Thermal design and de-icing system for the Antarctic Telescope ICE-T

ICE-T, the International Concordia Explorer Telescope, is under final design by an international consortium led by the Astrophysical Institute Potsdam AIP, Germany, and is intended to be placed at the French-Italian Concordia Station on Dome C in Antarctica. Experience with smaller telescopes at Concordia has shown that under the weather conditions at this site - with mean outside temperatures of -60° to -80° C and temperature changes of 20° in short time intervals - the ice-accumulation on the optical components during observation is a major problem. Also, energy consumption at this site should be minimized because fuel transport to the site is very costly. The paper describes the thermal concept for the telescope where the waste energy of the instrument electronics is used for heating the front surfaces of the Schmidt optics. All other parts of the telescope are protected by an insulated smooth cladding against the harsh outside environment. The effectiveness of the thermal concept is verified by CFD (Computer Fluid Dynamics) calculations.