SOAR Mirror Makes Another Journey
The SOAR primary mirror took another trip today, but this time only the 300m from the Gemini South Telescope where it was successfully aluminized on January 28, 2004 to its final resting place in the SOAR facility.
February, 11, 2004
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| The Primary Mirror sets off on the final 300m leg of its journey to SOAR |
The SOAR primary mirror took another trip today, but this time only the 300m from the Gemini South Telescope where it was successfully aluminized on January 28, 2004 to its final resting place in the SOAR facility. Despite the shortness of the trip, similar measures where taken to protect the mirror as during the earlier stages of its long journey from Danbury, CT. Plus one more - to protect its freshly aluminized surface from dust the mirror was wrapped in a sophisticated self-sealing polymeric film (aka domestic plastic wrap).
Once inside the SOAR facility, the glass was quickly reunited with its active support structure. This features 120 electro-mechanical figure actuators, each of which can exert a force of +/- 45kg (+/-100lbs), adjustable to a precision of 0.05kg (0.1lbs). As the telescope points around the sky, these actuators support the weight of the mirror, and can be driven so as to precisely "bend" it, maintaining its perfect aspheric shape, despite changes in temperature, and the direction of gravity. Each actuator includes a linkage, only 1mm (0.04inch) thick which attaches to a pad on the back of the glass. Thus the entire 3,200kg (7000lb) weight of the mirror is supported by a total amount of steel no thicker than your index finger!
More Images
 | Its slow, but sure, as the AOSS truck carrying the SOAR primary mirror crosses the "causeway" connecting SOAR and Gemini South |
 | Home at last ! The Primary is carefully unwrapped inside the SOAR facility before removing it from its transport crate. The yellow "spider" seen suspended from the overhead crane is used to pick the glass up by its edges whenever it needs to be lifted. The plastic wrap stretched across the mirror is to protect the freshly aluminized surface from dust contamination |
 | The Primary Mirror reunited with its active support structure. The glass has been carefully lowered onto the 120 actuators (the back end of some of which are seen protruding beneath the blue reaction structure). The spider remains in place to support part of the mirrors weight during the process of connecting and adjusting the actuators. |
 | Ken Kearney (Goodrich), Mike Warner and Gerardo Gomez look on as Patricio Ugarte adjusts the forces on the 120 mirror support actuators. |
