In May 2016 New Scale demonstrated full production capacity - 200 per month - of Cobra fiber positioners for the Subaru Telescope Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS).
This important production milestone was reached after eight years of research and development, resulting in a u
niqu
e and patented piezoelectric motor technology with 10V operating voltage, lifetime > 400K cycles, and p
atented drive electronics sufficiently small and low power to be integrated in the close-packed Cobra arrays.
For manufacturing, we have developed a global supply chain, a
ssembly tools and fixtures, repeatable manufacturing processes, q
uality assurance and 100% in-line testing methods, and a h
ighly trained and experienced production staff.
New Scale plans to deliver a total of 2,550 Cobra positioners to the California Institute of Technology by June 2017. We're
proud to be part of the PFS team and contribute to this program's goals to better understand the nature of the universe.
Having demonstrated our
unique competencies in technology development combined with large-scale micro mechatronic manufacturing, we expect to contribute these skills to other fiber spectrometer programs in the near future.
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