kgs for detection and characterization of the atmospheric cherenkov events forms the focal plane instrumentation of the telescope the elevation over azimuth mounted telescope basket structure has two axes movement capability of 270 in azimuth and 26 to 165 in elevation for pointing towards any source in the sky and tracking it the telescope which weighs about 180 tons is supported on six wheels which move on a 27m diameter track the telescope has an integrated imaging camera which contains 1088 photo multiplier based pixels and all the signal processing and data acquisition electronics the camera communicates the acquired data to the computer system in the control room over optical fiber the main features of the telescope include safe and secure operation of the telescope remotely from anywhere in the world and its structure is designed to operate in winds of speed up to 30 kmph and retain its structural integrity in the parking position in winds of speed up to 150 kmph the prime responsibility of detailed design manufacturing installation and commissioning of the telescope has been entrusted by bhabha atomic research centre to ecil who has done pioneering work in the field of large structures like the 32m idsn antenna for countrys 1st lunar mission chandrayaan1 more than 25 engineers are involved from ecil in realizing the telescope over a period of four years astrophysical sciences division centre for design and manufacture electronics division reactor control division and reactor safety division of barc have made major contributions to the development of various subsystems of the mace telescope indian institute of astrophysics bangalore and tata institute of fundamental research mumbai are also associated with the project the manufacturing of the structural elements of the telescope has been completed and the proof assembly of the mechanical structure along with the drive servo system has been completed at ecil hyderabad to assess the functionality of the telescope the mechanical structure of the telescope will be shifted to hanle by august 2014 and assembly work will start there by september 2014 the circular track wheel assemblies and the major portion of the supporting structure will be assembled at hanle by november 2014 the remaining assembly will be completed during the summer of 2015 the imaging camera will be integrated to the telescope in october 2015 and the telescope will see first light in the form of gammaray emissions from the crab nebula which is a standard calibration source in the northern hemisphere in december 2015 the telescope control room building guest house battery storage building and the solar power array with a battery bank to support two sunless days has been set up at hanle earlier similar telescopes of such huge size have been realized by consortium effort of developed nations from europe usa however mace telescope has been designed and realized from concept to commissioning with indigenous technology by ecil with the support of barc major private firms also have also contributed immensely to realize subsystems like wheel