| Summer 2002 |
CMA,Inc.
gives a presentation on the new lightweight
mirror technology
to NSF |
| August 2002 |
CMA,
Inc. begins discussions with the Astronomy
program at the University of Kansas to build and test
a 16 in. prototype telescope |
| September 2002 |
Astronomy program at SDSU contacted
for potential collaboration in telescope construction and site development
at Mt. Laguna;
Discussions begin with Dartmouth
Astronomy program on the nature and testing of the mirrors
|
| October 2002 |
Focus of the
research program changes to a 1m-class, totally functional, research-quality
telescope. University of Kansas Aerospace Engineering program begins
collaborative effort to design and test composite material mirrors to
optimize their use in the telescope design |
| November
2002 |
Kansas NSF-EPSCOR approves funding
for a Planning Workshop on Composite Mirror Technology at KU.
KU selects the ULTRA Telescope
proposal as one of three to go forward in the competition for an NSF
MRI Award.
|
| December 2002 |
Two-day workshop
at the University of Kansas brings together KU Astronomy, KU Aerospace
Engineering, SDSU Astronomy, Dartmouth Astronomy, and CMA, Inc. Result
is a three-year plan to test, design, and build a prototype telescope
to operate in remote and/or robotic mode. |
| January 2003 |
Final, revised
version of ULTRA MRI proposal is submitted to NSF. The collaborative
project calls for coupled proposals from CMA, Inc. ($650 K) and the
University of Kansas ($715 K). |
| February 2003 |
ULTRA collaboration
expands to include Emporia State University via a proposal submitted
to Kansas-NASA for seed money to begin engineering studies on composites
and the mirror design. |
May
2003 |
NASA grant
for $75 K approved. Preliminary characterization of the materials and
simple computer designs initiated. |
| October 2003 |
 NSF
MRI approves full funding of the collaborative project to produce and
test the feasibility of a 1m composite materials telescope for a total
cost of ~$1,4 million. |
| January 2004 |
Collaborative
3-day workshop involving all project partners and interested parties
held in Tucson. Eight-month timelime for design and testing phase of
16 inch prototype finalized. |
JULY 2004 |
 Request
for Bids for telescope mount, drive, and operating system announced. First
prototype design for 16 inch mirror and optical tube assembly. |
| August 2004 |
 OTA
modified and second 16 inch mirror constructed and tested. |
| September 2004 |
 16
inch prototype OTA and mirror tested on the 1.3m telescope at MDM Observatory. |
December
2004 |
 Completion of KU Master's Thesis-
Periyapatna Ramamurthy Balaji Kaushik
KU Aerospace Engineering - 12/04 ( Word Document )
Full Thesis: Integrated Design and Computational Aerodynamic Analysis of Ground-Based
Telescopes using Object Oriented Programming Concepts |
January
2005 |
 Presentation of Preliminary Results of the First Prototype and Planned Future Work at the AAS Meeting in San Diego
LINK to MEETING MATERIALS
|
| |
|
February
2006 |
 MASTER'S THESIS
Jessica Landes
KU Aerospace Engineering - 02/06 (Word Document) ( Powerpoint Presentation )
Full Thesis: Characterization of the Static and Dynamic Structural Response of a
Diffraction-Limited Fiber Reinforced Plastic Telescope
|
May
2006 |
 ULTRA mount under completion at ACE workshop in Tucson |
June
2006 |
 Installation of the 22.5 ft Ash Dome on the refurnished building that formerly held the 16-inch telecope. |
August
2006 |
 1-meter Optical Tube Assembly undergoing tests at CMA facility in Tucson. Group Meeting. |
December
2006 |
 ULTRA Mount Installed and Tested at MLO by ACE, Inc. |
