The European Solar Telescope (EST) aims to become the most ambitious ground-based solar telescope in Europe. This paper summaries the planned architecture, software practices adopted at the moment for the development environment and future lines. EST has adopted a mix of proven software from existing telescopes that are suited to the telescope requirements with new development systems, CI/CD practices and agile methodologies among others.
The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a 4-m class solar telescope that will include a Multiconjugate Adaptive Optics system (MCAO) integrated in the telescope optical path. Its open-dome configuration implies that the complete telescope will be exposed to wind, having an important impact in image stability and quality. The integration of Active Optics (AcO) and adaptive optics (AO) in solar telescopes represents a pivotal area of research aimed at enhancing solar observation capabilities. This study delves into the convergence of these two factors. On one hand, the AcO, responsible for real-time adjustments in optical components such as mirrors, to compensate for mechanical deformations and misalignments. On the other one, the AO, designed to counteract atmospheric turbulence and enhance solar image resolution. Diverse strategies are explored for merging these systems, leveraging advancements in high-sensitivity wavefront sensors, advanced control algorithms, and adaptive deformable mirror configurations. AcO will be in charge of mitigate the low frequency- huge distortions, as gravitational and thermal deformations and the quasi-static component of wind and AO will be in charge of high frequency-small distortions, as wind buffeting and atmospheric turbulences. An analysis of the different strategies proposed for control of the AcO loop and its planned actuation ranges is presented in this paper.
The European Solar Telescope (EST) aims to become the most ambitious ground-based solar telescope in Europe. Its roots lie in the knowledge and expertise gained from building and running previous infrastructures like, among others, the Vacuum Tower Telescope, Swedish Solar Telescope, or the GREGOR telescope. They are installed in the Canary Islands observatories, the selected EST site. Furthermore, the telescope has a novel optical design, including an adaptive secondary mirror (ASM) that allows reducing the number of optical surfaces to 6 mirrors (plus two lenses) before the instruments’ focal plane. The latter, combined with a configuration of mirrors that are located orthogonally oriented to compensate for the instrumental polarisation induced by each surface, makes EST a reference telescope in terms of throughput and polarimetric accuracy. In its main core design, EST also includes a Multi-Conjugated Adaptive Optics (MCAO) system where the ASM compensates for the ground layer turbulence. The rest of the mirrors on the optical train correct for the atmospheric turbulence at different layers of the atmosphere. The MCAO guarantees that the large theoretical spatial resolution of the 4-metre EST primary mirror is achieved over a circular FOV of 60 arcsec. Those main elements, combined with a set of instruments with capabilities for spectropolarimetry, make EST the next frontier in solar ground-based astronomy. In this contribution, we will cover the main properties and status of all the mentioned sub-systems and the following steps that will lead to the construction phase.
Text-based requirements management tools are widely used in engineering today. The concept behind it is quite simple, but this simplicity does not mean that these tools are affordable. In most cases, the cost of a requirements management tool license is similar to the cost of a CAD software license, the latter pertaining to a much more complex software tool. At cosmoBots.eu we have developed a plugin for a free and open project management tool (Redmine) that turns it into a powerful requirements management tool, including automatic and instant hierarchy and dependency diagrams, import/export from/to spreadsheets, full interoperability with other tools using the REST API, also including role-based lifecycle management and reporting. Several projects in IAC (EST, MICAL, NRT...) are officially using cosmoSys-Req to manage their requirements, and other projects or institutions (GTC, IACTEC...) are currently evaluating their use.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.