Abstract: We present the conceptual design of the primary mirrorsupport system of the 7.8 m Mexican Infrared-OpticalTelescope. The primary mirror consists of 19 hexagonaloff- axis parabolic Zerodur segments, which are carriedby a tubular, lightweight and high stiffness cellstructure. Each segment is actively supported by 19pneumatic actuators, that cover the whole back area andprovide a uniform force distribution. The array ofactuators will be able to correct for high orderaberrations. Each of these actuators contains ahydraulic damping system to provide a stiff coupling tothe tubular cell to sustain the wind buffeting. Thetip/tilt and piston control of each segment will bedone through three axial, nanometer resolution positiondefining actuators. The lateral positioning of eachsegment is performed through 3 independentelectro-mechanical actuators. With the combination ofthe whole set of actuators and differential positioningsensors, the phasing or coherent superposition ofimages of the segments, will be more feasible. Thewhole system will be cost effective, since severalsubsystems have already been tested on our 2.1 mtelescope.!4
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