Fausto Cortecchia

LBCmos is a proposed upgrade of the Large Binocular Camera at the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory, designed to ensure state-of-the-art wide-field imaging and photometric performance for the coming decades. Building on the long-term scientific impact and operational importance of LBC-Blue and LBC-Red, the project aims to replace the aging nitrogen-cooled CCD detector mosaics with two modern, monolithic Teledyne COSMOS-8K scientific CMOS cameras. The upgraded system preserves all current capabilities while introducing improvements, including shutterless operation, continuous focal-plane coverage, ultra-low readout noise, fast and flexible readout modes, simplified operations, and expanded scientific reach, all enabled by a new suite of narrow-tomedium-band filters. Optical simulations confirm that, by modifying off-the-shelf C8K cameras (replacing the flat entrance window with a suitable lens), the new instruments will maintain the excellent image quality and pixel scale of the current LBCs, ensuring Nyquist sampling even under the best seeing conditions. The adoption of sCMOS detectors enhances operational flexibility, enabling high-cadence photometry, real-time diagnostics, and fast exposures with negligible overhead. LBCmos also streamlines mechanical and electronic subsystems by removing obsolete components, improving system reliability, and easing maintenance. A new approach to collimation and image quality monitoring, based on real-time ellipticity analysis across the full field, offers a complementary diagnostic path to the existing FPIA procedure. The LBCmos concept has been approved by the LBTO Board as a new instrument upgrade, marking the transition from conceptual design to implementation planning. The project is currently entering a phase focused on securing funding and finalizing key technical components. The baseline design and performance estimates presented here are based on representative detector solutions, while the final hardware configuration will be defined during the next development phase. LBCmos leverages mature, high-TRL technologies, positioning LBTO as one of the leading northern-hemisphere facilities for wide-field optical imaging. As one of only two wide-field imagers on 8–10 m northern hemisphere telescopes, this upgrade is critical for maintaining community access and enabling high-impact science.

The ESA’s Ariel space mission, scheduled for launch in 2029, aims to study the atmospheres of ~ 1000 exoplanets in the wavelengths between Visible and Infrared. Ariel’s telescope, to the Cassegrain off-axis type, will employ an elliptical primary mirror with a parabolic surface measuring 1.2x0.7m, entirely made of Aluminum T6061 alloy. Notably, this marks the first instance of manufacturing a primary mirror of such dimensions in aluminum for Infrared applications, and this required a comprehensive study of production processes. Additionally, aluminum flexure hinges have been designed and tested to ensure an optimal connection between the primary mirror and the optical bench, minimize optical surface deformation due to its low density, maximize heat exchange, and maintain a high degree of structural robustness. This work describes all the development processes and tests to realize the primary mirror and flexure hinges. These activities will provide a solid foundation for future space missions.

We give here an account of the Telescope Array eNabling DEbris Monitoring (TANDEM) project, an innovative concept aimed at flanking, on a shared piggyback mount, the main G. D. Cassini 152 cm f/8 telescope at the INAF-OAS observing premises in Loiano, Italy. The system is especially intended for space situational awareness activities related to the study of asteroids and comets and on the astrodynamical characterization of circumterrestrial space debris and artificial satellites. TANDEM consists of a combination of four customized and independently steerable 35 cm f/3 Newtonian telescopes, each equipped with a Moravian C4-16000 camera, observing through the BVR_cI_c filters of the Johnson–Cousins system. The camera carries on board a GSense 4040 (4096 × 4096 pixels) monochrome CMOS detector with an electronic shutter and a 9 μm pixel size. A corrected field of view of 2° × 2° is offered by each telescope, though quite special pointing capabilities and observing modes are available for the telescope array, such as to cover up to 16 deg² across sparse celestial fields, each up to 20° in separation. While especially conceived for observing activities in the framework of the European Consortium for Space Surveillance and Tracking, TANDEM may also find additional applications in a more direct astronomical context, as we briefly outline along this review.

Ariel (Atmospheric Remote-Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large Survey) is the adopted M4 mission in the framework of the ESA “Cosmic Vision” program. Its purpose is to survey the atmospheres of known exoplanets through transit spectroscopy. The launch is scheduled for 2029. The scientific payload consists of an off-axis, unobscured Cassegrain telescope feeding a set of photometers and spectrometers in the waveband 0.5-7.8 µm and operating at cryogenic temperatures (55 K). The Telescope Assembly is based on an innovative fully aluminium design to tolerate thermal variations to avoid impacts on the optical performance; it consists of a primary parabolic mirror with an elliptical aperture of 1.1 m (the major axis), followed by a hyperbolic secondary that is mounted on a refocusing system, a parabolic re-collimating tertiary and a flat folding mirror directing the output beam parallel to the optical bench. An innovative mounting system based on 3 flexure hinges supports the primary mirror on one of the optical bench sides. The instrument bay on the other side of the optical bench houses the Ariel IR Spectrometer (AIRS) and the Fine Guidance System / NIR Spectrometer (FGS/NIRSpec). The Telescope Assembly is in phase B2 towards the Critical Design Review; the fabrication of the structural and engineering models has started; some components, i.e., the primary mirror and its mounting system are undergoing further qualification activities. This paper aims to update the scientific community on the progress concerning the development, manufacturing and qualification activity of the ARIEL Telescope Assembly.

Ariel (Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey) is an ESA M class mission aimed at the study of exoplanets. The satellite will orbit in the lagrangian point L2 and will survey a sample of 1000 exoplanets simultaneously in visible and infrared wavelengths. The challenging scientific goal of Ariel implies unprecedented engineering efforts to satisfy the severe requirements coming from the science in terms of accuracy. The most important specification – an all-Aluminum telescope – requires very accurate design of the primary mirror (M1), a novel, off-set paraboloid honeycomb mirror with ribs, edge, and reflective surface. To validate such a mirror, some tests were carried out on a prototype – namely Pathfinder Telescope Mirror (PTM) – built specifically for this purpose. These tests, carried out at the Centre Spatial de Liège in Belgium – revealed an unexpected deformation of the reflecting surface exceeding a peek-to-valley of 1µm. Consequently, the test had to be re-run, to identify systematic errors and correct the setting for future tests on the final prototype M1. To avoid the very expensive procedure of developing a new prototype and testing it both at room and cryogenic temperatures, it was decided to carry out some numerical simulations. These analyses allowed first to recognize and understand the reasoning behind the faults occurred during the testing phase, and later to apply the obtained knowledge to a new M1 design to set a defined guideline for future testing campaigns.

The Atmospheric Remote-Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large Survey (Ariel) is the M4 mission adopted by ESA’s ”Cosmic Vision” program. Its launch is scheduled for 2029. The purpose of the mission is the study of exoplanetary atmospheres on a target of ∼ 1000 exoplanets. Ariel scientific payload consists of an off-axis, unobscured Cassegrain telescope. The light is directed towards a set of photometers and spectrometers with wavebands between 0.5 and 7.8 µm and operating at cryogenic temperatures. The Ariel Space Telescope consists of a primary parabolic mirror with an elliptical aperture of 1.1· 0.7 m, followed by a hyperbolic secondary, a parabolic collimating tertiary and a flat-folding mirror directing the output beam parallel to the optical bench; all in bare aluminium. The choice of bare aluminium for the realization of the mirrors is dictated by several factors: maximizing the heat exchange, reducing the costs of materials and technological advancement. To date, an aluminium mirror the size of Ariel’s primary has never been made. The greatest challenge is finding a heat treatment procedure that stabilizes the aluminium, particularly the Al6061T651 Laminated alloy. This paper describes the study and testing of the heat treatment procedure developed on aluminium samples of different sizes (from 50mm to 150mm diameter), on 0.7m diameter mirror, and discusses future steps.

Ariel (Atmospheric Remote-Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large Survey) is the adopted M4 mission in the framework of the ESA “Cosmic Vision” program. Its purpose is to conduct a survey of the atmospheres of known exoplanets through transit spectroscopy. Launch is scheduled for 2029. Ariel scientific payload consists of an off-axis, unobscured Cassegrain telescope feeding a set of photometers and spectrometers in the waveband between 0.5 and 7.8 µm and operating at cryogenic temperatures (55 K). The Telescope Assembly is based on an innovative fully-aluminum design to tolerate thermal variations avoiding impacts on the optical performance; it consists of a primary parabolic mirror with an elliptical aperture of 1.1 m of major axis, followed by a hyperbolic secondary that is mounted on a refocusing system, a parabolic re-collimating tertiary and a flat folding mirror directing the output beam parallel to the optical bench. An innovative mounting system based on 3 flexure-hinges supports the primary mirror on one side of the optical bench. The instrument bay on the other side of the optical bench houses the Ariel IR Spectrometer (AIRS) and the Fine Guidance System / NIR Spectrometer (FGS/NIRSpec). The Telescope Assembly is in phase B2 towards the Preliminary Design Review to start the fabrication of the structural model; some components, i.e., the primary mirror, its mounting system and the refocusing mechanism, are undergoing further development activities to increase their readiness level. This paper describes the design and development of the ARIEL Telescope Assembly.

The transmission of airborne pathogens represents a major threat to worldwide public health. Ultraviolet light irradiation can contribute to the sanification of air to reduce the pathogen transmission. We have designed a compact filter for airborne pathogen inactivation by means of UVC LED sources, whose effective irradiance is enhanced thanks to high reflective surfaces. We used ray-tracing and computational fluid dynamic simulations to model the device and to maximize the performance inside the filter volume. Simulations also show the inhibition of SARS-Cov-2 in the case of high air fluxes. This study demonstrates that current available LED technology is effective for air sanification purposes.