The Wide field Infrared Kuiper belt and Exoplanet Explorer Telescope[WIKEE]

With the advent of large scale survey telescopes, a cost effective followup system is apparent. Solely with the advent of the Vera C. Ruben observatory, the number of transients expected per night are on the order of 10^7. On any given night there may be as many as 10,000 every two minutes. Having a system that specializes in fast response followup observations is crucial. The Wide field infrared Kuiper belt and Exoplanet explorer telescope is being designed to fulfill the role of remote, low response time followup observation.

So far the work has produced an 80mm prototype and advancements such as the development of a direct axial flux high resolution motor (DAFR) and, potential 3-D printable mounts. This 80mm testbed will be able to provide critical information about the DAFR system more specifically how it will perform under a wide variety of conditions, pointing errors, mechanical failure points, and internally generated vibrations. When the prototype is complete it will provide a background for the sensitivity of near infrared imaging in the 0.7-2.1 micron band.

Work on the final 0.7 meter optical system design has shown that to satisfy the requirements of both being high resolution and wide field by using a thin removable meniscus corrector lens. When the system is being run under the subsecond wide field configuration, the thin lens would change the available flat area from 40 square arcminutes to 4 square degrees.