Company: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation

Industry: Astronomy and Space Exploration

Company Overview: Situated atop Maunkea in Hawaii, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) is a world-class astronomical observatory. CFHT’s cutting-edge facility serves as a collaborative venture between Canada, France, and the University of Hawaii, driving scientific breakthroughs in space research and advancing our understanding of the universe.

The Challenge

The Challange

Modernizing the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) and designing the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) presented significant hurdles in terms of efficiency and collaboration. The team’s outdated CAD system was slow, reliant on bulky workstations, and ill-suited for the dynamic workflows required to travel between offices and the telescope’s summit location. Accessing legacy data and creating precise 3D designs for new instruments further slowed progress. Without a faster, more powerful design solution, these obstacles risked delaying the project and complicating vendor collaboration.

Accessibility: Limited access to fast, powerful CAD tools hampered productivity and flexibility, especially when working between office locations and the observatory on the summit.
Legacy Data: Retrieving and referencing physical observatory drawings added unnecessary delays.
Vendor Collaboration: Nearly all their manufacturing partners were highly experienced with SOLIDWORKS, which led to inefficiencies in file sharing and communication when using the CFHT’s previous CAD system.
Performance: Outdated tools lacked the speed and capabilities needed for quickly designing or modifying advanced telescope instruments.

The Solution

To address its challenges, CFHT implemented SOLIDWORKS Research Edition to enhance design workflows, improve collaboration, and support the development of the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer. This transition empowered the team to work more efficiently and align their tools with industry standards.

Streamlined Design Workflows: SOLIDWORKS Research Edition provided faster, more powerful design capabilities, enabling CFHT teams to accelerate design cycles and simplify updates to existing models.
Seamless Collaboration: By adopting a solution compatible with their vendors’ tools, CFHT eliminated file-sharing inefficiencies and improved communication with manufacturing partners.
Improved Accessibility: The flexibility of SOLIDWORKS allowed the team to work effectively across locations, from their offices to the telescope summit, while easily accessing and integrating legacy data.

This implementation ensured that CFHT could modernize its operations and advance its groundbreaking astronomical research initiatives.

“Whether I’m opening an existing 3D model or drawing and extruding a sketch, SOLIDWORKS allows me to work faster and smarter. With fully dimensioned, intelligent SOLIDWORKS models, I can open a design for something that already exists, make some changes—such as taking existing structural steel beams out and putting new beams in—and complete the project more quickly and easily.” — Greg Green, Instrument Designer/Machinist

The Result

Cut development cycles in half
Realized increased compatibility with vendors and partners
Expanded CAD usage to observatory itself
Improved design visualization

By leveraging the SOLIDWORKS Research Edition, CFHT enhanced its ability to design and build cutting-edge instruments while optimizing resources. These advancements have helped the observatory remain at the forefront of astronomical exploration, supporting groundbreaking discoveries and inspiring the next generation of researchers.

Final Thoughts

The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope’s journey demonstrates the impact of tailored engineering tools like SOLIDWORKS Research Edition in overcoming complex design challenges. With these powerful tools, CFHT continues to lead the way in space observation and exploration, delivering precision and innovation to the scientific community.

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