News

Travel Expense Reports Introduced to Reqless July 1

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Starting July 1, a new electronic Travel Expense Report (TER) system will be published as a part of the AURA Central Administrative Services (CAS) Reqless application. The new system will allow a traveler to select a specific travel request (TR) and generate a TER containing most of the required information. Actual expenses will be the only information the traveler will need to enter manually. Receipts can be scanned as a single document and attached electronically to the TER. CAS will continue accepting paper TERs through August 31, but as of September 1, all TERs must be submitted through the electronic system. See LSST's Travel page for instructions on how to use Reqless for both TRs and TERs.

Simulations Software Developer Michael Reuter Relocates to Tucson

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Michael Reuter, who has been working for LSST Project Systems Engineering since November, relocated to LSST headquarters in Tucson June 22. Michael is a Software Developer for LSST's Simulations efforts and reports to Systems Engineering Manager George Angeli. Working in close collaboration with the LSST Simulation Scientist and the Observatory Control System (OCS) team, Michael's primary responsibility is continuing improvements to the Operations Simulator. Prior to LSST, he worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he was a member of the Mantid Project, working on the development of data reduction algorithms. Michael's phone number, email address, and office number in the LSST wing of 950 N. Cherry Ave. can be found in the LSST Contacts Database.

Bedrock Deemed Sufficient to Support Concrete Remedy

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Following a detailed inspection by architectural and engineering firm Arcadis, the presence of bedrock sufficient to support a concrete remedy for the foundation of the summit facility support building has been confirmed. This applies specifically to the lower sections of the summit facility building; the telescope pier and dome lower enclosure regions were previously confirmed to be located in competent bedrock. During excavation, substantial amounts of fractured rock and clay materials were discovered in the area where the support building facilities will be constructed. These materials are insufficient for foundation support. LSST, Arcadis, and Besalco worked together to define a solution.

LSST Welcomes Second Summer Intern

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Rose Gibson, a junior studying astrophysics at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, will be working over the summer as an REU intern with LSST System Scientist Chuck Claver. Rose's project aims to develop predictive capabilities for contrail avoidance within the LSST scheduler. Aircraft and contrail avoidance is one of the short term aspects of the LSST's cadence optimization. Commercial aircraft emit a transponder signal on 1.090 Ghz called ADS-B. These digitally encoded signals provide information about the aircraft's altitude, speed, heading and positions and can be received readily using a small software defined receiver and a Raspberry Pi.

LSST Staff Continues to Grow

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Two new permanent team members and a summer intern have joined LSST in the past two weeks. Welcome Cathy Petry, Felipe Daruich and David Enciso. Learn more after the jump.

Completed M1M3 Successfully Moved to Storage

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Before dawn on May 19, the completed LSST primary/tertiary mirror (M1M3) was safely moved from the UA’s Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab (formerly SOML) to long-term secure storage at Tucson International Airport. Contractor Precision Heavy Haul executed the eight-mile, three-hour move under the supervision of LSST technical and safety personnel. The mirror move is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication from the LSST technical team, the mirror lab, and generous support from the LSST Corporation and private donors. In the photo, the flatbed carrying M1M3 in its shipping container backs into the hangar where the mirror will be stored.

SLAC Completes Camera Assembly Clean Room

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SLAC National Acceleratory Laboratory celebrated completion of the LSST camera assembly clean room on May 8. The clean room is necessary for assembly of the LSST camera because any dust settling on the image sensors would degrade the quality of the precision device. The air inside the new facility is about 1,000 times “cleaner” than ordinary air. The main 1,875 square feet work space has a ceiling height of 24 feet to allow the approximately 10-feet-long camera body to be mounted vertically for optical alignment and final testing.

K-T Lim Appointed DM Project Engineer

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K-T Lim has been appointed to the newly-created position of Data Management (DM) Project Engineer. He will be responsible for making sure the DM software is built properly, including its design, architecture, plans, and development processes. He will be the primary point of contact for any technical issues having to do with the DM subsystem. This position is at the same level as the DM Project Manager (Jeff Kantor) and DM Project Scientist (Mario Juric). K-T will continue to act as the DM System Architect, where he will be assisted by Tim Jenness, the recently-hired Deputy DM System Architect. This change in management structure will ensure that DM has strong leadership in all areas as the Construction Phase moves forward.

Telescope and Site Team Adds Optics Engineer

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Constanza Araujo joined LSST May 7 as the Telescope and Site Optics Engineer. Constanza will perform broad optical engineering analysis, provide technical support to the M2 Cell Assembly effort with Exelis, support the Calibration system design, and assist with development of integration and test procedures for initial telescope commissioning. She comes to LSST most recently from working at Gemini-South, where she was responsible for the multi-conjugate adaptive optics system, Flamingos-2, and the Acquisition and Guidance Unit. Constanza is based in Tucson; her office is in the LSST wing of 950 N. Cherry Avenue. Her room number, phone number and email address can be found in the LSST Contacts database. Welcome, Constanza.

Three Joined LSST Team April 20

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Three new staff members joined LSST Monday April 20, 2015. Dr. Sandrine Thomas joined LSST as Telescope and Site Project Scientist. Dr. Patrick Ingraham joined LSST as Calibration Hardware Scientist. Libby Petrick joined LSST as an Administrative Coordinator. All three have their offices in the LSST wing of the NOAO building.

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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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