Blogs

Dear Colleagues:

I am delighted to announce that Dr. Amanda Bauer has agreed to take on the role of Interim Deputy Director for LSST Operations, effective immediately.

Amanda has been Head of Education and Public Outreach (EPO) for the LSST Construction project since 2017. As a member of the LSST management team she has demonstrated leadership, ability to organize and build teams, and deliver on project milestones. This fiscal year she will help to support (among other things) the key activity of delivering a successful LSST full survey operations proposal (to be submitted to a joint agency review in April, 2020).

Amanda is committing 25% of her time to this new role while maintaining her focus on the LSST EPO Project effort.

November 26, 2019 - Earlier this month, three cranes curved around and over the dome of the LSST observatory on Cerro Pachón, creating a scene that looked like a battle in a sci-fi fantasy movie. The largest of these cranes—a Liebherr LTM 1500-8.1 mobile crane to be exact—is a brand new arrival to the summit. This huge crane has a capacity of 500 metric tons (500T) and when extended it can easily reach twice the height of the LSST Dome!

Earlier this year a new funding model for LSST operations was announced. Since then the team has been working hard to flesh out the details of the model. Part of that work was to set up a process to get proposals from current International Memorandum of Agreements (MOA) holders. We're please to announce that this process is now being kicked off!

Timeline

September 24, 2019 - The LSST Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA), which was built in Spain and shipped to Chile in August, 2019, has now successfully reached the summit. The enormous structure was disassembled into 26 pieces for transport, and each piece was wrapped in sturdy vinyl to protect it during shipping. The ship carrying the TMA cargo arrived in Coquimbo on September 7th and unloading began the same day—some pieces were placed on the dock, and a few were loaded directly onto the transport vehicles that would carry them to Cerro Pachón.

August 26, 2019 - More than 300 participants attended this year's LSST Project and Community Workshop, an annual meeting that brings together LSST Project staff, affiliates, and members of the science community to celebrate successes, report progress, and discuss upcoming challenges. This year’s meeting, held August 12-16 at the Hilton El Conquistador resort in Tucson, AZ, also offered ample opportunities for participants to interact outside of formal sessions, with early-morning soccer matches and board game nights bookending each day of the meeting.

August 20, 2019 - The LSST Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA), one of the last large components of the telescope to be shipped to Chile this year (the LSST Camera will be shipped in 2020), set sail from Spain at the end of July aboard a vessel named Lisa Auerbach.