2015

Contract Signed with ESO for Final Design and Costruction of M4 adaptive mirror of E-ELT

2015

Completion of the E-ELT M4 Preliminary design with the full optical and electromechanical characterization of an advanced Demostration Prototype

2014

Completion of the GMT ASM Preliminary design Phase

2012

The VLT DSM, the largest adaptive secondary mirror ever built, is successfully delivered to ESO where it starts optical calibration and testing with Graal and Galacsi

2010

The E-ELT M4 Phase B (preliminary) design is completed and the relevant prototype confirm the co-phasing capability needed by the segmented options.

2010

The first LBT672 adaptive secondary starts operation at the telescope, obtaining from the beginning astonishing results ( > 80% Strehl in H).

2009

ADS and Microgate obtain the Phase-A design contract for the GMT (Giant Magellan Telescope) 7-segments adaptive secondary

2008

Microgate and ADS obtain the manufacturing, assembly, integration and test contract for the VLT Deformable Secondary Mirror.

2007

Microgate, acting as prime contractor with its partners ADS, SAFRAN/SAGEM and INAF, obtains the contract for the preliminary design of the E-ELT M4 Adaptive Unit.

2006

Microgate and ADS obtain the design contract for the VLT Deformable Secondary Mirror. The unit is planned to replace the current "chopping" rigid secondary on UT4.

2004

Microgate, together with ADS, is committed by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) to the development of a feasibility study for an adaptive secondary mirror for the VLT main telescopes (UTs).

2003

a 45 actuators prototype (P45) is completed and successfully tested. The reduced size prototype is identical to the first three innermost actuators rings of the final LBT672 unit.

P45, the 45 actuators prototype for the LBT adaptive secondary mirror
2002

Microgate and ADS are committed to building two adaptive secondaries for the LBT telescope. The two LBT672 units have 672 actuators each. While maintaining the same concept, the two units implement several improvements. The completely new electronics performs also the Real Time Reconstructor computations.

LBT 672 actuators adaptive secondary mirror assembly. Courtesy of ADS.
2002

The MMT336 adaptive secondary is finally moved to the telescope and starts to be used for science.

MMT336 adaptive secondary installed at the MMT telescope (Mount Hopkins, Arizona). Courtesy of Francois Wildi.
2000

The MMT336 adaptive secondary is installed on a dedicated testing facility at Steward Observatory Mirror Lab for the optical tests.

MMT336 after re-integration at Steward Observatory (January 2001)
2000

The integration of the MMT336 adaptive secondary is successfully completed at Microgate and tested for the dynamic behavior. The unit is moved to Steward Observatory.

MMT336 after successful acceptance test at Microgate (July 2000)
1999

36 actuators prototype (P36) completed and successfully tested. The reduced size prototype is identical to the first two innermost actuators rings of the final MMT unit.

36 actuators prototype (P36) under test at Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri
1998

The same industrial team is committed to building the first "flying unit", i.e. the adaptive secondary for the MMT 6.5 m conversion. An engineering prototype with 36 actuators is foreseen as a further development step.

1997

The industrial team is committed to building a first 30 actuators prototype, supported by CNR (Italian Research Council) through Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri. Meanwhile, another prototype using a different approach was built by an U.S. company with previous expertise in adaptive optics. The very positive results obtained by the Italian Team led the way towards the development of the first final system.

1993

The adaptive secondary concept proposed by P.Salinari is investigated in detail by the adaptive optics team of Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, with the contribution of Dipartimento di Ingegneria Aerospaziale - Politecnico di Milano, Microgate and Medialario.