Technologies for producing segments for extremely large telescopes

D. Walker; C. Atkins; I. Baker; R. Evans; S. Hamidi; P. Harris; H. Li; W. Messelink; J. Mitchell; M. Parry-Jones; P. Rees; G. Yu

doi:10.1117/12.893360

26 September 2011 Technologies for producing segments for extremely large telescopes

D. Walker, C. Atkins, I. Baker, R. Evans, S. Hamidi, P. Harris, H. Li, W. Messelink, J. Mitchell, M. Parry-Jones, P. Rees, G. Yu

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8126, Optical Manufacturing and Testing IX; 812604 (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.893360
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2011, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We describe progress on a novel process-chain being used to produce eight 1.4m hexagonal segments as prototypes for the European Extremely Large Telescope - a Master Spherical Segment as a reference, and seven aspheric segments. A new pilot plant integrates a bespoke full-aperture test-tower designed and built by OpTIC Glyndwr, with a Zeeko 1.6m polishing machine. The process chain starts with aspherising hexagonal segments on the Cranfield BoX™ grinder, followed by smoothing, corrective-polishing and edge-rectification using the Zeeko CNC platform. The paper describes the technology and progress, and anticipates how the process-chain is expected to evolve through the seven segments to increase both process-speed and surface-quality.

Citation Download Citation

D. Walker, C. Atkins, I. Baker, R. Evans, S. Hamidi, P. Harris, H. Li, W. Messelink, J. Mitchell, M. Parry-Jones, P. Rees, and G. Yu "Technologies for producing segments for extremely large telescopes", Proc. SPIE 8126, Optical Manufacturing and Testing IX, 812604 (26 September 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.893360

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