&lt;title&gt;Development of the segment alignment maintenance system (SAMS) for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope&lt;/title&gt;

Booth, John A.; Adams, Mark T.; Ames, Gregory H.; Fowler, James R.; Montgomery, Edward; Rakoczy, John

doi:10.1117/12.391509

Cited by 10 publications

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“…The PMC typically queries the SAMS computer for corrections every 90 seconds. Detailed descriptions of the SAMS hardware, software, architecture and interfaces can be found elsewhere in the literature 1,2,4 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While minor segment motion over a period of an hour or more had been anticipated in the original design, misalignment of the segments on a time scale of tens of minutes under some conditions was unexpected. In November 1999, the University of Texas at Austin entered into a Space Act Agreement with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to procure a Segment Alignment Maintenance System (SAMS) for the HET 1 . The objective of the SAMS is to correct the effects of the de-stacking phenomenon, thereby maintaining primary mirror segment alignment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Primary mirror figure maintenance of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope using the Segment Alignment Maintenance System

et al. 2003

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The Segment Alignment Maintenance System (SAMS) was installed on McDonald Observatory's Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) in August 2001. The SAMS became fully operational in October 2001. The SAMS uses a system of 480 inductive edge sensors to correct misalignments of the HET's 91 primary mirror segments when the segments are perturbed from their aligned reference positions. A special observer estimates and corrects for the global radius of curvature (GRoC) mode, a mode unobservable by the edge sensors. The SAMS edge sensor system and GRoC estimator are able to maintain HET's primary figure for longer durations than previously had been observed. This paper gives a functional description of the SAMS control system and presents performance verification data.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Primary mirror figure maintenance of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope using the Segment Alignment Maintenance System

et al. 2003

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“…The Segment Alignment Maintenance System (SAMS) is a control system to maintain the alignment of the 91 segment HET primary mirror array 14,15,16 . SAMS was procured as a retrofit of the HET to correct a significant shortfall in the stability of the primary mirror.…”

Section: Segment Alignment Maintenance System (Sams)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Hobby-Eberly Telescope: performance upgrades, status, and plans

et al. 2004

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The Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) is a fixed-elevation, 9.2-m telescope with a spherical primary mirror and a tracker at prime focus to follow astronomical objects. The telescope was constructed for $13.9M over the period [1994][1995][1996][1997]. A series of extensive engineering upgrades and corrective actions have been completed recently, resulting in significantly improved delivered image quality and increased operational efficiency. The telescope's Spherical Aberration Corrector (SAC) optics were recoated with a highly reflective and durable broadband coating at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The software mount model that maintains optical alignment of the SAC with the 11-m primary mirror array was recalibrated and improved. The acquisition and guiding optics for both the High Resolution Spectrograph (HRS) and the Low Resolution Spectrograph (LRS) were reworked and improved, allowing for better focus and SAC alignment monitoring and control. Recoating of the primary mirror segment array was begun. Telescope images of 0.82 arcseconds have been recorded for sustained periods in preliminary testing following the engineering upgrade, an improvement of 50% over previous best performance. Additional engineering upgrades are scheduled to consolidate these performance gains and to continue improving delivered image quality, throughput, and telescope operational efficiency. The HET is now capable of the science performance for which it was designed.

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Post-wide-field-upgrade imaging performance evaluation of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope

Lee,

Kriel,

Janowiecki

et al. 2024

Ground-Based and Airborne Telescopes X

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<title>Development of the segment alignment maintenance system (SAMS) for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope</title>

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Primary mirror figure maintenance of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope using the Segment Alignment Maintenance System

Primary mirror figure maintenance of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope using the Segment Alignment Maintenance System

The Hobby-Eberly Telescope: performance upgrades, status, and plans

Post-wide-field-upgrade imaging performance evaluation of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope

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