Newton STFC-NARIT : Towards freeform optics manufacturing capabilities in Thailand for Space and Astronomical applications

泰国正在迅速建设其天文仪器开发能力。在过去十年中，泰国国家天文研究所在两个方面积极增加其工作人员：为泰国国家天文台提供天文仪器，以及通过泰国卫星联合体开发空间仪器和卫星(泰国国家天文研究所、暹罗光子实验室和地球信息学和空间技术开发机构)。TSC目前正在建造它的第一颗“泰国制造”卫星--这是一个重要的国家里程碑。然而，有一个限制限制了泰国在这些方面的自主进步：要获得创新技术，泰国必须依赖发达国家的硬件和相关支持，尤其是严重依赖传统、专业知识和专业设备的光学设计和制造。Narit希望消除这一障碍，并投资于未来泰国的光学制造能力，这将有助于推动泰国的经济和产业符合泰国4.0的经济模式。该项目提出了一项计划，提供知识交流和泰国-英国联合研究项目，以提高泰国学者和工程师在传统和附加光学制造方法方面的技能，以实现内部能力和在更广泛学科中的影响。该项目将使两项关键技术转移到泰国：-自由形式光学被确定为Narit研究重点；它们是新颖的、多功能的光学元件，没有旋转轴或对称性。它们越来越多地被用于开创性的光学设计，为光学设计师提供了大量的新机会。这些新型表面的出现与单点金刚石车削(SPDT)的发展非常同步。-金属添加制造(MAM)，当应用于光学制造，特别是自由曲面光学时，具有巨大的潜力。MAM是在金属中层层建造部件的过程，它是通常使用的低数量定制部件。MAM打印出近净形状，无需材料去除、成形或形状处理，这定义了传统制造。因此，将金属添加剂制造与光学自由形状制造相结合，在生产开创性的天文和空间仪器方面具有很大潜力。SPDT和MAM也有很大的潜力被分拆成商业企业，以刺激当地经济。

Thailand is quickly building its astronomical instrumentation development capacity. In the past decade, National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) has actively grown its workforce on two fronts: astronomical instrumentation for the Thai National Observatory (TNO) and space instrumentation and satellite development through the Thailand Satellite Consortium (TSC; NARIT, the Siam Photon Laboratory and the Geo-informatics and Space Technology Development Agency). TSC is currently building its first "made in Thailand" satellites - a major national milestone. However, one limitation restricts independent advancement on these fronts: to access innovative technologies, Thailand must rely on developed countries for hardware and associated support, and this is particularly true for optical design and manufacture, which depend heavily on heritage, expertise and specialised equipment. NARIT desires to remove this barrier and invest in a future Thailand optical manufacturing capability, which will help to drive Thailand's economy and industries in line with the Thailand 4.0 economic model. This project proposes a programme that provides both knowledge exchange and a joint Thai-UK research project, to upskill Thai academics and engineers in conventional and additive optical manufacturing methods, to enable internal capability and impact within wider disciplines.The project will enable the transfer of 2 key technologies to Thailand: - Freeform optics are identified as a NARIT research priority; they are novel, versatile optical elements with no axis of rotation or symmetry. Increasingly, they are used in pioneering optical designs offering abundant new opportunities for optical designers. The emergence of these new types of surfaces has been very much in pace with the development of Single Point Diamond Turning (SPDT).- Metal additive manufacturing (MAM), which has significant potential when applied to optical manufacturing and freeform optics in particular. MAM is the process of building a component layer-upon-layer in metal and it is commonly used low count bespoke parts. MAM prints a near-net shape without material removal, formers, or shape manipulation, which define conventional manufactureCombining Metal Additive Manufacturing with optical freeform manufacturing has, therefore, a lot of potential for the production of pioneering astronomical and space instrumentation. SPDT and MAM have also a strong potential to be spun out into business ventures to stimulate the local economy.