The ASTRI SST-2M prototype for the next generation of Cherenkov

telescopes: Structure and Mirrors

Rodolfo Canestrari*a, Enrico Casconeb, Paolo Conconia, Mauro Fiorinic, Enrico Girod, Nicola La
Palombarac, Luigi Lessiod, Giovanni Pareschia, Gabriele Rodeghierod, Giorgia Sironia, Luca
Stringhettic, Giorgio Tosoc, Gino Tostie for the ASTRI collaborationf and Francesco Martellig,
Giancarlo Parodig, Pierfrancesco Rossettinih and Raffaele Tomellerih
a
INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera – Via Bianchi, 46 23807 Merate (Lc) Italy
b
INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte – Salita Moiaiello, 16 80131 Napoli (Na) Italy
c
INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Milano – Via Bassini, 15 20133 Milano
d
INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova – Vicolo Osservatorio, 5 35122 Padova (Pd) Italy
e
Università di Perugia – Via A. Pascoli 06123 Perugia (Pg) Italy
f
http://www.brera.inaf.it/astri/
g
BCV progetti s.r.l. – Via Sant’Orsola, 1 20123 Milano (Mi) Italy
h
Tomelleri s.r.l. – Viale del lavoro, 12/a 37069 Villafranca (Ve) Italy

ABSTRACT

The next generation of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope will explore the uppermost end of the Very High
Energy domain up to about few hundreds of TeV with unprecedented sensitivity, angular resolution and imaging quality.
To this end, the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) is currently developing a scientific and technological
telescope prototype for the implementation of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory. The Italian ASTRI
program foresees the full design, development, installation and calibration of a Small Size 4-meter class Telescope,
adopting an aplanatic, wide-field, double-reflection optical layout in a Schwarzschild-Couder configuration.
In this paper we discuss about the technological solutions adopted for the telescope and for the mirrors. In particular we
focus on the structural and electro-mechanical design of the telescope, now under fabrication. The results on the optical
performance derived from mirror prototypes are here described, too.
Keywords: Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope, CTA, gamma-rays, wide field aplanatic telescope, lightweight
mirrors, segmented optics, ASTRI

1. INTRODUCTION
ASTRI (Astrofisica con Specchi a Tecnologia Replicante Italiana) [1] is a flagship project financed by the Italian
Ministry of Education, University and Research and led by INAF. The ASTRI program is aimed to develop special
technologies suitable for the ambitious CTA Observatory[2]. CTA will be implemented in two sites, in the northern in
the southern hemispheres. It is composed by many tens of telescopes divided in three classes, in order to cover the
energy range from a tens of GeV (Large Size Telescope, LST), to a tens of TeV (Medium Size Telescope, MST), and up
to 100 TeV and beyond (Small Size Telescope, SST)[3]. The SST array will have 70 telescope units and it will be
installed on the southern site.
Within this framework, INAF is currently carrying on the development of an end-to-end prototype of SST in a dual-
mirror configuration (SST-2M) to be tested under field conditions in Italy at the site of Serra La Nave[4], and scheduled
to start data acquisition in late 2014. All the technological aspects concerning the development of the dual-mirror
telescope prototype are covered within ASTRI, including the electro-mechanical mount for the telescope, primary and

*
rodolfo.canestrari@brera.inaf.it

Optics for EUV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Astronomy VI, edited by Stephen L. O'Dell,
Giovanni Pareschi, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 8861, 886102 · © 2013 SPIE
CCC code: 0277-786X/13/$18 · doi: 10.1117/12.2024379

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 secondary mirrors, the sensors and the electronics for the camera[5], the Monte Carlo simulations[6] and the control and
data handling software[7][8].
In this paper we will present the telescope mount and mirrors. Moreover, we note that within ASTRI we are also
carrying out the design, development and deployment of a mini-array of SST-2M telescopes that will be implemented at
the CTA southern site and that could constitute the first seed for the main array[9][10][11].

2. OVERVIEW OF THE TELESCOPE

Figure 1 shows the ASTRI SST-2M telescope. The main parts are the mount, composed of the base, the column and the
fork; and the optical supporting structure, composed of the primary mirror dish (with the mirrors and their supports), the
mast with the central tube, the secondary mirror back-up structure (with the mirror and its supports) and the
counterweights.
The mounting of the telescope is of the alt-azimuthal type. The fork supports the telescope, hosts the elevation
subsystems and connects the telescope with the column. The latter hosts the azimuth driving and bearing subsystems.
The azimuth axis will admit a useful rotation range between -270° and +270° over a total run of 550°; the elevation axis
between -5° and +95° over a total run of 110°.
The primary mirror (M1) dish has a thick ribbed plate to support the 18 mirror segments. It is connected to the mast and,
to balance the torque due to its overhang, to two long arms supporting the counterweights. The mast is a slim
quadrupode (plus a central tube) with an eccentric symmetry and some radial bracings to improve the bending stiffness.
Finally, on top of the mast, a structure forms the back-up for the secondary mirror (M2). This also provides the
connections to the alignment devices of the mirror and to the covering devices (shield and optical baffle).
The telescope will be made of steel (different grades will be used for the different structural elements) because of a
number of advantages (i.e. easy manufacturing, limited thermal gradients, etc.) compared to other structural materials
such as Aluminum or Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic.
Table1 reports the mass budget, which has been computed from the model of the telescope, some contingency is also
provided to take into account for additional un-modeled masses (e.g. bolts, welding, small interfaces etc.). A detailed
mass budget of the electro-mechanical items is also provided.
The dimensions of the telescope are driven by the optical design and in particular the relative distances between the
different optical elements (primary and secondary mirrors and the focal surface). Additional parameters used for the
dimensioning take into account the safety of operations around the telescope (e.g. risk of collisions with the
counterweights).

Table 1 Mass budget of the telescope structures and details of the electro-mechanical devices.

Description Mass [kg] Cont. [%] Description Nr. Unit mass [kg]
Base 2.630 2 Upper azimuth bearings 1 101
Column 2.390 2 Lower azimuth bearings 1 145
Fork 1.524 2 Azimuth Motors and gears 2 101
Counterweights 4.500 -- Azimuth emergency device 1 145
Structure for counter. 565 20 Elevation Bearings 8 5.25
M1 dish 4.331 10 Axial actuator gearbox 1 49
M2 Back-Up Structure 195 5 Axial actuator emergency 1 25
Optical devices 488 -- Axial actuator bearings 8 3.65
Mirrors supports 1.450 5 M1 Segment Fixed point 18 5.5
Mast and central tube 617 20 M2 Axial Actuators 3 34
Bearing supports 416 2 M2 Load spreader structure 3 25
Electro-mech. devices 2.027 -- M2 Lateral Restrains 6 2
Baffle and shields 376 -- Elevation Stow-Pin 1 170
Total 21.509 -- Azimuth Stow-Pin 1 140
Power cabinets and supports 2 350
Total -- 2030

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 Elevation
bearing
system

Elevation
driving
Azimuth system
bearing
system
Electrical cabinets

Figure 1 General view and nomenclature of the ASTRI SST-2M telescope structure and electro-mechanical subsystems.

3. THE STRUCTURAL DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE

For each main part of the ASTRI SST-2M structures (i.e. the mast, the M1 and M2 supporting structures) a variety of
configurations have been proposed, sketched and evaluated. Through a trade-off activity (typically among performance,
mass, easiness of production and assembling) one option is selected for advancing the design. Then a simplified global
model of the entire telescope was generated and evaluated. The outcomes of this phase were used to highlight the weak
points of the current design and to allow its refinement to improve the performance and meet the project requirements.
Moreover, the forces acting on the mechanical components such as the bearings, the drives, the gears and other devices
were evaluated for the proper sizing of the mentioned components. Finally, the very detailed integrated model of the
telescope is generated (with about 700.000 degrees of freedom). This model takes into account also the performance
specifications of the mechanical components, the mirrors and other devices on board of the telescope (shields, scientific
detector, etc.). The full set of loading cases is applied and the comprehensive behavior of the telescope is asserted. All
the telescope structural components are modeled and evaluated by means of Finite Elements numerical approach (FE
Model and FE Analysis). The FEM of the entire telescope system has been generated, where also some engineering
solutions under design are visible (see Figure 2).

Figure 2 Snapshots of the FEMs of the telescope and details.

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 3.1 The majjor structurall elements
The pillar is composed byy the base, thee column and tthe fork. It haas the main pu urpose to suppport and movee the telescopee
main structurre (i.e. the M1M dish, the mast and thee M2 dish) with w the requuired performamance in term ms of velocityy,
acceleration aand position accuracy,
a und
der the definedd loads and en nvironmental conditions. T The column iss composed off
two concentriic tubes that acta like azimu uth shaft. The fork, instead, is a welded structure withh a box sectio on. It hosts thee
support with the linear actuuator and the bearings
b of thhe elevation sh
haft.
The mast is composed byy an eccentric quadrupode w with a radial bracing system connectingg the M2 back k-up structuree,
the central tuube and the quadrupode legs. l This sollution shows increased peerformance inn comparison with simplerr
configurationns. In particullar, the quadrrupode providdes the adequ uate rigidity against lateraal deformation ns and, beingg
eccentric, it gives enhancced performan nce along thee elevation ax xis. Finally, the
t central tuube increases the torsionaal
stiffness and pprovides the support
s for thee detector.
The M1 dish h has a T-ribbbed plate structure with a box section in correspon ndence of thee elevation ax xis in order too
increase the ttorsional stiffnness. It is com
mposed of twoo asymmetric halves conneccted along thee middle plane by means off
plugs. The coonnection linee is orthogonaal with respecct to the elevaation plane. Concerning
C thee back side of the dish, thee
upper half hoosts the connection with th he linear actuuator of the elevation
e drivee system, whi
hile the bottom m one has thee
interfaces witth the arms off the fork where the elevattion axis lies. The connectiions with eachh mirror segm ment lie on thee
front side. Giiven the flat geeometry of thee dish, properr segment spaccers provide th he gross positition of the mirrrors.
The M2 Bacck-Up Structu ure consists ofo a proper arrrangement off tapered weld ded I-Beams aand a central torsional-stiff ff
triangular priism. The tapeered beams connectc the fofour flanged tubes
t bolted tot the mast, while the triaangular prism m
supports the M2 axial loadd-spreaders. Moreover,
M twoo specific box x sections proovide the conn
nnection betweeen the lateraal
support system ms of the secoondary mirrorr and the mastt. These box seections also help to increasee mast stiffness in the planee
of gravity loaads.

3.2 The veriification of th

he structural behavior
The dimensiooning of the structural com mponents is ddriven by the project requiirements comiing from CTA A such as thee
design loads,, the tolerancees required too maintain thee optical and pointing perfformance. Inddeed, structuraal checks (e.gg.
winds, earthqquakes, etc.) have
h been perrformed in acccordance with h the most up pdated internatational norms and standardss
(i.e. Eurocodees).
Serviceabilityy Limit State checks
c are nott derived fromm the normativ ve, but the evaaluation of thee telescope performance hass
been accessedd by means off ray-tracing th he flexures off the telescopee structures an
nd mis-alignm ments/mis-orien ntations of thee
optical devicces asserted byb the structtural analysess. Results co oncerning thee optical Poinnt Spread Fu unction (PSF))
degradation aand the pointinng errors are provided
p in Fiigure 3.

95
90 -E A 30° - W50 Az 0°
TOTAL. FLEXURES - WIJrST CASES
85 - E :I 30° - W50 Az 90°
80 - E:I 90° - Gray
75
- E:I 30° - Gray
hlominal Opt Scheme
70
65
Ensquared Energy D
o uT
10
nt
JWWA1

20
15
10
5
0
0 0.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6
Ci, ,Eco Diameter [mm] 1111_1-;» L UhawLNis U

Figure 3 (lleft panel) Impaact of the project loads on the PSF. (right pan
nel) Histogram of the contributtions to the poin
nting error.

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 Simple dynam mical analyses have also beeen performedd in order to investigate
i thee behavior off the telescopee. Main resultss
concern the eevaluation off the Eigen-frequencies andd the expecteed tracking errrors of the teelescope. In particular,
p thee
Eigen-frequenncies of the teelescope are nearly
n constannt with respectt to the azimuuthal position and with valu ues well abovee
the project sppecifications. In the worstt case scenariio (i.e. horizo on pointing) thet first two modes are th he oscillationss
around the azzimuth and elevation axes, respectively, due to the ax xes mechanicss; the values aare higher thaan 4.3 Hz. Thee
first modes thhat can be asccribed to the structure
s of thhe telescope arrise above 6 Hz.
H As a referrence, we repo ort in Figure 4
some modes aat different poointings. Track king errors aree of the order of 10 arcsec rms.
r

L (

1.

Cr. SST - ASSTRTRI - Pig

Figure 4 FE
EA showing som
me of the oscilllation modes off the telescope (from
( top to righ
ht: twist aroundd azimuth, mastt torsion and
ccounterweights).

4. THE
E ELECTRO
O-MECHA
ANICAL DEVICES
D
As the classiccal alt-azimuthh mounting haas been chosenn, the solution ns implementeed are sketcheed in Figure 5 and describedd
in the followiing.
The Azimuth h subsystems are hosted on n the base andd column wherre are located the driving annd the bearing g mechanisms,
respectively. The base is a large box fixeed on its loweer part to the foundation;
fo it hosts
h mplete driving system for thee
the comp
azimuth axis, composed of o two driving g chains in a master-slavee configuratio on. Each one is based on a commerciaal
epicycloids ggearbox plus a custom dessigned gearboox. The pinion ns link the geearboxes to bbrushless serv vomotors. Thee
adopted soluttion allows thhe two motors to work withh a preloaded differential
d torque. For safe
fety reasons bo oth motors aree
endowed by a braking systtem that smoo othly locks thee axis when power fails. In addition, a coouple of emerrgency drivingg
systems is avvailable: a 244 V DC moto or with an irrreversible geearbox and a shaft for the manual driv ving. Both thee
emergency syystems are deecoupled in op perational connditions. The column is com mposed by twwo concentric large tubes at
the ends of wwhich two balll bearings are located. An aadjustable spaacer axially prreloads them; it has the purrpose to avoidd
the axial backlash and to increase the axiala stiffnesss. The lower bearing and thet external tuube supports weight of thee
entire telescoope, while the inner tube (aacting as azim muth shaft) andd the upper beearing transfer
er the azimuthh movement too
the telescopee. The positionning is retrievved by meanss of an absolu ute angular transducer placced at the low wer end of thee
azimuth shaftt, close to the driving systemm. Finally, ann electromechaanical stow pin is foreseen aat the parking g position. It iss
designed to loock the telescoope in positionn up to the woorst load cond
ditions.
The Elevatioon subsystems are mounted d on the fork. The main com mponents are the bearings, the driving an nd the lockingg
systems. The motion is acccomplished by y means of a linear actuatoor. It is compoosed by a fixeed preloaded ball
b screw (thee
shaft), a rotatting preloadedd nut, the gearrboxes and thee motor. The ball screw is moved up and nd down by the rotating nutt,
which is drivven by the mootorized gearb box set. Theree is also a couuple of joints: one is screwwed to the M1 1 dish and thee
other one to tthe fork. The latter also suppports the boddy of the actuuator, the gearbbox and the mmotor. Both jo oints are madee
by means of preloaded tappered roller beearings and hhave their axes parallel to the elevation aaxis. Concern ning the safetyy
aspect, the saame solutions adopted for the t azimuth aaxis are dupliccated here. Th he elevation aaxis lies on th
he arms of thee
fork. The shaaft is divided innto two parts at the end of tthe arms wherre two identical bearing sysstem units are located. Eachh
one connectss and supportss the telescop pe thought thee M1 dish. Each bearing unit u is compoosed by eight tapered rollerr

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 bearings; theyy are axially preloaded
p by means of suittable threaded
d bushes in order to minimiize the backlaash. A rotatingg
support is scrrewed to the backside
b of th
he M1 dish. OOne of the tw
wo bearing uniits hosts the aabsolute angular encoder too
retrieve the ppositioning. An
A electromecchanical stow pin is foreseeen: it allows to lock the ttelescope in horizontal
h (thee
parking positiion) and zenitth positions. Bumpers
B are al
also envisagedd.

COLUMN EXTERNAL TUBE

RIM GEAR
l
COLUMDJ INTERNAL TUBE LOWER BALL BEARI ING

GE, 4RBOX
I

EM IERGENCY
DRI IVE
PINION

PUT SHAFT

l
AZIMUTH ENCOE
INTERMEDIATE
GEARBOX

1I
EMERGENCY DRIVE

-i

I oM I o<,., 1 N
CTUATOR
t
TEETHIED CLUTCH
UPPORT
HAFT

GEARBC)X i
/

ROTATIN,

Figure 5 (top panels) Azim

muth drive and bearing subsysstems sections (left)
( and 3D (riight). (bottom ppanels) Elevatio
on drive and
beearing subsystem
ms sections (lefft) and 3D (righ
ht).

The control ssystem of the two t main axiss of the telesccope (see Figu ure 6) must bee able to perfoorm within thee requirementss
both in pointting conditionns and during the tracking. The control systems of botth axes has thhree close loops: the torquee
closed loop; the velocity closed loop; the position closed loop. The position loop of the ttwo axes is closed c by twoo
HEIDENHAIIN angular abbsolute transd ducers directlly applied to the axes, to reduce as m much as posssible the errorr
contributions due to structuure deflections.
On the azimuuth axis we have h two piniions driven bby two Siemen ns brushless synchronous motors (only one motor iss
reported in F Figure 6). Thhe two motorrs work with a preloading torque, assurring to avoid any backlash h between thee
pinions and riim gear in all operational conditions. In tthe elevation axis
a we have only one Siem mens brushless synchronouss
motor.
The azimuth and elevation motors are co ontrolled by a Siemens CU3 320 control unnit that is inter
erfaced with th
he amplifier off
the motors, aand includes inntegrative actiions to compeensate static torques, derivaative actions ffor stability, and
a also notchh
filtering to inncrease stabiliity margin. Th
he CU320 recceives also thee signals from m the two absoolute encoderrs mounted onn
the main teleescope axes too close the po osition loop annd it is conneected through a profinet to EtherCAT co onverter to thee
Mount Contrrol CPU, whicch is based on n a Beckhofff industrial PC C with a dual-core processsor. The Beck khoff TwinCaat

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 software runnning on the PC
C provides thee PLC functioonalities to con
ntrol the Siem
mens drive sysstem. The inteerface betweenn
the mount coontrol systemm and the AS STRI SST-2M M central conttrol system is through thee Beckhoff Open O Platform
m
Communicatiions – Unifiedd Architecturee (OPC-UA) sserver running g on top of the TwinCat softtware.

, 1 :; I ; 2M MOU1NT CONT'ROL SYST E.'v.

escope LAN
Switch

der Position fe
I'dlULlll: inr Pncainn fn
Control
CPU
J
,

profinct

Figure 6 Conceptual sch

heme of the conntrol system forr the ASTRI SS
ST-2M telescoppe motion.

5.
5 THE O
OPTICAL SURFACES
S S
The ASTRI SST-2M tellescope impleements an ap aplanatic, widde-field, doub ble-reflection optical layo out known ass
Schwarzschilld-Couder connfiguration. Th his configurattion exploits a de-magnificaation of the fieeld of view th
hus offering ann
almost flat anngular responnse up to very
y large field oof view, i.e. 9.6° in this dessign. The conncept of the Schwarzschild--
Couder desiggn for Cherenkkov telescope was originallly proposed by [12]. The laayout has alsoo the peculiariity to have thee
focal surface trapped betweeen the primary and seconddary mirrors. TheT complete description off the optical design
d adoptedd
by ASTRI SS
ST-2M can bee derived by ∑ where the
t asphericall coefficients of
o the profiless
for the mirror surfaces cann be found in Table 2. Tabble 2 also repo orts the relative distances oof the optical elements andd
their main cuurvature. Figuure 7 shows th
he optical proofiles and the deviations wiith respect to the generatin ng sphere. Thee
optimization of the design has been donee by means off the commerccial ray-tracing g code ZEMA AX®.

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 Table 2 D
Description of thhe optical design adopted by thhe ASTRI SST--2M telescope.

E
Element Diiameter Ra
adius of Curvvature (1/c) Shape Distance to…
…
Name [mm] [mm
m] [mm]
M
M1 4306 -82233 Even aspheere (k=0) M2: 3108.4
4
M
M2 1800 21800 Even aspheere (k=0) DET: 519.6
6
DE
ETector 360 10000 Spheere --
test

Coefficientts for M1 Coeffficients for M

M2
α1 0.0 α1 0.0
-013
α2 9.61060 10 α2 1.62076 10-0011
α3 5501 10-020
-5.65 α3 -2.89584 100-017
α4 6.77984 10-027 α4 8.63372 10-0024
α5 3.89558 10-033 α5 3.34856 10-0030
α6 5.28038 10-040 α6 -1.03361 100-036
α7 9107 10-047
-2.99 α7 -6.73524 100-043
α8 9153 10-053
-4.39 α8 -3.06547 100-049
α9 7433 10-060
-6.17 α9 3.17161 10-0055
α10 2.73586 10-066 α10 -3.71183 100-062
Residuals [mm]

Primary miryor M1 surface or filc L""Secoiidary mirror surface profili

N N
O OtnO<nOtn

0.8

/
0.4 -
0.0

-50-
E

w
-100-
is_ -
/
C2 -150-
Q
E -200-
- Mirror profile - Mirror profile
-250- - Spherical profile - - - Spherical profile
Residuals Residi Jals
ii
0 500 1000 1s DO 400 600 800
Mirror rac sial coordinate mrr wdinate [mm]
Airror radial coc
Figure 7 Raddial profiles of the
t primary andd secondary mirrrors of the AST
TRI SST-2M teelescope [13].

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 The M1 is taasseled in 18 panels
p distribu
uted on three concentric cooronae (COR1 1=green; COR R2=blue; COR R3=yellow) too
compose the full 4.3 m apeerture. Since the
t optical proofile follows an h a different
a aspherical function and each corona has
radial distancce from the telescope
t verttex, the desiggn of the panels is differen
nt for the thrree cases and consequentlyy
different toolls are required to produce the whole prrimary mirrorr assembly. On O the contrarry, the M2 iss a monolithicc
element of 1.8 m in diametter. Figure 8 shows the M1 and M2 assem mblies.

IMl SEGMENTS

L SEGMENT SUPPORT TRIANG

Figure 8 (lefft panel) Graphiic representation of the M1 asssembly segmen

ntation. (right paanel) M2 designn with its suppo
orting system.

5.1 The man

nufacturing technology
t
The mirrors ((M1 and M2) are manufactu ured adoptingg in both casess a similar tech
hnology. The process takess advantage byy
the replicatioon of the proffile from a master
m shape in order to reeproduce several identical mirrors. In particular,
p thee
technology ussed is a modiffied version of
o the glass coold slumping process
p alread
dy developed a few years ag go for makingg
the mirrors oof the MAGIIC-II telescop pe and now bbeing adopted d also for thee CTA MST mirrors [14][15][16]. Thee
modified version extends the capability y of the technnology to the manufacturin ng of mirrors with pronoun nced curvaturee
and asphericiity such those required for the
t CTA SST 17]. The whole process cann be summarizzed as follows:
T telescopes [1
thin glass foiils are roughlly bent by meeans of a therrmoforming process.
p The shells are theen assembled in a stiff andd
lightweight saandwich struccture by means of a honeycoomb core. This last step of the process iss done by preccisely formingg
the shells oveer a master shhape. It is perrformed at rooom temperatu ure using suittable materialls and tools. The
T process iss
sketched in FFigure 9.

Shaping techr
Hot pre -shapir

ion of the integratio ably of the sandwich ig of the glue

ng of the sandwich ng of the mirror

Figure 9 Mannufacturing proocess. Glass foills are bent overr high temperatu
ure ceramic mo
olds. Afterward,, a high precisio on integration
moold is used to prepare the mirro
or (sandwich, poolymerization ofo the glue, mirrror release, coatting and finishiing).

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 5.2 Results ffrom prototyyping activitiees: primary m
mirror – M1
The opto-mecchanical draw wings of the reeplication mollds (and in paarticular the in
ntegration onee) are in agreeement with thee
optical requirrements of the mirror segm ments. After th
the machiningg, the molds shape
s quality are evaluated d by means off
coordinates m measuring maachine and an nalyzed to finnd the shape errors. They y are characteerized, with respect
r to thee
nominal proffile, by an erroor of COR1=5.5 μm rms; C COR2=9.2 μm m rms and CO OR3=35.5 μm m rms. Figure 10 shows thee
error maps. S Similar measuures and evaluations havee been conducted on the thermal t formeed glass shells in order too
evaluate the ppresence of loocal shape errrors at medium m/high frequeencies that cann be only part
rtially correcteed by the coldd
shaping process. In this reespect, the thermally pre-sshaped shells are typically characterizedd by an error <90 μm rms.
Finally, somee full prototyppes correspon nding to COR R3 have been manufactured d and measurred. The segm ments show ann
a <30 μm rm
almost perfecct match with the mold proffile since the sshape errors are ms. Afterwardss, by means of a ray-tracingg
analysis we hhave simulateed the optical path of the iincoming pho otons assumin ng for all the mirror segmeents the errorss
measured on their integratiion molds as previously
p urface quality achieved is coompliant with
repported. The su h respect to thee
optical requirrements of thee project. In Fiigure 11 we suummarize the results.

Al0

COR -.00

!CO o xb
--- 400 -.00
-400

-400 .200 0
. (rpm) X (mm)

Figure 10 Error
E maps of th
he three integraation molds used
d to manufacturre the M1 mirroor segments.

PV 66
0 m
PV = 159.21 μm rms = 29.75 μm R = 8223.0 mm PSF

400

200

,1.a
(ww ) A

mn
-,m ÉE
0
1

113
-200

I
"'

Pr'
:
,

-iro.en
d<

i N

-400

I.jj
M

A avwo
B -200
C X (mm)

Figure 11 T
Typical surface error maps for: A) Thermoform med glass; B) complete
c mirrorr segment. C) R Ray-tracing of th
he entire M1
assuming that the manufacturring errors of th
he mirror segmeents are equal to
o the errors of th
he replication m
molds (the colorr code indicatess
the conttribution of the three coronae as
a described in the text).

An optical teest has been also

a performed d. We illuminnated the paneel and compared the focal spot produced at the panel
proper focal length after a single reflecction with the focal spot th hat a perfect panel
p is expeccted to producce in the samee
configurationn. Since the total
t M1 diam meter is commparable to its radius of curvature,
c wee expect a heeavy spherical
aberration. Thhis implies thhat the focal distance considdered for the optical
o test an
nd the focal sppot morpholog gy is different
for each coroona. As an exxample, we illustrate the ccase of COR R3. Mirror seg gments were tested in the configurationn
represented iin Figure 12 left panel. By B means of a ray-tracing analysis we have simulatted the opticaal path of thee
incoming phootons. The im mage (blue dotts) is compareed to the one generated by the theoreticaal optical desiign (red dots):
the focal spott has a peculiiar morpholog gy with a notiiceable vertexx that can be easily
e searcheed moving aloong the optical

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 axis. Figure 12 (right pannel) shows th
he excellent aagreement bettween the meeasured (bluee) and the theeoretical (red))
images, respeectively.

-Theo e=8064.0 mi

ioo°
_,.
q`, ,,;:;;
/; WI
.100° 6
6

- 6
6 4.14444.48-4.444.4.4..-6424. ..... ......... . .

1870 -1760 -16!10 -1l40 _14-10 -1320 -1210 -fl -990 -0

X (mm)

Figure 12 (leeft panel) Opticaal test configuration adopted. ((right panel) Co

omparison betw
ween PSFs: red==theoretical, blu
ue=measured.

5.3 Results ffrom prototyyping activitiees: secondaryy mirror – M2

2
Dedicated acttivities to the development of the seconddary mirror arre ongoing in parallel
p to thoose reported foor the primaryy
mirror, but w
with further addaptations to take
t into accoount both the challenging dimension
d andd curvature off the mirror inn
subject. Exammples of the teechnological developments
d s already achieeved are preseented in Figurre 13. The firsst two picturess
(Figure 13, paanels A and B)
B show a thicck glass shell oof 19 mm ben nt to the propeer radius of cuurvature; the diameter
d of thee
mirror is 1800 mm with ann aggressive focal
f ratio of 00.597. Prelimiinary surface measurementts done by meeans of a Zeisss
coordinates mmeasuring macchine at the beending factoryy return a peaak-to-valley errror of the ordder of 250 μm m. By means off
the ray-tracinng of those suurface errors it is possiblee to generate the correspon nding PSF off the mirror. A comparisonn
between the PSF generateed by the meeasurements aand the theorretical one is shown in FFigure 13, pan nels D and E
respectively. The Figure 13C shows an n early protottype of the caarbon fiber ho oneycomb witth built-in currvature that iss
under developpment.

/ B

MOM

Figure 13 Protootype developmments for the secondary mirrorr. Thermoformeed glass shell (AA and B). Carboon fiber honeyccomb with built-
in curvature ((C). Comparisoon of the PSF off the mirror from
m the surface profile
p as measu
ured (D) and froom the theoreticcal profile (E).

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 5.4 Coating
Two different solutions are under study. The large secondary mirror will have a high reflective metallic coating based on
pure Aluminum plus a protective overcoating of 100 nm of Quartz. (i.e. Al + SiO2). This capping layer has the double
purpose to enhance the reflective peak of the Aluminum around 400-450 nm and to protect the Aluminum itself from the
fast ageing due to the air exposure. A more innovative solution is under study for the primary mirror segments. A fully
dielectric multi-layer coating embodying an interference wavelength filter is being developed and tested. The main
features concern the in-band very high and flat reflectivity response; the off-band reflectivity profile cutting sharply
wavelengths above 650-700 nm in order to greatly reduces (≈5 times) the Night Sky Background. Also durability tests
(thermal cycling, salt mist) have been performed on a few samples, while outdoor testing on full-scale prototype panels
has recently started. An extensive discussion on this topic can be found in [18] and these proceedings [19].

6. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper we have introduced the ASTRI project and its main activities toward the development of an end-to-end
prototype for an innovative Small Size Telescope for the CTA Observatory. Details have been presented on some
relevant aspects related to the ASTRI SST-2M telescope structure and mirrors. In particular, we focused on the structural
design and the electro-mechanical subsystems that will be implemented into the prototype. Highlights on the mirrors
technology have been presented, too. The manufacturing and installation of the telescope will take place during the
forthcoming months at the Serra La Nave site on the Etna Mount in Italy.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the ASTRI “Flagship Project” financed by the Italian Ministry of Education, University,
and Research (MIUR) and led by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF). We also acknowledge partial
support by the MIUR Bando PRIN 2009.

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