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Custom actautors to guide African telescope

A PI (Physik Instrumente) product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Apr 3, 2003

PI has been awarded a large contract to supply more than 280 custom nanopositioning actuators and custom multi-axis motion controllers for the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT).

PI has been awarded a large contract to supply more than 280 custom nanopositioning actuators and custom multi-axis motion controllers for the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT).

According to a project engineer at SALT, the decision to use the PI actuators was made for the following reasons: superior actuator performance and compliance with strict accuracy requirements even under adverse environmental conditions, as found in comparative testing performed by SALT engineers; reasonable price; low risk, because of PI's proven track record; and PI's ability to meet the tight delivery schedule.

SALT is the largest single telescope in the southern hemisphere with a hexagonal mirror array 11m across, similar to the Hobby-Eberly telescope (HET) in Texas.

SALT will be able to record distant stars, galaxies and quasars a billion times too faint to be seen with the unaided eye - as faint as a candle flame at the distance of the moon.

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