Gengis Toledo-Ramirez, Vicente Bringas-Rico, Noe Reyes, Jorge Uribe, Aldo Lopez, Carlos Tovar, Xochitl Caballero, Luis Del-Llano, Cesar Martinez, Eduardo Macias, William Lee, Alberto Carramiñana, Michael Richer, Jesús González, Beatriz Sanchez, Diana Lucero, Rogelio Manuel, Jose Segura, Saul Rubio, German Gonzalez, Obed Hernandez, Mary García, Jose Lazaro, Fabian Rosales-Ortega, Joel Herrera, Gerardo Sierra, Hazael Serrano
KEYWORDS: Optical instrument design, Telescope design, Mirrors, Telescopes, Telescopes, Optical instrument design, Mirrors, Astronomy, Control systems, Systems engineering, Manufacturing, Systems modeling, Control systems design
The Telescopio San Pedro Martir (TSPM) is a new ground-based optical telescope project, with a 6.5 meters honeycomb primary mirror, to be built in the Observatorio Astronomico Nacional on the Sierra San Pedro Martir (OAN-SPM) located in Baja California, Mexico. The OAN-SPM has an altitude of 2830 meters above sea level; it is among the best location for astronomical observation in the world. It is located 1830 m higher than the atmospheric inversion layer with 70% of photometric nights, 80% of spectroscopic nights and a sky brightness up to 22 mag/arcsec2.
The TSPM will be suitable for general science projects intended to improve the knowledge of the universe established on the Official Mexican Program for Science, Technology and Innovation 2014-2018. The telescope efforts are headed by two Mexican institutions in name of the Mexican astronomical community: the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica. The telescope has been financially supported mainly by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT). It is under development by Mexican scientists and engineers from the Center for Engineering and Industrial Development. This development is supported by a Mexican-American scientific cooperation, through a partnership with the University of Arizona (UA), and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO). M3 Engineering and Technology Corporation in charge of enclosure and building design.
The TSPM will be designed to allow flexibility and possible upgrades in order to maximize resources. Its optical and mechanical designs are based upon those of the Magellan and MMT telescopes. The TSPM primary mirror and its cell will be provided by the INAOE and UA. The telescope will be optimized from the near ultraviolet to the near infrared wavelength range (0.35-2.5 m), but will allow observations up to 26μm. The TSPM will initially offer a f/5 Cassegrain focal station. Later, four folded Cassegrain and two Nasmyth focal stations are contemplated, nominally with focal ratios of f/5 and f/11. The concept will allow the use of existing instruments like MMIRS and MEGACAM. Available experience from currently working ground-based telescopes will be integrated with up-to-date technology specially for control and information management systems.
Its mount is the well-known azimuth-elevation configuration. The telescope total mass is estimated in about 245 metric tons, with a total azimuth load of 185 metric tons including around 110 metric tons as the total elevation load. A tracking error lower than 0.03 arcsec RMS is expected under steady wind up to 50 Km/h. An open-loop pointing accuracy between 10 and 2 arcsec is planned. The TSPM is in its design phase. It is the first large optical ground-based telescope to be designed and developed primarily by Mexican scientists and engineers. This endeavor will result in the improvement of the scientific and technical capabilities of Mexico including complex scientific instruments development, systems engineering and project management for large engineering projects. In this paper, which aims to gather the attention of the community for further discussions, we present the engineering preliminary design, the basic architecture and challenging technical endeavors of the TSPM project.
Jorge Uribe, Vicente Bringas, Noe Reyes, Carlos Tovar, Aldo López, Xóchitl Caballero, César Martínez, Gengis Toledo, William Lee, Alberto Carramiñana, Jesús González, Michael Richer, Beatriz Sánchez, Diana Lucero, Rogelio Manuel, Saúl Rubio, Germán González, Obed Hernández, José Segura, Eduardo Macias, Mary García, José Lazaro, Fabián Rosales, Luis del Llano
Telescopio San Pedro Mártir (TSPM) project intends to build a 6.5 meters telescope with alt-azimuth design, currently at the conceptual design. The project is an association between Instituto de Astronomía de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (IA-UNAM) and the Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica Electrónica (INAOE) in partnership with department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory of University of Arizona and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory of Harvard University. Conceptual design of the telescope is lead and developed by the Centro de Ingeniería y Desarrollo Industrial (CIDESI). An overview of the feasibility study and the structural conceptual design are summarized in this paper. The telescope concept is based on telescopes already commissioned such as MMT and the Baade and Clay Magellan telescopes, building up on these proven concepts. The main differences relative to the Magellan pair are; the elevation axis is located 1 meter above the primary mirror vertex, allowing for a similar field of view at the Cassegrain and both Nasmyth focal stations; instead of using a vane ends to position the secondary mirror TSPM considers an Steward platform like MMT; finally TSPM has a larger floor distance to m1 cell than Magellans and MMT. Initially TSPM will operate with an f/5 Cassegrain station, but the design considers further Nasmyth configurations from a Cassegrain f/5 up to a Gregorian f/11. The telescope design includes 7 focal stations: 1 Cassegrain; 2 Nasmyth; and 4 folded-Cassegrain. The telescope will be designed and manufactured in Mexico, will be design in Queretaro by CIDESI and built between Queretaro and Michoacán manufacturing facilities; it will be preassembled in these facilities and disassembled to send it to the San Pedro Mártir Observatory for final integration. The azimuth and altitude structure is planned to be constructed in modules and transported by truck and shipped to Ensenada and finally to the OAN where is going to be finally assembled, verified and tested.
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