HARMONI pases its design revision

21/12/2018
The HARMONI instrument, one of the technological projects supported by the SO Programme of the IAC, has successfully completed its preliminary design review. HARMONI is one of the first light instruments for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) which is being built on the Cerro Armazones, in the Atacama Desert (Chile).  At the end of 2017, the HARMONI consortium evaluated the design of the optics, the mechanics, the software and the electronics of the instrument, as well as its operational concepts, identifying some technical problems which will need additional work. Since then, the HARMONI team has completed all the tasks identified during the Review, and the instrument has formally passed this test. Having passed this essential milestone, the instrument can now advance towards the detailed design phase, with the aim of being ready for front-line observations when the ELT sees its first light. In addition, HARMONI is in the course of designing and preparing a new and powerful system of adaptive optics after the ESO Council has recently given the green light to its development.