TNO Labs to design Keck Observatory’s adaptive secondary mirror

10 Dec 2025

Mirror to use hybrid variable reluctance technology to improve view from Maunakea, Hawaiʻi.

Twin telescopes Keck I and Keck 2 with their “eyes” open.

Twin telescopes Keck 1 and Keck 2 with their “eyes” open.

TNO, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, has signed its first contract with the W. M. Keck Observatory to initiate the design of Keck’s Adaptive Secondary Mirror (ASM).

The mirror will use TNO’s patented Hybrid Variable Reluctance (HVR) technology to improve the view of the Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaii, located at 4,145 meters above sea level. The project is a collaboration with the Keck community, including the Keck Observatory, the University of California, Caltech, NASA, and the University of Hawaiʻi.

For more than three decades, astronomers using Keck have increased understanding of the universe with discoveries about the solar system, exoplanets, supermassive black holes, and more. The two 10-meter optical and infrared telescopes feature a suite of advanced instruments including imagers, multi-object spectrographs, high-resolution spectrographs, integral-field spectrographs, and world-leading laser guide star adaptive optics systems.

The TNO announcement states that the telescope’s view will improve significantly with its high-density ASM: “The captured images will rival those of the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. By correcting atmospheric distortions, an Adaptive Secondary Mirror for the Keck telescope enables higher-resolution images and more sensitive observations, especially when infrared and eventually visible light are involved.

TNO’s design for secondary mirror technology.

“This allows for more detailed studies of distant galaxies, black holes, exoplanet atmospheres, and the solar system. It also increases the observatory’s efficiency by reducing the need to wait for optimal conditions.”

‘Enhancing science’

Antonin Bouchez, Head of Adaptive Optics Development at Keck, commented, “Adding an adaptive secondary mirror using TNO’s innovative actuator design to Keck Observatory will greatly enhance the science we can do on Maunakea with every one of our existing and future Keck I instruments.

“Thanks to this partnership with TNO, this adaptive secondary mirror will play a key role in keeping Keck contributing to humanity’s understanding of the universe for decades to come,” he added.

Keck is a non-profit organization operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and NASA.

TNO has many years of experience in developing innovative technologies for leading astronomical observatories. Its scientists have worked on delay lines, precision support for mirrors, and laser launch telescopes for the European VLT and ELT telescopes in the Southern Hemisphere. They collaborate with industrial partners such as VDL and Demcon and knowledge institutions such as NOVA.