MSV-2035 Astronomy Document - Inside Design - FINAL - FINAL

Astronomy & Astrophysics 72 galaxies, black holes and extreme physics through the study of transients, study of exoplanets and search for signatures of extraterrestrial life. When built, TMT will produce breakthroughs across a wide range of scientific topics, ensuring a generational legacy of discovery with leadership in optical/infrared astronomy for the TMT partners. TMTwill provide an unparalleled viewof the Northern Sky and all its unique astronomical targets. India has been a member of the TMT project since 2010, initially as an Observer, and as a partner since December 2014. India-TMT has the core responsibility of providing various sub-systems of the project as our in-kind contribution. This includes hardware for the primary mirror (M1) control system consisting of 3234 edge sensors and 1476 actuators, the segment support assemblies for all 594 segments, 82 polished primary mirror segments, mirror coating vacuum chambers, part of observatory and telescope control software and contribution to the development of first light and second generation instruments. To realise India's contribution of the 82 polished segments, a large Optics Fabrication Facility (ITOFF) is established in IIA-CREST, Hosakote, Bengaluru. This national facility is a one-of-its-kind facility for polishing large optics in the country. Several astronomers from Indian research institutes and universities are members of the TMT International Science Development Teams and are contributing to the development of detailed science cases and key observational programmes, and drawing up the science requirements for future instruments and upgrades. The project has completed the design of the telescope optics, structure and dome, as well as the various control systems and software requirements and has now entered the Construction Phase. To fulfil the science goals, ten science instruments and an adaptive optics system have been proposed. Of these, three instruments and the adaptive optics system will be available at first light. The first light instruments are in the final design stages. The availability of the remaining 7 instruments is staggered, with two new instruments coming online every five years. In line with this schedule, the concept design phase for the next set of instruments is already underway. India-led proposal for a second generation instrument, a multi-object high resolution spectrometer (HROS), was rated as one of the high-priority instruments. ITCC is working with several Indian industries for the fabrication of edge sensors, actuators and the segment support assemblies. Actuator prototypes supplied have successfully completed the life cycle and environment tests. New techniques are being developed for coating and etching the edge sensors. The concept design of the coating chamber for secondary and tertiary mirrors has been completed. While the technology for polishing the aspheric mirror segments has been acquired via technology transfer from a foreign industry, the technology for precision glass cutting for hexing and pocketing the segments is being developed by an IndianMSME. The Common Software (CSW) which forms the main backbone skeletal communication system of the whole TMT software architecture has been successfully developed. Development of specific modules of the Telescope Control Software (TCS) is also under progress. In addition, Indian astronomers and engineers are also involved collaboratively with other aspects of the observatory development such as management, systems engineering, the telescope optics alignment and phasing system (APS), instrument development (first light and second generation) and other areas of scientific leadership. This includes core involvement in the first light optical instrument WFOS, for mechanical design of the grating exchanger and camera articulation system, development of the physical model of the instrument based on the optics design to evaluate parameters such as flexure, field distortion etc. and development of the instrument control software. Preliminary design and analysis of the optics for the India-led HROS and generation of an infrared guide star catalog MEGA SCIENCE VISION-2035