30th June 2024

This June the NRT team travelled to Yokohama, Japan, to take part in the renowned SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation Conference, which is a global event that brings together leading minds to explore a wide range of subjects related to telescopes and instrumentation: from giant mirror structures to the complex software that keeps both ground-based and space telescopes, as well as its complex instrumentation, running smoothly.

Group photo of the NRT team at SPIE. L-R Ali, David, Chloé, João, Adam, Beth, Helen and Iain.

Several team members took the stage to present the latest developments in their areas of expertise. Ali Ranjbar, our mechanical engineer, delivered a talk on the ongoing progress of the NRT telescope while Instrument scientist Chloé Miossec shared updates on the wavefront sensor, and Beth, one of our PhD students, presented advancements on the new NRT spectrograph.

Beth, Helen, João and Adam enjoy the sights in Tokyo

In the software sessions, our DevOps engineer João Bento introduced the system architecture being developed; not only for the NRT but also for the LT and software engineer David Heffernan showcased the latest status of Phase 1: the software infrastructure designed to handle telescope time requests.

Beth, João, Helen and Adam at Chureito Pagoda, with Mount Fuji in the background.

Outside the conference sessions, the NRT team had the chance to explore lively Yokohama, Tokyo and further afield, whilst also connecting with international researchers, engineers, and optics companies working on similar infrastructures. The team learned a lot about advances in new products and systems that may influence future developments of the NRT project. To finish off their trip the team went to Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium to see England men vs Japan men. 

Pictures from the team's exciting trip to see England men vs Japan men in Tokyo