Blogs

January 22, 2018 - To ensure optimal performance of the LSST telescope, a regular cleaning schedule of its mirrors will be implemented during operations. Weekly, the Primary/Tertiary Mirror (M1M3) and Secondary Mirror (M2) surfaces will be cleaned by spraying the surfaces with a carbon dioxide (CO₂) “snow” which removes dust particles and other contaminants. Approximately every six months, M1M3 will be cleaned with neutral soap and water using very soft chamois mops, followed by de-ionized water rinsing and drying using small air knives around the mirror cell. Both of these cleaning procedures take place without removing the mirrors from the telescope, and are completed within one summit working day. Neither the CO₂ nor wet contact wash will impact the nightly observing schedule.

In addition to these preventative maintenance activities, the mirrors will be stripped of their reflective coatings, washed, and recoated every few years. We anticipate the M1M3 (coated with aluminium) will be cleaned and recoated every 2 years, and the M2 (coated with protective silver) every 5 years. Reflectance monitoring will allow us to predict when this more time-intensive work is necessary, and it will likely be coordinated with other scheduled downtime.

The washing station, which provides for pristine optical surfaces before coatings are deposited, is a deliverable part of the coating plant contract. A Provisional Acceptance Test of the washing chamber will take place later this month at the Von Ardenne facilities in Dresden, Germany. The review includes observation of the washing boom, seen in this 30-second video provided by LSST Coating Chamber Engineer Tomislav Vicuna. This special machinery will remove the old mirror coating and wash the mirror prior to moving it into the coating chamber for recoating.

A related story about the LSST coating chamber, from March, 2017, can be found here.

LSST Assembly Integration Verification (AIV) Manager Jacques Sebag submitted this spectacular drone footage of the LSST facility, taken on December 28. The video was taken after the LSST team collaborated with subcontractor Besalco to move the facility mobile roof to the flat area located on the north side of the lower enclosure. Congratulations to all for this achievement at the end of 2017!

See the full video or download

Season's Greetings from LSST

LSST wishes you health, happiness,
and success in the New Year!

LSST Town Hall
Wednesday, January 10, 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm, Potomac D

NCOA Town Hall
Thursday, January 11, 12:45 pm – 2:00 pm, Potomac C 

Career Networking & Job Fair
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm, Maryland Ballroom A&B, Tuesday, January 9th

LSST Booth #809
Part of the NSF Pavillion.

AAS Hack Together Day
10:00 am – 7:00 pm, National Harbor 13, on Friday, January 12th.

November 12, 2017 - LSST’s fiber-optic network, which will provide the necessary 100Gbps connectivity to move data from the summit of Cerro Pachón to all LSST operational sites and to multiple data centers, came one milestone closer to activation last week; the AURA LSST Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) Network Equipment that LSST will use initially was installed in several key locations. DWDM equipment sends pulses of light down the fiber to transmit data, therefore a DWDM box is needed at each end of a fiber network in order for the network to be operational. In this installation project, the Summit-Base Network DWDM equipment was set up in the La Serena computer room and in the communications hut on the summit of Cerro Pachón.

November 9, 2017 - At CAID Industries in Tucson, the Surrogate Mirror has now been mounted to the Primary/Tertiary Mirror (M1M3) Cell. This is a significant milestone for both the Surrogate Mirror and for the M1M3 Cell, allowing the start of the next phase of integration: installing the figure actuators.