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Corning in Canton builds mirror for Rubin Observatory in Chile

Posted 11/16/24

CANTON – Corning Incorporated and L3Harris Technologies announced in late summer the successful installation of a jointly-produced 11-foot-wide, 1,500-pound glass mirror onto NSF-DOE Vera C. …

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Corning in Canton builds mirror for Rubin Observatory in Chile

Posted

CANTON – Corning Incorporated and L3Harris Technologies announced in late summer the successful installation of a jointly-produced 11-foot-wide, 1,500-pound glass mirror onto NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile.

The mirror, designed and produced in Canton, is the largest convex mirror now in operation.  

The Rubin Observatory is one step closer to capturing images of outer space that will allow scientists to identify 10 to 100 times more objects in the solar system, including harmful asteroids.

It will also provide scientists with data that could answer some of the most pressing questions about the universe.

“Corning is proud of its nearly 20-year collaboration with the L3Harris and Rubin Observatory team,” said Claude Echahamian, Vice President & General Manager, Corning Advanced Optics. “As part of our latest collaboration, Corning’s highly skilled team in New York manufactured a cutting-edge telescope mirror made of Corning® ULE® Glass (Ultra-Low Expansion Glass) glass that will enable crystal clear views of deep space and help scientists reveal millions of previously unknown Solar System objects with more details than ever before.” 

Corning produced the mirror in Canton using ULE glass, a titania-silicate glass material invented by Corning in the 1960s with near-zero expansion characteristics – critical to ensuring the telescope keeps its focus. The company tapped into a century of experience in large-aperture telescope fabrication to create the complex, innovative technology.  

Then, L3Harris fine-ground, polished and finished the mirror in Rochester, which is key to the telescope’s performance.

L3Harris also designed and built the secondary-mirror assembly, which consists of a stiff-steel mounting plate, 72 axial and six tangent actuators, the mirror-cell electronics and sensors, a thermal control system, and the mirror-control system.  

The collaboration between Corning and L3Harris is the latest feat for New York’s cutting-edge optics, photonics, and imaging industry – putting New York technology on the global stage.

“For nearly six decades we have designed and constructed high-end optical systems for space and ground applications. This work continues with the world’s largest active secondary mirror system, built for Rubin Observatory,” said Charles Clarkson, Vice President and General Manager, Imaging Systems, Space and Airborne Systems, L3Harris. “With this milestone, we are closer to pushing scientific frontiers and charting the universe like never before, and we look forward to the science that will be discovered.”  

Thanks to funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, Rubin Observatory will offer the most comprehensive view of the universe from the Southern Hemisphere than all previous ground-based telescopes combined. The observatory is expected to be fully operational in 2025.