Blogs

March 10, 2017 – The annual LSST Joint Technical Meeting (JTM) took place in Glendale, CA this week, with 174 in attendance, the largest number of participants yet.  This gave the team a chance to review accomplishments and, more importantly, work face-to-face across the distributed project on current challenges.  Project Manager Victor Krabbendam reported that the DOE-funded Camera is 57% complete and the NSF-funded elements of LSST are 36% complete.  The project “earns” about $7.5 million per month of work completed, and has a current earned value of $225million.  The 13-month schedule contingency remains intact. 

March 3, 2017 - Version 1.0 of the Observatory Control System (OCS) Scheduler has been released by the LSST Telescope & Site team to the Systems Engineering Simulations team. This important milestone marks the first version of the Scheduler that has all the functionality necessary to implement the five science proposals in the current survey baseline: Wide Fast Deep, North Ecliptic Spur, South Celestial Pole, Galactic Plane, and Deep Drilling. The software will now be validated through a series of simulated surveys and analysis, while the development continues to incorporate the remaining features described in the requirements and construction plan.

February 17, 2017 - New drone images from the summit of Cerro Pachón show the rapid progress of LSST construction. You can see the circular lower enclosure with the telescope pier inside, the elevator shaft, and the (long rectangular) service building. The third image shows white siding going up on the lower enclosure and progress on the foundation for the Auxiliary Telescope. Inside the facilities building windows are appearing, drywall is going up and cable trays are being installed. The summit team has one month to get ready for the start of Dome installation.

February 10, 2017 - Members of the Telescope & Site (T&S) group were in Italy this week, reviewing progress with EIE on the Dome. The Dome azimuth rail has already shipped from Italy and is due in Chile February 25th. The azimuth bogies and ring beam will be boxed and shipped to Chile starting in mid-February, arriving in Chile in early April.  T&S Project Manager Bill Gressler sends this report:

February 3, 2017 – Construction is progressing quickly on Cerro Pachón, not only on the main LSST Facility Building but also on the concrete foundation for the Auxiliary Telescope.  This 1.2-meter telescope will measure atmospheric conditions at the site and provide information necessary to calibrate the LSST data throughout the survey.  [Read More …]

January 20, 2017 - Congratulations to Maria Patterson, a Research Scientist at the University of Washington’s Department of Astronomy working in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) Data Management Science Pipelines group.  Maria is a runner-up in the “Search for Hidden Figures Contest", a contest sponsored by PepsiCo and 21st Century Fox, to find the next generation of women who will lead the way in STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.   From a total of 7,000 applicants, two grand prize winners and 10 runners-up were selected.

January 13, 2017 – During LSST operations, data will flow from the summit of Cerro Pachón, beginning with the data acquisition interface between camera and telescope subsystems, through to the data products accessed by end users.  To facilitate the first step of this journey, installation of the dedicated fiber-optic cable from the summit to base facility is well underway.  The cable goes from Cerro Pachon to the AURA gatehouse on the telescope site, across and down highway 41 to La Serena, then in town to the LSST Base Facility on the AURA Recinto.

January 5, 2016 – LSST is one of about 75 exhibitors and 2500 attendees at AAS 229 in Grapevine, TX, this week.  At last night’s LSST Town Hall, Beth Willman, Pat Eliason, and Lucianne Walkowicz spoke to the crowd of ~160 about the LSST Project, Corporation, and Science Collaboration activities.  At the LSST booth, we’re promoting LSST’s construction activities and hiring campaign, as well as interacting with the crowd and providing general information about LSST.  You can follow #aas229 on twitter for a real-time window into activities, until the meeting concludes on Saturday.

Dear Colleagues, we at LSST wish you a happy, healthy, and peaceful holiday season.  Best wishes for the New Year!  The LSST Project Office will be closed for holidays on December 26 & 27, 2016, and January 2 & 3, 2017.  The Weekly Digest will not be distributed on December 23, 30, or January 6, picking up again Friday, January 13th, 2017, after the AAS Meeting.

December 16, 2016– AURA’s Workforce and Diversity Committee (WDC) met in Tucson last week, bringing together Human Resources representatives, external experts, and the Diversity Advocates at each of the five AURA center: Gemini, LSST, NOAO, NSO, and STScI.  The committee works on issues related to building and maintaining a “fully diverse workforce where individuals feel genuinely empowered to bring their diverse perspectives into the ongoing creation of ideas and approaches.” 

LSST reported on three goals previously identified as valuable to the LSST Project and benefitting from expertise within the WDC: