MUST: the innovative Multiplexed Survey Telescope

The Multiplexed Survey Telescope (MUST) is 6.5m class optical telescope to be located in China, at Saishiteng Mountain, Lenghu Town, Qinghai Province. The elevation is approximately 4.350m above sea level. The telescope consists of an Alt-Azimuth telescope housed in an enclosure, called “Dome” constituted by a base and a rotating part. The MUST Rotating Enclosure will provide environmental protection and control to the Telescope during operation and standby conditions as well as providing the infrastructure required for the operation of the Telescope. The Auxiliary Building will house plant, maintenance and storage facilities. The Auxiliary Building will also include the necessary housing for the installation of the coating facility for the primary and secondary mirrors. The Dome must operate continuously without rotational travel limits to accommodate the Telescope cadence and travel, so this prevents the use of a utility cable wrap. Moreover, in order to minimize the power transferred to the rotating part, the azimuth drives are located in the fixed lower enclosure. A non-corotating dome architecture is chosen in order to improve flexibility during telescope maintenance and material handling. The rotating enclosure dome includes a moving wind screen, ventilation doors and a rear access door for main mirror handling. An air duct system aligns when the Dome is in its parked position and provides air cooling for temperature conditioning of the Dome during the daytime. A bridge crane and a series of ladders, stairs and platforms provide for the inspection, maintenance and repair of all of the Dome mechanical systems. The contract to design and build the rotating dome and design the lower enclosure and auxiliary building was awarded to EIE GROUP in Mestre- Venezia, Italy in 22/12/22. In this paper, we present the preliminary design of the dome and auxiliary building facility and their sub-systems.