ELT Telescope - Cells Mirror

The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is a revolutionary new ground - based telescope project that will feature a 39 metres segmented main mirror and will be the world's largest optical / near infrared telescope. The ELT concept first came into being in 2005, the programme received approval in 2012 and was given the green light for construction at the end of 2014; first light is expected in 2024.

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has commissioned SENER for the design, construction, validation and delivery of the ELT's Secondary Mirror (M2) and Tertiary Mirror (M3) cells.

The cell mechanisms ensure telescope alignment during observation while correcting optical deformations. In this process, a high-precision hexapod will be responsible for the alignment and tracking of the mirrors, and additionally an active structure will be used to compensate for errors in the mirror surfaces.

SOLUTION BY DELVALE ENGINEERING TEAM

The scope of work includes more than two years of preliminary and detailed design, as well as the construction, integration and trial testing of all elements in test mode. Checking in detail, repeatedly and ensuring that everything is perfectly integrated with a technically state of the art and highly complex solution can only be solved with an aluminium control cabinet which meets the highly demanding specifications of this type of installation.

Sophistication and attention to detail are the strategic pillars of our proposal; nothing is left to chance when it comes to the construction of engineering work of this calibre.