Paper 13100-109
Paper 13100-109
The ELT cryogenic infrastructure
21 June 2024 • 10:30 - 10:45 Japan Standard Time | Room G214, North - 2F
Abstract
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is at present constructing the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), a 40-m class astronomical telescope on top of the 3046 m high mountain Cerro Armazones in the central part of Chile’s Atacama Desert. In combination with its powerful facility instruments, it will be the largest optical/near-infrared telescope in the world. The instrument roadmap lists up to eight scientific instruments.
The paper outlines the cryogenic requirements defined by the ELT instrument suite and describes concept and design of the cryogenic infrastructure. A centralized and fully automated system combining open loop Liquid Nitrogen cooling in combination with low-vibration mechanical cryo-coolers is the baseline for providing the required cooling capacity and temperature levels as low as 4 Kelvin. Project status and timeline are presented.
Presenter
European Southern Observatory (Germany)
Gerd Jakob is Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the European Southern Observatory (ESO). As cryogenics expert he is in charge of design and testing of vacuum and cryogenic systems for VLT and ELT instrumentation. In the ELT programme he is responsible for defining cryo-vacuum engineering standards, and for delivering the instrumentation and cryogenic infrastructure.