Following the spectacular delivery of the MICADO test bench last month, the French team working on the ELT’s MICADO instrument has reached a major milestone : the alignment of almost all the opto-mechanical sub-assemblies of MICADO’s adaptive optics system, carried out in a cleanroom at LIRA. The vast majority of the system’s functions are now in place, distributed across two optically connected test benches. The red light visible in the photo comes from a laser, and the beam generated can be observed on several optical surfaces, some of which are shaped like the ELT’s primary mirror.
This milestone has demonstrated that it will be possible to align the sub-assemblies in the exact positions awaiting them on the carbon bench recently delivered to Meudon. Prior to delivery to Germany in spring 2028, this new configuration will enable the development of virtually all the subsystem control software and the testing of the adaptive optics’ correction performance under far more realistic (and challenging !) conditions.
The French contribution to MICADO, which brings together LIRA, UNIDIA, Thêta, LMA, LCF, DT INSU and EFISOFT, is funded by the DIM ORIGINES of the Île-de-France region, the F-CELT project of the Investments for the Future Programme, CNRS INSU, the Paris-PSL Observatory and ESO.
