DKIST enclosure fabrication factory assembly and testing

Abstract

After successfully finishing the design of the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) Enclosure early in 2012, AEC IDOM, in close collaboration with the ATST Project Office, has successfully fabricated the enclosure’s main components (structure, mechanisms, controls, and cladding), assembled them in the factory, and performed the factory acceptance tests. The factory assembly and testing of the enclosure has allowed the team to verify the correct integration and performance of structures, mechanisms, and controls. Furthermore, the assembly and verification procedures to be used for the enclosure re-assembly at the Haleakala High Altitude Observatory Site have been tested and refined in order to reduce risk during the enclosure site construction, an overall project critical path activity. The Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), recently renamed as the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) will be the largest solar telescope in the world, with unprecedented abilities to view details of the sun. Using adaptive optics technology, DKIST will be able to provide the sharpest views ever taken of the solar surface, which will allow scientists to learn even more about the Sun and solar-terrestrial interactions. The DKIST Enclosure is unique in that it positions the optical system’s first aperture stop and tracks the sun’s motion with millimeter-level accuracy, protecting observatory components from excess insolation. Its azimuth and altitude systems are driven by mechanisms especially designed to perform smooth operations at tracking speeds.