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About

Tony Travouillon is a leading figure in Antarctic and robotic astronomy, whose work has pushed the boundaries of where and how we can observe the universe. His primary research focuses on developing fully autonomous observatories for the most extreme environments on Earth, particularly the Antarctic plateau. Travouillon was instrumental in the PLATO project, a self-contained robotic observatory deployed to Dome A that generates its own power and heat, surviving temperatures of -70°C. This system, which has garnered over 12 citations for its core design, enabled the CSTAR telescope array to produce the first point-source catalog from the highest point on the plateau (40 citations). His expertise also extends to site testing for the Thirty Meter Telescope, where he helped develop the robotic instrumentation suite used to characterize candidate locations. More recently, Travouillon is working on Pyxis, a ground-based demonstrator for formation-flying optical interferometry, a technology critical for future space missions seeking to directly image Earth-like exoplanets. Through his work, Travouillon has proven that high-impact, robotic astronomy is possible even in the most inhospitable corners of our planet.