The Beginning of a New Era in Astronomy - with VON ARDENNE Technology

On June 23, 2025, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory presented the first results of its work with the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). About 14 years after the groundbreaking, a unique telescope began operation on Cerro Pachón in northern Chile.

The research institutes involved worldwide expect new insights and previously impossible views into the cosmos from the LSST. This includes measuring weak gravitational lenses to find dark energy and dark matter. Mapping the Milky Way and small objects in the solar system, especially near-Earth asteroids and objects from the Kuiper Belt, is also planned, as well as observing short-term events like novae and supernovae and discovering previously unknown objects.

For this purpose, the telescope, with its three mirrors (the primary mirror measures 8.4 meters) and the world's largest digital camera (3.2 billion pixels), can map the visible night sky in just three days. Through continuously repeated images, even the smallest changes in the position or brightness of celestial objects can be analyzed over a long period.

Stages with VON ARDENNE Involvement

An important contribution to this 800 million US dollar project is made by our SKYVA. The coating system is integrated on the ground floor of the building complex. The mirrors are transported there via an elevator system to be regularly coated with a highly reflective layer for optimal sky observation.

For VON ARDENNE, the project began over ten years ago with the tender for the coating system by the telescope's operating company. After prevailing against well-known competitors, we received the contract in 2016. After intensive design and development work, the completed SKYVA was shipped from Germany to Chile in August 2018, where it arrived in October 2018 and was installed starting in November. Already in July 2019, our coating system proved itself with the successful coating of the secondary mirror M2. The global COVID-19 pandemic significantly delayed the project. In April 2024, the primary and tertiary mirrors (M1 and M3) could finally also be coated.

In the following months, the telescope was completed, calibrated, and subjected to numerous tests to enable top-level astronomical research. Remaining work is still ongoing and is expected to be completed in 2025.

We are very pleased to be part of this unique project and look forward to spectacular results and insights into space.