansion missions currently developed by EU and ESA, to be launched by the end of the decade. It will provide hyperspectral imagery of the Earth's surface. The mission is expected to have a major impact on our understanding of the Earth's land surface and its processes and will help us to address some of the most pressing challenges facing our planet today by supporting a variety of applications including sustainable agriculture, water management, environmental monitoring, or disaster management. A pair of satellites will each carry a high-performance push broom hyperspectral imager able to measure the reflected light from the Earth's surface in 250 spectral bands over a swath of 130 km, at 30m x 30m ground sampling. The spectrometer system (SPS) consists of three identical spectrometer units (SU). The spectrometers are in a unique staggered and offset arrangement, offering a full swath of about 4500 pixels (including overlaps). The main technological challenges of the spectrometer unit, i.e. the broadband grating and the ultra-accurate long slit have been raised up to TRL6 during the Phase B2 and the final design is now frozen. The main optical and thermo-mechanical analyses are completed as well as the test approach. The manufacturing of the first fully functional Engineering Model is on-going.
AMOS with EIE as main subcontractor has recently completed the erection of the 4 m telescope located at the Turkish Eastern Anatolia Observatory (DAG) set up by the Ataturk University Astrophysics Research and Application Centre (ATASAM) of Erzurum. The telescope design is based on a Ritchey-Chrétien configuration with two folded Nasmyth focal planes and a focal length of 56m. The optical train is composed of three mirrors: the primary mirror (M1) with an optical aperture of 4m, a convex secondary mirror (M2), and a large flat folding mirror (M3). Diffraction-limited performances in optical and near infrared spectral bands will be achieved thanks to the combination of active and adaptive optics systems. The active optics system is controlling the shape of the primary mirror by means of 66 axial force actuators and position actively the secondary and tertiary mirrors by means of hexapods. The adaptive optics system will be implemented at one of the two Nasmyth ports. As main contractor, AMOS is in charge of the overall project management, the system engineering, the optical design and the active optics development. As main sub-contractor and partner of AMOS, EIE is in charge of the development of the mount. Following the factory acceptance in Europe, the telescope was dismounted and delivered in early 2021. The activities onsite were carried out according to the assembly, integration and verification plan (AIV plan). In the meantime, the fabrication of the 4 m primary mirror was completed, and the full set of mirrors was forwarded on-site before the end of the year 2021. In this paper is presented a brief description of the design and performances of the telescope followed by the project progress status at the time the optics are being integrated in the telescope for the first time. This includes the review of the mirrors as-built quality and the excepted performances of the telescope mount after alignment and tuning. The path forward final acceptance is explained with the presentation of the optical alignment method and the test carried-out on-sky.
AMOS has developed a hybrid active optics system that combines hydraulic and pneumatic properties of actuators to support a 4-m primary mirror. The mirror is part of the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST, formerly the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope) that is installed on top of the Haleakala volcano in Hawaii. The mirror support design is driven by the needs of (1) minimizing the support-induced mirror distortions under telescope operating conditions, (2) shaping the mirror surface to the desired profile, and (3) providing a high stiffness against wind loads. In order to fulfill these requirements, AMOS proposes an innovative support design that consist of 118 axial actuators and 24 lateral actuators. The axial support is based on coupled hydraulic and pneumatic actuators. The hydraulic part is a passive system whose main function is to support the mirror weight with a high stiffness. The pneumatic part is actively controlled so as to compensate for low-order pupil aberrations that are generated by the mirror support itself or by any other elements in the telescope optical chain. The lateral actuators have only a pneumatic part whose supporting force is adjusted to compensate for the mirror lateral weight. The performances of the support and its adequacy with the requirements are assessed with the support of a comprehensive analysis loop involving finite-element, thermal and optical modellings, and finally validated with a dedicated test campaign.
AMOS has recently completed the on-site erection and performance evaluation campaign of the 2.5m telescope that is installed on Mount Abu (India) for the Physical Research Laboratory. The 20-m-focal-length telescope has a Ritchey-Chrétien optical configuration. It is equipped with a primary active mirror; an active positioning of the secondary mirror and a first order adaptive optical system. It operates in the 0.37-4 μm spectral range. The project fulfillment relies on the AMOS multidisciplinary expertise in design; manufacturing and verification of high-accuracy optical; mechanical and opto-mechanical systems. This paper presents the assembly; integration; alignment and verifications carried out on site. The alignment relies on the coma-free point method. The end-to-end telescope performances (image quality; pointing; tracking) are measured on sky using the verification instrument in combination with wavefront-curvature sensing and lucky imaging techniques.
The Back Telescope Assembly (BTA) is one of the optical sub-systems composing the IRS instrument. It consists in an afocal off-axis four-mirror telescope whose primary function is to transfer the optical beam between the interferometer and cold detector units. The design, manufacturing and AIT activities are performed under the responsibility of AMOS (Liege, Belgium) with OHB System (Wessling, Germany) as the prime contractor of the IRS instrument. In order to meet the challenging performance requirements, an innovative telescope design with four-mirror anastigmat optical configuration has been developed, using a full aluminum solution, i.e. mirrors and structure. It is manufactured and aligned under ambient conditions while it is operated close to 0°C in a non-uniform thermal environment. The aluminum structure of the BTA supports the 4 mirrors and is interfaced via 6 Titanium needles to the CFRP optical bench of the IRS instrument. The aluminum mirrors and the BTA structure are realized by the single-point diamond turning technique in AMOS manufacturing facilities. In view of its qualification, the BTA models underwent an extensive testing campaign including: thermal-vacuum cycles, mechanical loads testing and model correlation, thermal balance and model correlation, measurement of the optical performances (wavefront error, magnification, optical axis orientation including its stability and pupil position) under ambient and operational conditions. The results of the tests allow to demonstrate the compliance of the BTA to the requirements.
Before the transport of a large telescope on site, it is suitable to perform factory tests to guarantee the optical performances. AMOS SA has been awarded of the contract from the design to on-site installation (in Rajasthan) of the 2.5-m Class Telescope for Physical Research Laboratory. The 20-m-focal-length telescope has a Ritchey-Chrétien optical configuration and provides at Cassegrain location one axial port and two side ports. It is equipped with a primary active mirror and a first order adaptive optical system. It operates in the 0.37-4 μm spectral range. The project fulfillment relies on the AMOS multidisciplinary expertise in design and manufacturing of high-accuracy optical, mechanical and opto-mechanical systems. This paper presents the test results carried out at AMOS factory to assess the telescope performances (e.g. active optic control loop, pointing, tracking). It relies on extensive tests on the mount control, and the optical and mechanical sub-systems before assembly.
EUCLID is an optical/near-infrared survey mission to be launched towards the L2 Lagrange point. It will aim at studying the dark universe and providing a better understanding of the origin of the accelerating expansion of the universe. Through the use of cosmological sounding, it will investigate the nature of dark energy, dark matter and gravity by tracking their observational signatures on the geometry of the universe and on the cosmic history of large structures formation. The EUCLID PayLoad Module (PLM) consists of a 1.2 m-class telescope and will accommodate two instruments. As a subcontractor of AIRBUS Defence and Space, AMOS is responsible for the manufacturing of all the silicon carbide mirrors of EUCLID PLM except for the primary mirror. In addition, AMOS also produces the 1.3 m test collimator that is used for the on-ground validation of the optical performances of the payload module under operational thermal vacuum conditions. The 1.3m collimator is designed, manufactured, assembled and tested by AMOS. It is based on a Ritchey-Chretien optical configuration, with a f/2 primary mirror and a hyperbolic secondary mirror. The mirrors are made of ZERODUR and polished by AMOS. The high performance of EUCLID PLM calls for not less demanding requirements for the test collimator, in terms of image quality, thermal stability, line of sight stability under micro-vibration, etc. Here after are presented at first the design and the strategies elaborated to cope with the stringent requirements. Then, the manufacturing and metrology of the mirrors are reported. Finally, the Assembly, Integration and Verification by test (AIV) are discussed.
AMOS S.A. is in charge of the development and installation of a 2.5 m telescope for Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) of India. It is a 20 m focal length Ritchey Chretien Cassegrain configuration equipped with active optics.
AMOS has acquired in more than 30 years a large experience in design, analysis, fabrication and commissioning of 2 to 4 m-class telescopes. Strong of this experience, the multidisciplinary integrated team of the project was able to design the Mt ABU 2.5-m telescope in one year with a great mastering of the technologies and sub-systems development which are used. This is the key point for the risk management of the project.
In this paper is presented the overall design of the telescope. This includes the optical design, the opto-mechanical design of the mirror supports and, in particular the active primary mirror support, the mount design and the control system for which AMOS has developed a main axes servo control based on industrial programmable logic controller (PLC). The closed loops sensing devices (wavefront sensor and guider) and their associated control systems are also presented. The Assembly, Integration and Verification (AIV) activities are finally discussed.
The Javalambre Survey Telescope (JST/T250) is a wide-field 2.6 m telescope ideal for carrying out large sky photometric surveys from the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory in Teruel, Spain. The most immediate goal of JST is to perform J-PAS, a survey of several thousands square degrees of the Northern sky in 59 optical bands, 54 of them narrow (∼ 145 Å FWHM) and contiguous. J-PAS will provide a low resolution photo-spectrum for every pixel of the sky, hence promising crucial breakthroughs in Cosmology and Astrophysics. J-PAS will be conducted with JPCam, a camera with a mosaic of 14 CCDs of 9.2k × 9.2k pix, more than 1200 Mpix and an effective FoV of 4.3 deg2 . Before JPCam is on telescope, the project will work in 2018 with an interim camera, JPAS-Pathfinder, with a reduced FoV of ∼ 0.6 × 0.6 deg2 to perform commissioning and the first JST science. This paper presents the current status and performance of the JST telescope, describing the commissioning and first science of the JPAS-Pathfinder at JST.
AMOS with EIE as a main subcontractor, was awarded a contract in November 2014 for the design, manufacturing and installation of a 4m-class telescope for the Turkish Eastern Anatolia Observatory (DAG) situated at 3170 m above the sea level in Palandöken mountains. The telescope is based on a Ritchey-Chretien configuration with two folded Nasmyth focal planes and a focal length of 56m.
Diffraction-limited performances will be reached thanks to the combination of the active optics system and the adaptive optics system that will be implemented on one of the Nasmyth ports. The active optics system aims at controlling the shape of the primary mirror by means of 66 axial force actuators and positioning actively the secondary and tertiary mirrors by means of hexapods.
More than 30 years of experience in testing instruments and telescopes, including optical testing, alignment, metrology, mechanical static and dynamic measurements, system identification, etc. allow to implement an adequate verification strategy combining component level verifications with factory and site test in the most efficient and reliable manner.
As a main contractor, AMOS is in charge of the overall project management, the system engineering, the optical design and the active optics development. As a main sub-contractor and partner of AMOS, EIE is in charge of the development of the mount. The factory test therefore takes place in EIE premises.
In this paper is shortly presented the overall design of the telescope with a review of the specification, the optical design and a description of the major sub-systems, including the optics. The assembly, integration et test plan is outlined. The assembly sequence and the tests of the active optics and the mount are discussed. Finally, the site integration and tests are explained. The process to assess the image quality of the telescope and the verification instrument developed for this purpose by AMOS are presented.
EUCLID is an optical/near-infrared survey mission to be launched towards the L2 Lagrange point. It will aim at studying the dark universe and providing a better understanding of the origin of the accelerating expansion of the universe. Through the use of cosmological sounding, it will investigate the nature of dark energy, dark matter and gravity by tracking their observational signatures on the geometry of the universe and on the cosmic history of large structures formation. The EUCLID PayLoad Module (PLM) consists of a 1.2 m-class telescope and will accommodate two instruments. As a subcontractor of AIRBUS Defence and Space, AMOS is responsible for the manufacturing of all the silicon carbide mirrors of EUCLID PLM except for the primary mirror. In addition, AMOS also produces the 1.3 m test collimator that is used for the on-ground validation of the optical performances of the payload module under operational thermal vacuum conditions. The 1.3m collimator is designed, manufactured, assembled and tested by AMOS. It is based on a Ritchey-Chretien optical configuration, with a f/2 primary mirror and a hyperbolic secondary mirror. The mirrors are made of ZERODUR® and polished by AMOS. The high performance of EUCLID PLM calls for not less demanding requirements for the test collimator, in terms of image quality, thermal stability, line of sight stability under micro-vibration, etc. Here after are presented at first the design and the strategies elaborated to cope with the stringent requirements. Then, the manufacturing and metrology of the mirrors are reported. Finally, the Assembly, Integration and Verification by test (AIV) are discussed.
In the framework of the Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) phase A/B1 study, an elegant breadboard (EBB) of an imaging spectrometer is designed, manufactured and aligned by AMOS, with Airbus Defence&Space as the prime Contractor of the study. The FLEX mission is one of the two candidates of the 8th Earth Explorer mission. The main constituting instrument of the FLEX mission is an imaging spectrometer observing vegetation fluorescence and reflectance with a high- and a low-resolution channels in the 500 nm -780 nm band. As part of the system feasibility study of the mission, a breadboard of the high-resolution channel of the instrument is designed and manufactured with a high representativeness of a future flight concept. The high-resolution channel is referred to as FIMAS (Fluorescence IMAging Spectrometer). The main purpose of the EBB is to demonstrate (1) the manufacturability of the instrument and (2) the compliance of the optical performances with respect to the science requirements (including spatial and spectral resolution and stray-light).
AMOS has recently completed the alignment campaign of the 2.6m telescope for the Observatorio Astrofisico de Javalambre (OAJ). AMOS developed an innovative alignment technique for wide field-of-view telescopes that has been successfully implemented on the OAJ 2.6m telescope with the active support of the team of CEFCA (Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón). The alignment relies on two fundamental techniques: (1) the wavefront-curvature sensing (WCS) for the evaluation of the telescope aberrations at arbitrary locations in the focal plane, and (2) the comafree point method for the adjustment of the position of the secondary mirror (M2) and of the focal plane (FP). The alignment campaign unfolds in three steps: (a) analysis of the repeatability of the WCS measurements, (b) assessment of the sensitivity of telescope wavefront error to M2 and FP position adjustments, and (c) optical alignment of the telescope. At the end of the campaign, seeing-limited performances are demonstrated in the complete focal plane. With the help of CEFCA team, the image quality of the telescope are investigated with a lucky-imaging method. Image sizes of less than 0.3 arcsec FWHM are obtained, and this excellent image quality is observed over the complete focal plane.
In this paper, we describe in detail the optical design of DAG, a new 4 m telescope for Turkey. DAG is an "adaptive optics friendly" telescope, in a sense that each design decision is taken considering the potential impact on the AO performance (vibrations, static aberrations etc.) The objective is to make this telescope fully ready for AO at first light. It is designed as a Ritchey-Chrétien combination, 56 m focal length, with Nasmyth foci only, and active optics. Its total RMS error is expected to be 45 nm up to Zernike mode 78, and 26 nm for the higher, non AO corrected modes. A final design optimization has been done by the telescope manufacturers, demonstrating that our AO-based requirements can be satisfied, without much difficulty.
An active optics system is being developed by AMOS for the new 4m-class telescope for the Turkish Eastern Anatolia Observatory (DAG). It consists in (a) an adjustable support for the primary mirror and (b) two hexapods supporting M2 and M3. The M1 axial support consists of 66 pneumatic actuators (for mirror shape corrections) associated with 9 hydraulic actuators that are arranged in three independent circuits so as to fix the axial position of the mirror. Both M1 support and the hexapods are actively controlled during regular telescope operations, either with look-up tables (openloop control) or using optical feedback from a wavefront sensor (closed-loop control).
A novel isostatic mounting concept for a space born TMA of the Meteosat Third Generation Infrared Sounder is presented. The telescope is based on a light-weight all-aluminium design. The mounting concept accommodates the telescope onto a Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (CRFP) structure. This design copes with the high CTE mismatch without introducing high stresses into the telescope structure. Furthermore a Line of Sight stability of a few microrads under geostationary orbit conditions is provided. The design operates with full performance at a temperature 20K below the temperature of the CFRP structure and 20K below the integration temperature. The mounting will sustain launch loads of 47g. This paper will provide the design of the Back Telescope Assembly (BTA) isostatic mounting and will summarise the consolidated technical baseline reached following a successful Preliminary Design Review (PDR).
AMOS has developed a hybrid active optics system that combines hydraulic and pneumatic properties of actuators to support a 4-m primary mirror. The mirror is intended to be used in the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST, formerly the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope) that will be installed by the National Solar Observatory (NSO) atop the Haleakala volcano in Hawaii. The mirror support design is driven by the needs of (1) minimizing the support-induced mirror distortions under telescope operating conditions, (2) shaping the mirror surface to the desired profile, and (3) providing a high stiffness against wind loads. In order to fulfill these requirements, AMOS proposes an innovative support design that consist of 118 axial actuators and 24 lateral actuators. The axial support is based on coupled hydraulic and pneumatic actuators. The hydraulic part is a passive system whose main function is to support the mirror weight with a high stiffness. The pneumatic part is actively controlled so as to compensate for low-order wavefront aberrations that are generated by the mirror support itself or by any other elements in the telescope optical chain. The performances of the support and its adequacy with the requirements are assessed with the help of a comprehensive analysis loop involving finite-element, thermal and optical modellings.
In the framework of the design and manufacturing of a wide-field 2.5m telescope for the Observatorio Astrofisica de Javalambre (OAJ), AMOS has developed a novel wavefront sensing system that allows for real time correction of the alignment of the telescope without perturbing the acquisition of science images. The system is based on the wavefront curvature sensing (WCS) technique in which two out-of-focus images of a star are used for reconstructing the telescope wavefront error. Any deviations from the nominal wavefront error that is obtained after telescope final alignment are tracked and corrective actions can be implemented so as to optimize the telescope optical quality. The wavefront reconstruction technique and the associated corrections of the telescope alignment have been modelled and analyzed so as to validate the proposed approach before implementation in the telescope. To this aim, a bespoke coupled Zemax-Matlab model has been developed by AMOS. The model incorporates the algorithm for the telescope wavefront error reconstruction from out-of-focus images and computation of the alignment corrections in the telescope model. The justification of the wavefront sensing approach, its robustness against several sources of errors, as well as the selection of the appropriate equipment for its implementation in the telescope are discussed on the basis of this combined model.
AMOS S.A. has developed a 2.6 m wide field telescope for the “Observatorio Astrofisico de Javalambre”. The leading edge performance of this telescope has not only required an extensive work of design, analysis and optimization but also a mastered fabrication process and an appropriate AIV plan. The telescope has successfully passed the factory test and is installed at the observatory on the “Pico del Buitre” in Spain. This paper aims to present the philosophy of the test, the results and the current status after installation. AMOS has gained since more than 30 years a huge experience in testing small and large instruments, including optical testing, alignment, mechanical static, dynamic measurements, system identification, etc. It is this combination of various techniques of measurement that produce accurate and reliable results which are a key element of a successful project.
AMOS S.A. is in charge of the development of the telescopes for the "Observatorio Astrofisico de Javalambre" in Spain
where a 2.6 m wide field telescope is complemented by an 80 cm telescope. This paper focuses on the 2.6 m telescope
Javalambre Survey Telescope (JST): it is combining a large collecting surface with a wide field of view for reaching a
vast portion of the sky, which is the most relevant parameter for surveys, while ensuring an optical image quality
compatible with the site seeing and a suitable depth in the sky sighting.
The major difficulty consists in maintaining the image quality over a 500 mm focal plane. A good design is the result of
a thorough multidisciplinary optimization process where the fabrication constraints are a major driving parameter. The
complexity of the system led to elaborate innovative solutions for the closed loop control of both image quality and
tracking features.
The design and the methodology of working are presented in details. The optics fabrication, the integration and
acceptance tests are also reviewed.
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