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To park or not to park... that is the question
29/09/2005
What is like a 'lift' with a single occupant, reflects when it goes up, parks when it goes down and turns from side to side? Our bulletins are getting more technical, but only because we want to make things clear. How else can we explain how a tower, a lift and a mirror all work together?
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We already know that the tertiary mirror will have a parking system...but moving from an animation to the real thing is quite a stretch. The first tests have now been carried out on the tertiary mirror and the results show that it slides on its rails without any problem.
The video you are about to see shows the famous "automatic chopping" that we have talked about in previous editions of the bulletin. The tertiary mirror slides on rails and "parks" itself, deflecting light to wherever it is needed, whilst the tower rotates on its base to direct the mirror towards the chosen focus.
That's enough talking. You can view the animation, with an explanation of how the system works. You can also watch the video of these initial tests to see how the rhythm speeds up to make the system more agile.
Natalia R. Zelman