Port Coquitlam's Dynamic Structures has won a $10 million contract to design the enclosure for the world's most powerful telescope.
The final design phase of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) enclosure is expected to take nearly two years to complete. When it's finished astronomers will be able to study objects in our own solar system, throughout the Milky Way, in neighbouring galaxies and forming galaxies at the very edge of the observable universe.
"It is an honour to be selected to design one of the most sophisticated moving structures on the planet," said Guy Nelson, executive chairman and CEO of Empire Industries Ltd., which includes Dynamic Structures, in a release. "Dynamic Structures has been actively working on TMT since it was first conceived over 10 years ago. We are looking forward to seeing it through to completion."
The TMT enclosure is one of several key components Canada will be contributing to the TMT partnership, which also includes universities, institutions and governments from the U.S., Japan, China and India; Canada's commitment will provide up to $243.5 million over 10 years.
Dynamic Structures has developed an innovative calotte, or dome, shape for the TMT enclosure that will make it smaller and faster and help shield the telescope and instruments from temperature variations, wind, snow and ice.
The enclosure design is expected to take until early 2018; subsequent phases, including fabrication, shipping the enclosure to the project site, supervising its installation and commissioning of the structure, have not yet been awarded.
Nelson told The Tri-City News that Dynamic's staff, which has tripled in the last three to four years and now stands at more than 120 engineers and technical staff, is close to finishing some large-scale amusement park projects and is ready to work on the TMT enclosure.
"We had already staffed up anticipating this to be executed some time ago," Nelson said, noting it has been more than a year since the former Conservative government made a $70-million pre-election announcement for the same project, but didn't issue any contracts.
"Overall our business looks like it's continuing to hire people…we see continued healthy growth," Nelson added. "Although we're somewhat concerned with the housing costs in Vancouver. It's getting increasingly difficult to find people who are prepared to move to Vancouver."
Dynamic is hoping the TMT project will also translate into growth in other departments, including mirror polishing and manufacturing for smaller telescopes suitable for a university.
"We could be a turnkey supplier of affordable telescopes," Nelson said. "I think that's an area that has good potential job ramifications."
• For more information on the Thirty Meter Telescope visit www.tmt.org.
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@spayneTC
