Mechanics and assembly
At the beginning of summer 2012, LISE team installed, in a tipi-tent on site, a field workshop to perform simple mechanical and electronic interventions. During the winter, both the workshop and the tent are dismantled and stored with other instruments at the premises available at Séolane Center at Barcelonnette.
Informatics
Automation of the gondola's positioning system
The gondola that holds the beam-combining optics is suspended on a North-South oriented cable stretched between both slopes of the Moutière Valley. Located 100 meters above the ground on the focal sphere of the hypertelescope, this gondola is maneuvered by two winches with which it can be pointed towards the observed object. Its position can be gently corrected during the observation period to follow the East-West apparent motion of the object. The positioning of the gondola also allows orienting the coudé beam towards the telescope on the ground.
The gondola that holds the beam-combining optics is suspended on a North-South oriented cable stretched between both slopes of the Moutière Valley. Located 100 meters above the ground on the focal sphere of the hypertelescope, this gondola is maneuvered by two winches with which it can be pointed towards the observed object. Its position can be gently corrected during the observation period to follow the East-West apparent motion of the object. The positioning of the gondola also allows orienting the coudé beam towards the telescope on the ground.
Optics
LISE’s optics workshop is located at the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur at Grasse. It specializes in the manufacture of optical components, mainly for astronomy. It can manufacture plane optical elements of 100 to 500 mm in diameter, convex optical elements up to 300mm in diameter, and concave, spherical or aspherical optical elements of 100 mm to 1500 mm in diameter, with a vertical control limitation for the larger elements of a 6 m curvature radius.