Sener to Provide Mirrors for European Extremely Large Telescope

Private engineering and technology group Sener has signed a contract with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) for the design and production of cells for the M2 and M3 secondary and tertiary mirrors of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT).

The contract, signed by Professor Tim de Zeeuw, director general of the ESO, and Diego Rodríguez, the director of Sener’s space department, involves the design, construction and verification of the cells for the M2 and M3 mirrors, as well as their control systems and auxiliary equipment.

The largest optical/infrared telescope ever built, the E-ELT will be 39 m and use a complex optical system of five mirrors with sophisticated technology. The cells’ mechanisms guarantee the alignment of the telescope during observation while correcting optics deformations, which have a diameter of >4 m and weight of approximately 3.5 tons.

The E-ELT is intended to advance astrophysical knowledge by enabling detailed studies of planets around other stars, the first galaxies in the universe, super-massive black holes and the nature of the dark sector, as well as to detect water and organic molecules in protoplanetary disks around other stars. It is located on the top of Cerro Armazones in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.