Welcome to the October 2013 issue of LSST E-News - and the new fiscal year! The LSST Project Office has taken steps to avoid any disruption of regular activities and remains focused on preparation for our Final Design Review (FDR). FDR preparation and increased international collaborations are featured in this quarter’s E-News stories.

Director's Message

Well, I have been on the job for two and a half months now, and I must say that I have found being LSST Director to be an exciting, challenging, and somewhat exhausting position!

Our team is hard at work preparing for our Final Design Review (FDR), which is scheduled for the week of October 21. We held a week-long Joint Technical Meeting in Tucson in mid-August, at which we ironed out a host of residual technical interface issues, and refined our strategy for the presentations we will make at FDR. This was a very enjoyable and productive meeting, bringing together all of the key technical personnel who are engaged in the various aspects of the LSST design and development. Despite the +100°F temperatures, we all had a great time. Read more...

Joint Technical Meeting

More than 80 LSST team members attended the Joint Technical Meeting (JTM) August 12-15 at the Omni Tucson National Resort. The workshop brought together the distributed team of managers, scientists, engineers, and administrative staff who contribute to the programmatic, design, and technical work of the LSST Project. In particular, the team tackled remaining issues to be resolved in interfaces and the integrated project schedule in preparation for the National Science Foundation Final Design Review (FDR) scheduled for October 21-25 in Tucson. The agenda also included external reviews of Image Simulation and the LSST Safety Program later in the week. At left, the team poses for a group photo at the edge of the Omni golf course on Tuesday afternoon. Read more...

LSST@Europe

The Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, UK was the site of a recent conference, LSST@EUROPE, that brought together US and European scientists for four days of talks and discussions to foster international collaboration. LSST Project Scientist Zeljko Ivezic chaired the Science Organizing Committee and attended the conference with several colleagues. Read more...

Sandra Ortiz – Stellar Administrative Assistant, Warrior

Administrative Assistant Sandra Ortiz joined the LSST Project Office (LSSTPO) July 1, 2013. Sandra is responsible for the majority of daily office administration tasks such as logistics, coordinating project-wide travel, managing calendars, and organizing meeting arrangements. She comes to LSST after several years working as the Assistant to the Vice President for the Muscular Dystrophy Association National Headquarters in Tucson. Motivated by helping others, Sandra’s goal is to create a positive impression of the project for everyone involved by anticipating needs and making processes as transparent to the user as possible.

“Having others enjoy their experience means I’ve done a good job,” Sandra said. Read more...

LSST Review Season

The sign on Data Management Subsystem Project Manager Jeff Kantor’s door says it all. In preparation for the NSF Final Design Review scheduled for later this month, LSST has conducted 21 formal external reviews of its program policies or component parts in the 2013 calendar year. Some of the elements that have been reviewed are photometric calibration, image simulation, database architecture, risk management processes, the project safety program, and the active optics system. Read more...

LSST Mirror Status - Thinking Outside/Inside the Box

The unique LSST primary/tertiary (M1/M3) mirror surfaces are nearing perfection. Both mirror surfaces are being carefully polished and optically tested at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory Mirror Lab with completion anticipated by March 2014. Testing has transitioned from the realm of mechanical measurement to optical measurement as the remaining deviations from the mirror’s perfect smooth shape are now on the scale of nanometers instead of microns. (For reference, a human hair is ~50 microns. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, the size of a virus or wavelength of optical light.) After completion, the polished M1/M3 will be stored in Tucson until the telescope cell has been fabricated to enable final integrated testing before shipment to the summit in Chile. CAID Industries in Tucson has completing fabrication of a specialized storage/transport container for safe and secure transport of M1/M3. The outer frame and cover of the 9-meter x 9-meter metal box is shown in the right half of the above photograph.

Secondary Mirror Optical Fabrication Contract Awarded

ITT Exelis has been awarded the optical fabrication contract for LSST’s 3.5m secondary mirror assembly. The two-phase contract was awarded by AURA on behalf of the LSST project. The first phase supports vendor-specific engineering design activities targeted at risk reduction. The second phase includes the optical fabrication, testing, and integration of the finished mirror into the LSST-supplied M2 cell assembly.

Exelis is a global aerospace, defense, information and technical services company headquartered in McLean, Virginia. The company leverages a 50-year legacy of customer knowledge and technical expertise to deliver affordable, mission-critical solutions to U.S. and international customers.

In a press release July 10, Exelis’ Director of Universe Exploration programs, Gary Matthews said, “Our risk reduction work will ensure that scientists receive high-quality images to support their research. We will verify that the optical metrology plan will provide an accurate and repeatable measurement. In turn, this will confirm that the quality of the secondary mirror during processing and mounting meets LSST specifications.”