- Location: La Palma, Spain
- Completion: 2018
- Client: Max Planck Institute of Physics, Munich
- Scope of Work: Substructure of the 23 m telescope
- Cladding: Diamond-cut aluminium refractor facets
- Type of Structure: MERO space frame structure
The Cherenkov Telescope Array is the next major project in astroparticle physics. Scientists intend to measure high-energy gamma rays from space, using a field of up to ten square kilometers, with up to 100 reflector telescopes, in the southern hemisphere, and a smaller field of around 25 telescopes in the northern hemisphere. In this context, the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich plans to have a prototype of a LST (Large Size Telescope) constructed on La Palma, one of the Canary Islands, in order to test the mechanical structure.
MERO-TSK has been awarded the order for the development, construction, and installation of a telescope weighing only 100 tons, with a mirror diameter of 23 m and a total height of 46 m. To meet the requirements for a fast alignment of the telescope, MERO-TSK, in cooperation with MPP Munich, has developed an ultralight structure consisting of steel, aluminum, and carbon beams. Once the prototype has been tested, and depending on its performance and the situation, up to seven further LST telescopes might be erected.
