India to join project to build world's largest telescope

[Adnan Faruqi]

India to join project to build world's largest telescope

New Delhi: India has decided to formally join a project to construct the world's largest telescope in the US for which a budget of Rs 700 crore has been sanctioned by the Department of Atomic Energy.

"India has already got the status of an observer in the project to construct the largest telescope of 30-metre aperture," said a senior official from the Earth Sciences Ministry.

The telescope will have the capability to focus sharply and collect data and pictures.

Along with the US, Canada, Japan are members of the project and have started the early construction phase of the telescope, which is expected to be completed by 2019.

In 2010, India decided to join the project as an observer.

The telescope will be 10 times more powerful than the world's largest Hubble telescope and will be fitted with high powered optical spectrometer, infrared imaging spectrometer and infrared multi-object spectrometer.

Several Indian institutions such as Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research will participate in the project.

India to join project to build largest telescope

 

[SpArK]

 

[i am the knight]

The telescope, known as TMT(thirty meter telescope), will be able to observe planets that orbit stars other than the sun and enable astronomers to watch new planets and stars being formed. It should also help scientists see some 13 billion light years away for a glimpse into the early years of the universe.
TMT may not hold the title of world’s largest for long, however, as a partnership of European countries plans to build the European Extremely Large Telescope, which would have a 42-meter, or 138-foot, mirror.

 

[Ambitious.Asian]

it will hugely help Indian Researchers to discover outer space more closely

 

[T90TankGuy]

this is what we should be focusing on . the more RnD we are involved in the better it will be for our future gen.

 

[deepakclaw]

excellent news indeed

 

[joekrish]

Great, we would gain some good experience.

 

[RISING SUN]

Eye on India to help build largest telescope
Dublin, July 14: An international astronomical organisation building the world’s largest telescope, spread over two continents, is hoping to tap India’s much-appreciated expertise in exploring the sky with radio waves.

“India has become an associate member of Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Organisation in May, but we expect them to be a full-fledged member very soon,” its interim director-general Michiel van Haarlem said on the sidelines of the Euroscience Open Forum 2012 conference here today.

“We hope to hear from India before the next meeting of the SKA board of governors in Perth in October this year,” Haarlem told The Telegraph.

SKA Organisation, the Manchester-based non-profit body set up in December last year, has nine full members, including China.

The member countries have already a sum of 70 million euros, but the total cost of the project is estimated to be nearly 2 billion euros.

Once completed in 2024, the SKA will be 50 times more sensitive and 10,000 times faster than the best current-day radio telescopes.

Radio telescopes are different from optical telescopes, which capture light in the visible spectrum. Radio telescopes, instead, tap signals from space in radio frequency spectrum and thus reveal areas that are obscured by cosmic dust.

Its 3,000 dish antennas that stretch from southern Africa to Australia and New Zealand will have a cumulative signal collection area of one square kilometre.

The SKA will enable astronomers to have a glimpse into the formation and evolution of the very first stars and galaxies after the Big Bang, investigate the nature of gravity, put to test Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and look for signatures of life beyond Earth.

Yashwant Gupta, the dean of the Pune-based National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), the institute that represents India in the SKA Organisation, confirmed that a proposal has been put up for the Centre’s approval.

“As far as I know, the Planning Commission has already approved the proposal,” Gupta told The Telegraph over the phone from Pune. But he refused to divulge any further information.

The funding for the project could come from two different scientific departments — those of science and technology (DST) and atomic energy (DAE).

While the DST normally handles India’s international scientific collaborations, the NCRA, which is part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, comes under the DAE.

The NCRA has been operating one of the world’s best present-day radio telescopes — the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) — for more than 10 years. Scientists from a number of countries, including some from the first world, have been using the GMRT, located some 90km from Pune, for research.

To become a full member, India has to initially shell out one million euros, but it fetches voting rights and a say in steering the not-for-profit body.

Besides, the NCRA, the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, is also involved in the project.

Bulk of the contribution from India, if it becomes a member, will be in terms of services and materials. There will not be much of a capital outflow, Gupta said.

Many Indian software and hardware-manufacturing firms will benefit from India’s participation in the SKA, he added.
Eye on India to help build largest telescope

 

[RISING SUN]

India to partner in advance telescope project
India plans to chip in Rs 760 crore towards building a mega telescope, which will be used by astronomers from all over the world to find answers to many underlying mysteries of the universe.

Known as Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), it will be the world's most advanced ground-based observatory, to be located below the summit of Mauna Kea peak in Hawaii. If funds flow in time, the telescope may see the first light by 2021.

India, the USA, Canada, Japan and China are sharing the cost for this Rs 7,600 crore ($1.4 billion) project, which will be open to the international community. “TMT was approved in the 12th plan,” K Kasturirangan, member Planning Commission, told Deccan Herald. The union cabinet is yet to approve the financial package.

While India and China each were contributing close to 10 per cent of the project cost, the contribution from the US, China and Japan is upwards of 20 per cent each.

“We plan to begin the construction in 2014 and want to ink formal agreements with Indian government this year,” Edward Stone, a professor of physics at California Institute of Technology and vice chair of TMT board said here after the TMT board meeting.

Close to 70 per cent of Indian contribution will be in kind. This means India will supply more than 3,000 edge sensors, 492 segment support assembly and 1,476 actuators, said Sirajul Hasan, former director of Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore, the nodal Indian institute for the TMT project.

The primary mirror at the core of the telescope is a gigantic 30 metres in size. Since it is difficult to make and transport a 30-mt single piece mirror, telescope designers split the mirror into 492 hexagonal segments, each 1.44 metres in size. Combined together, they will act as a 30-mt mirror for the telescope.

“India will make segments 115 to 150,” Hasan said. A Pondicherry-based firm General Optics Asia and Larsen and Toubro have been roped in to design mirror segments and other components.
India to partner in advance telescope project

 

[invincible]

International projects r on roll ..first LHC then ITER and now TMT...i think by 2030 we will see some sci-fi technologies boom

 

[Luffy 500]

..........................

 

[invincible]

All I can say is RIP to the project. The developers have put death nail to the project before it even saw the light of day by inviting India. RIP.

plss don't make this atroll thread

 

[Luffy 500]

plss don't make this atroll thread

Edited. Carry on.

 

[IndoUS]

SO is this going to be joint research after it is constructed or all the funding countries will get some time out of each year to do their research?

 

[ashok321]

India to partner in advance telescope project
India plans to chip in Rs 760 crore towards building a mega telescope, which will be used by astronomers from all over the world to find answers to many underlying mysteries of the universe.

Known as Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), it will be the world's most advanced ground-based observatory, to be located below the summit of Mauna Kea peak in Hawaii. If funds flow in time, the telescope may see the first light by 2021.

India, the USA, Canada, Japan and China are sharing the cost for this Rs 7,600 crore ($1.4 billion) project, which will be open to the international community. “TMT was approved in the 12th plan,” K Kasturirangan, member Planning Commission, told Deccan Herald. The union cabinet is yet to approve the financial package.

While India and China each were contributing close to 10 per cent of the project cost, the contribution from the US, China and Japan is upwards of 20 per cent each.

“We plan to begin the construction in 2014 and want to ink formal agreements with Indian government this year,” Edward Stone, a professor of physics at California Institute of Technology and vice chair of TMT board said here after the TMT board meeting.

Close to 70 per cent of Indian contribution will be in kind. This means India will supply more than 3,000 edge sensors, 492 segment support assembly and 1,476 actuators, said Sirajul Hasan, former director of Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore, the nodal Indian institute for the TMT project.

The primary mirror at the core of the telescope is a gigantic 30 metres in size. Since it is difficult to make and transport a 30-mt single piece mirror, telescope designers split the mirror into 492 hexagonal segments, each 1.44 metres in size. Combined together, they will act as a 30-mt mirror for the telescope.

“India will make segments 115 to 150,” Hasan said. A Pondicherry-based firm General Optics Asia and Larsen and Toubro have been roped in to design mirror segments and other components.
India to partner in advance telescope project

WOW......

e edge sensors to align and stabilize the
relative piston, tip, and tilt degrees of freedom of the segments

The stabilization is carried out using three actuators behind each segment and six edge sensors at the segment edge that measure the relative position of the segment with respect to its adjacent neighbors.

An edge sensor consists of a sense half at the edge of one segment and a drive half at the edge on the adjacent segment. There is a sense half and a drive half for each side of the hexagon, alternating drive and sense.

Guys above is a sophisticated technology, and I feel proud that India is directly contributing it to the International efforts to harness part of the universe....

India to partner in advance telescope project
India plans to chip in Rs 760 crore towards building a mega telescope, which will be used by astronomers from all over the world to find answers to many underlying mysteries of the universe.

Known as Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), it will be the world's most advanced ground-based observatory, to be located below the summit of Mauna Kea peak in Hawaii. If funds flow in time, the telescope may see the first light by 2021.

India, the USA, Canada, Japan and China are sharing the cost for this Rs 7,600 crore ($1.4 billion) project, which will be open to the international community. “TMT was approved in the 12th plan,” K Kasturirangan, member Planning Commission, told Deccan Herald. The union cabinet is yet to approve the financial package.

While India and China each were contributing close to 10 per cent of the project cost, the contribution from the US, China and Japan is upwards of 20 per cent each.

“We plan to begin the construction in 2014 and want to ink formal agreements with Indian government this year,” Edward Stone, a professor of physics at California Institute of Technology and vice chair of TMT board said here after the TMT board meeting.

Close to 70 per cent of Indian contribution will be in kind. This means India will supply more than 3,000 edge sensors, 492 segment support assembly and 1,476 actuators, said Sirajul Hasan, former director of Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore, the nodal Indian institute for the TMT project.

The primary mirror at the core of the telescope is a gigantic 30 metres in size. Since it is difficult to make and transport a 30-mt single piece mirror, telescope designers split the mirror into 492 hexagonal segments, each 1.44 metres in size. Combined together, they will act as a 30-mt mirror for the telescope.

“India will make segments 115 to 150,” Hasan said. A Pondicherry-based firm General Optics Asia and Larsen and Toubro have been roped in to design mirror segments and other components.
India to partner in advance telescope project

WOW......

e edge sensors to align and stabilize the
relative piston, tip, and tilt degrees of freedom of the segments

The stabilization is carried out using three actuators behind each segment and six edge sensors at the segment edge that measure the relative position of the segment with respect to its adjacent neighbors.

An edge sensor consists of a sense half at the edge of one segment and a drive half at the edge on the adjacent segment. There is a sense half and a drive half for each side of the hexagon, alternating drive and sense.

Guys above is a sophisticated technology, and I feel proud that India is directly contributing it to the International efforts to harness part of the universe....