Design and analysis of the tracker bridge for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope wide field upgrade

Michael S. Worthington; Nicholas T. Mollison; Ian M. Soukup; Joseph J Zierer; John M. Good; Steven P. Nichols

doi:10.1117/12.857090

6 August 2010 Design and analysis of the tracker bridge for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope wide-field upgrade

Michael S. Worthington, Nicholas T. Mollison, Ian M. Soukup, Joseph J Zierer, John M. Good, Steven P. Nichols

Proceedings Volume 7733, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes III; 773341 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857090
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

A large structural weldment has been designed to serve as the new star tracker bridge for the Wide Field Upgrade to the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory in support of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment^‡. The modeling approach, analysis techniques and design details will be of interest to designers of large structures where stiffness is the primary design driver. The design includes detailed structural analysis using finite element models to maximize natural frequency response and limit deflections and light obscuration. Considerable fabrication challenges are overcome to allow integration of precision hardware required for positioning the corrector optics to a precision of less than 5 microns along the 4-meter travel range. Detailed descriptions of the bridge geometry, analysis results and challenging fabrication issues are discussed.

Citation Download Citation

Michael S. Worthington, Nicholas T. Mollison, Ian M. Soukup, Joseph J Zierer, John M. Good, and Steven P. Nichols "Design and analysis of the tracker bridge for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope wide-field upgrade", Proc. SPIE 7733, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes III, 773341 (6 August 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857090

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

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.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available