Astronomical observatories are pivotal in unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos. To ensure their operation and longevity, Facility Condition Assessments (FCAs) play a vital role in determining maintenance and funding needs for these unique facilities. By prioritizing maintenance needs, guiding and justifying budget allocation, and documenting compliance, FCAs assist in maintaining safety and operational efficiency, help sustain the scientific mission of these facilities, and help sustain their supporting infrastructure. This paper presents the general concept behind an FCA and a case study highlighting the impact of FCAs on several renowned astronomical facilities. As astronomy continues to expand our understanding of the universe, FCAs emerge as a critical tool in supporting the mission of these scientific institutions, fostering long-term sustainability, and justifying funding requirements to stakeholders.
Ground-based telescope observatories are typically located in harsh environments. Due to their location, they are subject to a wide range of severe environmental conditions such as seismic events, strong winds, and large diurnal temperature swings including freeze/thaw cycles. It is common for telescope observatories to experience fatigue and degradation as a result of their unique dynamic use within these harsh environmental conditions. One specific result of this degradation includes rainwater leakage into the rotating telescope enclosure. This water leakage has the potential to cause serious damage to interior components of the telescope enclosure, including the telescope and its sensitive instruments. Innovative techniques for detecting rainwater leakage include the use of a thermal imaging camera in conjunction with an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) / drone. Standard RGB photography accompanies thermal integrated analysis to allow a non-invasive peer into the health of the telescope enclosure. The drone and its specialized camera capture visual data to identify any abnormality found and cross reference the thermal anomaly to a physical place on the structure. Traditional techniques used for detection include trained and experienced personnel physically observing the structure alongside the data captured by the drone. Using the 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope on Maunakea in Hawaii as a case study, this paper will present innovative and traditional techniques for detection of rainwater leakage into the rotating telescope enclosure and other sensitive areas. The Subaru Telescope was constructed in the late 1990’s and is starting to experience predictable degradation of the rotating enclosure after 20+ years of use on Maunakea. By utilizing innovative and traditional techniques for rainwater leak detection, the Subaru Telescope will be able to better identify problem areas and start to repair these areas to prevent further degradation. Lessons learned from the experience will better prepare Architects and Engineers for the design of future ground-based telescope observatories.
While the technical and performance considerations of an observatory’s azimuth rotation system (ORS) are fundamentally distinct from those of a telescope’s azimuth rotation system (TRS), their impact on the capital cost, maintenance cost, and overall telescope uptime and reliability metrics can be equally impactful. Furthermore, due to its inherently larger scale, higher loads, extreme stiffnesses, and exposure to a larger variety of environmental forces, the design and construction of an ORS poses unique technical challenges that merit an appropriately unique approach. In particular, construction imperfections can have an unexpectedly outsized impact on ORS mechanisms loads, leading to underestimated design loads and premature component failures. In response, this study proposes a methodology of analysis, design, and construction of an ORS that is fundamentally distinct from that of a typical TRS. The need for extremely tight tolerances and high precision is deemphasized, in exchange for a more rigorous analytical approach that ensures that all performance and reliability objectives can be achieved while following tolerance schemes more typical of the commercial built environment. To do so, the proposed methodology derives mechanism and structural loads by pairing typical building codes with a Monte Carlo analysis; the presented techniques can be used to derive loads for various general arrangements of ORS mechanisms, including a variety of restraint schemes, structural and mechanism compliances, and tolerance envelopes. Representative simulation results generated with SAP2000 are presented along with general design guidelines for detailing an observatory rotation system with economical tolerances, reduced maintenance demands, and high long-term reliability.
A turnkey observatory with 6.5-m telescope has been developed for a broad range of science applications. The observatory includes the telescope, mount and enclosure, installed on site and ready for operation. The telescope’s primary mirror is an f/1.25 honeycomb sandwich of borosilicate glass, similar to that of the MMT and Magellan telescopes. The baseline optical design is for a Gregorian Nasmyth focus at f/11. A Gregorian adaptive optics secondary that provides a wide-field focus corrected for ground layer turbulence (0.25 arcsecond images over a 4 arcminute field) as well as a narrow-field diffraction-limited focus is optional. Another option is a corrected f/5 focus with a 1° field. The observatory, built by partners from academia and industry with extensive experience, can be delivered within five years at a fixed price.
M3 is a full-discipline architecture, engineering and construction management firm hired by TMT International Observatory to design and manage the construction of several aspects of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). The TMT is a next-generation extremely large telescope that is approaching its start of construction. While the TMT continues to consider construction at the originally proposed site on Maunakea, Hawaii, the project is ensuring viability while addressing challenges at its baseline site through establishing an alternate design for facilities at Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM) on the island of La Palma, Spain. With both locations actively being developed in parallel and with a similar scheduled start of construction in mind, this paper offers an overview and insight into how and why TMT and M3 established a practical design for the Canary Islands, how it differs from the design at Maunakea, and discusses the legal processes followed to establish access to a suitable site in La Palma.
KEYWORDS: Observatories, Space telescopes, Optical instrument design, Telescopes, Observatories, Space telescopes, Telescopes, Optical instrument design, Systems modeling, Camera shutters, 3D modeling, Mirrors, Data modeling, Control systems
The Instituto de Astronomia of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) along with Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica, the University of Arizona and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory are developing the Telescopio San Pedro Mártir (TSPM) project, a 6.5m diameter optical telescope. M3 Engineering and Technology Corp. (M3) is the design and construction management firm responsible for all site infrastructure, enclosure and support facilities. The Telescopio San Pedro Mártir project (TSPM) will be located within the San Pedro Mártir National Park in Baja California, Mexico at 2,830 m. above sea level, approximately 65 km. east of the Pacific Ocean, 55km west of the Sea of Cortes (Gulf of California) and 180km south of the United States and México border. The aim of the paper is to present the preliminary design of the site infrastructure, enclosure and support facilities to date and share the design and construction approach.
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), one of several next generation Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs), is a 25.4 meter diameter altitude over azimuth design set to be built at the summit of Cerro Campanas at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. This paper provides an update and overview of the ongoing efforts for the GMT site, infrastructure, facilities and enclosure design. The paper provides insight of the proposed systems, trade studies and approach resulting in the current design solution.
KEYWORDS: Data modeling, 3D modeling, Systems modeling, Computer aided design, Telescopes, Document management, Space telescopes, Observatories, Solid modeling, Process modeling
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), one of several next generation Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs), is a 25.4 meter diameter altitude over azimuth design set to be built at the summit of Cerro Campánas at the Las Campánas Observatory in Chile. The paper describes the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) for the GMT project.
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