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Fiber Optic Data Links Agreements

Friday, February 5, 2016
Telefonica (Chile) workers laying the fiber optics cable from the Vicuna to Ovalle en route to Santiago. LSST will use this fiber to connect La Serena and Santiago at 100 Gbps..

In Chile, dedicated fiber-optic lines will connect the Cerro Pachón summit and base site in La Serena, but additional networks are required to provide 100Gbs connectivity LSST requires from La Serena to Santiago and onwards to the USA. As part of a larger effort to improve network redundancy and connectivity, the National University Network (REUNA) is leveraging an initiative by the three major telecommunications providers in Chile to provide fiber-optic links up the Elqui Valley, which adjoins the AURA property on which LSST is being built. Two contracts were signed this week to install the network fiber optic cables; REUNA will provide connectivity from La Serena to the gate at the boundary of the AURA observatory property, and Telefonica will provide required redundant high speed connectivity from the gate to the summit on Cerro Pachón.

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.   




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