The first set of 24 custom electronics units built by the Telescope & Site group is complete. Inner Loop Controllers (ILC) are components which measure and control forces with the mirror actuators, shaping the mirror to preserve its precise curvature at different sky positions. This first shipment of ILC units will be integrated with the LSST secondary mirror cell at Harris Corporation, in Rochester, NY.
The secondary mirror has a total of 72 ILCs configured for controlling the axial actuators, an additional 6 ILCs configured for controlling the tangent links, and 6 more ILCs configured for sensor data acquisition (elevation angle, displacement, and temperature).
The primary-tertiary mirror, M1M3, will be equipped with more than 250 ICLs - 6 configured for controlling the hardpoints, 160 configured for controlling the force actuators, and an additional 95 configured for thermal control of the mirror.
The ILCs are color coded depending on the application for quick identification: gold for the M2 axial actuators, black for the M2 tangent link and sensors, blue for the M1M3 hardpoints, green for the M1M3 force actuators, and red for the M1M3 thermal control.
These LSST ILCs incorporate all the latest and greatest technology, in particular the instrumentation circuitry and low power components, setting a new Gold (and Black, Blue, Green, and Red) Standard!
Financial support for Rubin Observatory comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Cooperative Support Agreement No. 1202910, the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515, and private funding raised by the LSST Corporation. The NSF-funded Rubin Observatory Project Office for construction was established as an operating center under management of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). The DOE-funded effort to build the the Rubin Observatory LSST Camera (LSSTCam) is managed by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC).
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an
independent federal agency created by Congress
in 1950 to promote the progress of science. NSF supports basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future.
NSF and DOE will continue to support Rubin Observatory in its Operations phase. They will also provide support for scientific research with LSST data.
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