Specialists at Joint Stock Company Reshetnev in Zheleznogorsk, Russia, have begun testing a prototype of the main mirror for the Millimetron space telescope observatory, according to the press service of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Krasnoyarsk Krai.
The key element of the telescope is a transformable main mirror measuring 10 meters in diameter. After reaching orbit, the structure is designed to unfold and form a reflective surface made of 24 segments.
Engineers are currently testing the operation of the unfolding mechanism and checking the precision of the structure. The ministry stated that the sensitivity of the instrument and its ability to receive signals from distant cosmic objects depend on those characteristics.
The project is being carried out for the Astro Space Center of the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which is developing the onboard scientific equipment. Research and Production Association Lavochkina serves as the prime contractor for building the observatory, and the ministry noted that the enterprises, along with Reshetnev, are part of the state corporation Roscosmos.
Russian space organizations behind the Millimetron observatory
Based in Zheleznogorsk, a closed city in Siberia's Krasnoyarsk Krai built around the nuclear and space industries, Reshetnev is one of Russia's main manufacturers of communications, navigation and geodetic satellites. Lavochkina is a major Russian aerospace enterprise known for designing uncrewed interplanetary probes and space observatories, while the Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow is one of the country's oldest physics research centers.
Large space telescopes use segmented, foldable mirrors because a single rigid reflector measuring 10 meters across is too wide to fit inside the nose cone of a launch vehicle. Folding the segments for launch and deploying them in weightlessness allows engineers to place a much larger collecting surface in orbit.
Observing deep space in millimeter and infrared bands
The Millimetron telescope is designed to observe objects in deep space in the millimeter and infrared wavelength bands. Observing from space in these ranges allows instruments to detect radiation from cold dust and gas clouds without interference from water vapor in Earth's atmosphere, which absorbs much of that light before it reaches the ground.
According to the regional ministry's announcement, the data collected by the observatory in orbit will help scientists investigate the structure and evolution of the universe.
