The telescope structure is designed as an altitude over azimuth (alt-az) mount. This allows the telescope to be very compact and provides direct load paths from the telescope down through the structure to the pier and foundations. The drive motors used to move the telescope in azimuth and elevation will be servo motors with position feedback which will be provided by linear tape encoders.
The telescope mechanics is divided to three main sections:
- Telescope M1-Cell assembly
- Telescope top unit
- Telescope mount
The telescope mounts on a concrete pier with 6.5m diameter and 10m height (3m below the site level). The diameter of telescope base is 5.5m. It rests on 36 leveling wedges. Power transmission system of the telescope for each axis, consists two AC torque motors and spur gears. They work counter to each other to omit the effect of gears backlash. The gears ratio for Altitude axis is 25, for Azimuth axis is 29 and for Rotator is 15. The azimuth axis is supported using hydrostatic bearings in axial direction and an angular contact ball bearing in radial direction. The altitude axis is supported by two pairs of angular contact ball bearings which are arranged face to face on each side.
