GNAO Project Passes Major Design Review

The Gemini North Adaptive Optics (GNAO) project, the initiative to provide state-of-the-art multi-laser adaptive optics capabilities to the Gemini North telescope, successfully passed its preliminary design review in early February. By replacing the ALTAIR facility, GNAO will become the next-generation Gemini North facility for high-angular-resolution astronomy in the near-infrared. Through full integration into the Gemini queue operation scheme, GNAO’s multi-purpose adaptive optics will serve a broad range of Solar System, galactic, extragalactic, and time-domain science cases. GNAO will work in tandem with GIRMOS, offering high-angular-resolution imaging and multiplexed spectroscopy with a focus on survey science. 

The four main work packages of the GNAO project are the laser guide star facility, the adaptive optics bench, the real-time control system, and the facility system controller. While the development of the GNAO facility is managed in-house, the adaptive optics bench, the real-time control system, and the laser-launch telescopes are provided through external contractors. The preliminary design review, conducted with the help of an expert reviewer panel, was focused on assessing the overall facility-level maturity of the project.

The successful preliminary design review represents a significant milestone for the GNAO project on the path to technical first light, which is currently expected for 2028.

GNAO is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under AST Nos. 1839225 and 2211469 as part of the Gemini in the Era of Multi-Messenger Astronomy (GEMMA) program.