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LSST E-News

LSST E-News

October 2011  •  Volume 4 Number 3

Project Manager’s Corner

The NSF Preliminary Design Review Committee visits the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab to inspect the LSST Primary Mirror

The Division of Astronomical Sciences (AST) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) convened a Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) project August 29 through September 2, 2011 in Tucson, Arizona. The review, the most significant the project has undergone so far, was in response to submission of the LSST Construction Proposal to the NSF. Although the PDR focused on project management and the project’s NSF-funded design work, the 12-member panel spent nearly five days reviewing every aspect of the project in great detail, including both the privately funded work on the major optics and the design of the camera, which is funded separately by the Department of Energy (DOE).

The scientific case for LSST was not the focus of the review; that was taken as a given because the project had already received the number one endorsement for a new ground-based facility from the Decadal Survey. However, reference was made throughout the PDR to the tremendous community support of the project through the science collaborations, as well as all the exciting scientific opportunities described in the Science Book.

A short plenary session was followed by a total of 12 extensive breakout sessions led by senior project managers, covering the telescope & site, camera, data management, education and public outreach, project management, systems engineering and simulations, and operations and commissioning. The team was well prepared, due in large part to a Board of Directors’ non-advocate review held a few weeks earlier to assess readiness for PDR.

The PDR panel concluded that the LSST project met the requirements for PDR. In particular, the Panel reported that it was “very impressed by the strength of the project team” and that “the design is well advanced and the Panel had no design related issues.” The Panel also found that the project is using appropriate management techniques and that the schedule, budget, and contingencies are reasonable.

At a verbal debriefing on the meeting’s final day, the PDR review committee used words like “great progress” and “great review” in their assessment of the LSST. The PDR panel has since completed its 45-page Panel Report containing 36 specific recommendations to assist the project team as they complete the Design and Development phase and make the transition into construction. These recommendations will be very helpful as we plan the final years of design and development. Even though the PDR was completed successfully, the path is far from over. Immediately, the construction proposal must be resubmitted to reflect the LSST construction project’s new status as an AURA Center. Then a proposal will be submitted to take us from FY13 (when current funding expires) through construction start. Of course, with the budget situation as it is in Washington, DC, the date of construction start still eludes us. An excellent article describing the squeeze on construction of large facilities through the NSF appeared in Science VOL 333 9 SEPTEMBER 2011. Taking the stance of planning for success, the LSST team remains hard at work on those things within its control.

LSST Project Team, as rendered by E. Acosta, 2011

Article written by S. Jacoby and D. Sweeney

 

LSST is a public-private partnership. Funding for design and development activity comes from the National Science Foundation, private donations, grants to universities, and in-kind support at Department of Energy laboratories and other LSSTC Institutional Members:

Adler Planetarium; Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL); California Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon University; Chile; Cornell University; Drexel University; Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; George Mason University; Google, Inc.; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Institut de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (IN2P3); Johns Hopkins University; Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) – Stanford University; Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Inc.; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); National Optical Astronomy Observatory; Princeton University; Purdue University; Research Corporation for Science Advancement; Rutgers University; SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; Space Telescope Science Institute; Texas A & M University; The Pennsylvania State University; The University of Arizona; University of California at Davis; University of California at Irvine; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of Michigan; University of Pennsylvania; University of Pittsburgh; University of Washington; Vanderbilt University

LSST E-News Team:

  • Suzanne Jacoby (Editor-in-Chief)
  • Anna Spitz (Writer at Large)
  • Mark Newhouse (Design & Production: Web)
  • Emily Acosta (Design & Production: PDF/Print)
  • Sidney Wolff (Editorial Consultant)
  • Additional contributors as noted

LSST E-News is a free email publication of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Project. It is for informational purposes only, and the information is subject to change without notice.

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Copyright © 2011 LSST Corp., Tucson, AZ • www.lsst.org

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