(updated 10 October 2024)
The Project schedule forecast moved out more than a month during this period. While good progress was made in many technical systems, activity progressed more slowly than scheduled. M1M3 (Primary-Tertiary Mirror) work was particularly complicated by unexpected actuator damage that needed repairs, inquiries as to the cause of the damage, the quantities of parts to be installed, limited physical access and limited trained personnel to complete the work. The Project continues to plan for Commissioning Camera (ComCam) on-sky testing.
The extra time this month also puts the integration steps at odds with the September holiday week in Chile; so, activities have been adjusted to put necessary realism into the current development timeline and to stage the activities to synchronize with the staffing schedules. The revised schedule forecast also recognizes the most efficient state of integration for the year-end holidays and related staff availability; so, the updated forecast is expected to be resilient as the Project works toward the ultimate goal of getting LSSTCamera on the telescope early in the new year
Project earned value toward the MREFC effort increased by $5.7 million this month to a calculated $522.8 million. The cost variance changed by $1 million this month to -$5.7 million, and the cost performance index held at 0.99. The schedule variance changed by $2.9 million to -$5.2 million, which equates to a schedule performance index of 0.99. One project controls change request (LCR) was implemented this month requesting $126,858 from contingency. As of the end of the month, the project has allocated 87% of the total contingency to the baseline through the change control process. The remaining contingency of $11.5 million is 22% of(TPCII[1] -BAC[2]-CV)/(EACII[3]-ACWP[4])
(ETC = Estimate to completion, BAC = Budget at completion, BCWP = Budgeted cost of work performed).
The following list of milestones dates were extracted from the project control system at the end of the August 2024 accounting peiod.
As of the last update of this page the following milestones have been completed as communicated on social media:
A visual of the below list can be found here.
The table shows forecast dates, i.e., the Project’s current best estimate. There is, in addition, schedule contingency that is not included in those dates, amounting to about 6 weeks at present. It is likely that the Project will use most or all of that schedule contingency.
The schedule for science data is best estimated relative to the System First Light Milestone. The Operations Team, in consultation with the Rubin Construction Project, currently anticipate the following:
Updated August 31, 2024
Financial support for Rubin Observatory comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Cooperative Agreement No. 1258333, 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 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.
Contact | We are Hiring
