International. Axalta Coating Systems again produced a special coating for the effelsberg, Germany, radio telescope, one of the largest steerable radio telescopes in the world, and one of the most powerful for shortwave radiation.
The Effelsberg telescope is used to observe clusters of cold gas and dust, star formations, pulsars, jets of matter emitted by black holes, and the cores of distant galaxies. It is also used as part of a worldwide network of radio telescopes to make astronomical observations at the highest resolutions.
Axalta helps protect the telescope from weathering and UV rays with a polyvinyl matte white coating called PercoTop ® CS551 Foliflex that is specially formulated, tailored to the coverage and has been applied to the telescope approximately every 18 years since it began operating in 1972.
Painting the telescope requires a minimum of six specially trained painters for several weeks. "With an area of 5,400m2 and 1,500 individual panels, the part of the antenna that needs to be painted is immense," says Klaus Bruns of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, responsible for the technical maintenance of the Effelsberg telescope.
"It is important that we can keep the delicate aluminium substrate of the reflectors at a uniform surface temperature to obtain accurate measurements with the telescope. Therefore, having a paint that protects aluminum from deformations, weathering, bird droppings and ultraviolet radiation is absolutely essential," Bruns added.
