The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

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Dan Catropa

Center for Astrophysics

Opto-Mechanical Systems / Project Engineer

Dan Catropa

daniel.catropa@cfa.harvard.edu

About

I serve as project engineer at SAO for the Acquisition Guiding and Wavefront Sensing System (AGWS) for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). This system is at the heart of the GMT and is responsible for making the measurements required to keep the optics of the 25.4 meter seven-segment telescope coaligned, phased, pointing in the correct direction, and conforming to the correct mirror shape. In this capacity I am involved with nearly all aspects of the project and make specific technical contributions to opto-mechanical design, systems engineering, structural and thermal design and analysis, mechanism design, servo and motion control systems, program planning and hands-on hardware execution through assembly, integration and test. This position challenges me with the responsibility of balancing technical, schedule, and budget priorities to achieve overall project success.

Master of Engineering, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Cornell; Masters of Science in Engineering Management, Tufts

Projects

GMACS

Optical and Infrared Astronomy, Central Engineering

GMACS - Moderate Dispersion Optical Spectrograph for the Giant Magellan Telescope is a powerful optical spectrograph that will unlock the power of the Giant Magellan Telescope for research ranging from the formation of stars and planets to cosmology.

For Scientists

Telescopes and Instruments

Magellan Telescopes

The twin Magellan Telescopes in Chile are each 6.5 meter optical telescopes. These telescopes are both equipped with instruments to take images and spectra of light from a wide variety of astronomical sources, including exoplanet systems, star-forming regions, supernova remnants, and interacting galaxies. The Magellan Telescopes — named Baade and Clay — are hosted at the Las Campanas Observatory and are operated by a consortium of institutions, including the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Carnegie Institution for Science, University of Arizona, the University of Michigan, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition, CfA scientists and engineers provided a wide field f/5 focal system (including secondary mirror and corrective optics), and a powerful astronomical camera for use at the Clay telescope.

Visit the Magellan Telescopes Website

Giant Magellan Telescope

Is Earth unique, or are there other planets with life in the Milky Way? To answer this question and many others, astronomers need larger and more sensitive observatories than anything we currently have. For that reason, the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian is collaborating with a number of other institutions around the world to create the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), currently under construction in Chile. The GMT will consist of seven large mirrors acting in concert as one giant telescope 80 feet across. That large size provides an unprecedented view of the sky and the ability to detect the chemical composition of exoplanet atmospheres. Like NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the GMT will be a powerful tool across the field of astronomy, providing insights into the formation of planets, the structure of galaxies, and the evolution of the universe itself.

Visit the GMT Website