Camozzi Group's subsidiary Ingersoll Machine Tools has been awarded a contract for the construction of the first new-generation Giant Magellan telescope by GMTO corporation, with a resolving power ten times greater than leading telescopes.
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is the result of the collaboration of 12 of the world’s leading universities and scientific institutes and will become operational in 2029 following its construction in the Chilean desert. Funding for the project comes from the partner institutions, governments and private donors. GMT will significantly advance the knowledge and understanding of the universe through the study of planets beyond the solar system. This product will have a resolving power ten times greater than today’s leading global telescopes and could make discoveries that will change the view of our place in the Universe.
Lodovico Camozzi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Camozzi Group, said:
“We are delighted that we will be working on the creation of an exclusively scientific and revolutionary system for studying the deep cosmos. The project fills us all at Camozzi with pride and is an inspiration to us. We are also very pleased with having been selected in a tender involving the world’s leading groups”.
Ingersoll will produce the huge 1,300-ton precision steel optical support structure for the GMT which will allow frictionless movement made possible as a result of Camozzi's expertise. The contract was won following a 2-year global tendering process and over the next 9 years GMTO, MT Mechatronics and Ingersoll Machine Tools will work together to deliver the steel structure, which is due to be delivered to Chile by the end of 2025, ready for mirrors to be installed in 2028.
Made in the Midlands members Camozzi group, through its subsidiary Ingersoll Machine Tools, has entered into an agreement in conjunction with MT Mechatronics with GMTO, the organisation managing the development of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) on behalf of its US and international founders, to build the telescope’s steel precision structure.
The GMT is a 24.5 meter (80-ft) diameter next-generation giant optical-infrared observatory that will explore the frontiers of astronomy, seeking forms of life beyond our solar system and capable of changing the history of space exploration.
Ingersoll Machine Tools together with MT Mechatronics will design and manufacture the 1,300- ton precision mechanism, known as the “telescope structure” that holds the GMT’s optics which will smoothly track celestial targets as they move across the sky. The telescope will be designed by MT Mechatronics and manufactured, assembled, and tested by Ingersoll before being shipped to, and installed at, the GMT
observatory site high in the remote Chilean Andes.
The telescope structure contract will require effort by a large workforce of engineers, designers, metal workers, and machinists and have a total value of $ 135 million.
Dr Robert N. Shelton, GMTO President said:
“Manufacturing the telescope structure is one of the biggest steps we will take on our journey to building the Giant Magellan Telescope “.
Dr James Fanson, GMTO Project Manager added:
“We selected Ingersoll Machine Tools and MT Mechatronics for their commitment to quality, extensive experience with astronomical telescopes and abilities to manufacture complex precision structures, following a two-year global competition."
The structure of the telescope will hold the seven giant mirrors of the GMT in position as they bring the light of distant stars and galaxies into focus to be analysed by the scientific instrumentation built into the telescope. The mirrors have been produced by the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab of the University of Arizona and are the largest in the world. The structure of the telescope, complete with mirrors and all instrumentation, will weigh 2,100 tons and will float on a 50 microns thick oil film which will allow frictionless movement to offset the earth’s rotation and follow the celestial bodies in their paths across the sky. This “hydrostatic” technology was patented several years ago by INNSE, part of the Camozzi Group , renowned throughout the world for this technology.
Chip Storie, CEO of Ingersoll Machine Tools said:
“It will be a special day when the GMT’ telescope structure is completed and placed in service in Chile, as part of one of the most complicated and fascinating projects that the world scientific community has ever undertaken."
The GMT purpose is to enable breakthrough discoveries in cosmology, the study of black holes, dark matter, dark energy, and the search for life beyond our solar system and will be located at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The project is the work of a distinguished international consortium of leading universities and science institutions.
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