Anúncio
Entregues ao ELT do ESO os sensores de borda e atuadores para Astronomia mais precisos de sempre
25 de Outubro de 2024
Após vários anos de trabalho e de construção de milhares de sensores de borda e atuadores de posição, estão finalmente concluídos os últimos conjuntos destas peças de alta tecnologia para o espelho primário do Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) do ESO.
Com um diâmetro de 39 metros, o espelho (M1) do ELT é o maior alguma vez fabricado para um telescópio óptico. Demasiado grande para ser fabricado numa única peça, este espelho é constituído por 798 segmentos individuais. Cada segmento hexagonal terá vários sensores ligados às suas bordas e será montado em três atuadores de posição. Os sensores de borda, cerca de 4500 pares, e os atuadores, cerca de 2400, são essenciais para ajustar com precisão a posição de cada segmento e fazê-los funcionar como se de uma única entidade se tratassem. Para que o espelho tenha uma curvatura perfeita e suave, os sensores de borda medem os potenciais desalinhamentos, que são depois corrigidos pelos atuadores de posição extremamente precisos.
Os sensores de borda do espelho primário do ELT são os mais precisos alguma vez utilizados num telescópio. São capazes de medir a posição relativa dos segmentos com uma precisão de alguns nanómetros. Se um grilo pousasse num canto dum segmento, deslocando-o de um milionésimo de milímetro, os sensores seriam capazes de detectar essa perturbação mínima. Os sensores foram produzidos pelo consórcio FAMES, uma cooperação entre os especialistas em sensores Micro-Epsilon Messtechnik (Alemanha) e Fogale Nanotech (França), criado especificamente para este projeto.
Os atuadores de posição darão apoio aos segmentos, controlando-os ativamente em três direcções (pistão, viragem e inclinação), o que implica a movimentação de pesos consideráveis, uma vez que cada segmento do espelho pesa 250 kg. Concebidos e desenvolvidos pela Physik Instrumente (PI, Alemanha), estes atuadores únicos, que levam a tecnologia aos seus limites, serão capazes de ajustar suavemente a posição dos segmentos com uma precisão de apenas alguns nanómetros.
Uma vez entregues ao ESO, os sensores de borda e os atuadores de posição irão agora ser enviados para o Chile, onde serão integrados nos segmentos do espelho e no telescópio, respetivamente. O ELT encontra-se atualmente em construção no topo do Cerro Armazones, no deserto chileno do Atacama. Quando estiver concluído, esperam-se descobertas únicas e revolucionárias que irão certamente mudar a nossa compreensão do Universo.
Contactos
Bárbara Ferreira
ESO Media Manager
Garching bei München, Alemanha
Tel: +49 89 3200 6670
Email: press@eso.org
Sobre o anúncio
| Id: | ann24017 |
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