Beam steering optics & mechanics
The UK ATC delivers opto-mechanical assemblies for pointing and tracking and
fast tip/tilt control. Examples of one of these subsystems is the beam steering
mirror for the SPIRE instrument on the Herschel Space Telescope.
Filters and filter mechanisms
Various filter wheels and mechanisms to correctly position filters inside the instrument. The example shown below is of the dichroic wheel for the space instrument MIRI. The wheel includes very fragile filter materials, mounted and handled to avoid damage during launch and operation.
Simulators
To enhance instrument development the UK ATC has developed two types of simulators, one which delivers simulated astronomical data from a telescope and instrument, and one which reproduces exactly the optical beam delivered by the telescope.
SPECSIM is a software simulator used to generate synthetic astronomical data, based on the measured (or desired) characteristics of the telescope and instrument in question.
The Specsim software tool has been developed to model the operation of Integral Field Unit (IFU) spectrometers, thus giving the science, engineering and operations teams responsible for designing, building and running such instruments a preview of the data products, before their system is operational.
