Instrumentation Update

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue64 1–31 July 2025

This week the MAVIS team have submitted the documentation for the MAVIS Final Design Review (FDR) to ESO. MAVIS is the MCAO-Assisted Visible Imager and Spectrograph, a next-generation adaptive optics instrument for the ESO VLT.

The MAVIS project is led by RSAA and involves an international consortium spanning four countries. The Consortium have been working tirelessly to prepare ~145 deliverable documents for the FDR, together with a large number of mechanical, optical and electronic drawings.

The FDR will formally launch with a Kick-Off Meeting with the ESO review committee on 1 September. Once the FDR process has formally concluded, MAVIS will enter the build phase. MAVIS is scheduled for first light in 2030.

David Brodrick

Image: MAVIS on the Nasmyth A platform of the VLT UT4 telescope. G. Gausachs.