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RSAA News of the Month: November 2003

GSAOI Gets the Go-Ahead and Manufacturing Returns to the Mountain

 

On October 27 and 28, an international team of Gemini Observatory instrument scientists and engineers met at Stromlo for the Critical Design Review (CDR) of the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI). The $6.3 million camera is being designed and manufactured by RSAA engineers and technicians for the Gemini South telescope in Chile. The contract was awarded to RSAA on Dec 2, 2002, following intense international competition.

Engineering drawing of GSAOI and image of the Gemini South telescope on Cerro Pachon, Chile

The CDR was the last hurdle for the design before construction could commence. Despite the January fires, RSAA was judged to be "on-time, efficient, and implementing new and valuable ideas in many areas". Only minor improvements were suggested by the assessment team, and the "Go-ahead" was given. Delivery to Gemini is planned for October 2005.

GSAOI is designed to produce images comparable to those produced by the Hubble Space Telescope. It uses a technique called adaptive optics to remove the blurring and movement that Earth's atmosphere adds to stellar images. The capabilities of GSAOI will make it one of the "bread and butter" instruments on Gemini South. For a series of short movies illustrating the huge benefit of adaptive optics, click here.

Having passed the CDR with flying colours, manufacture can now swing into high gear and the bulk of the manufacture can be done at Stromlo. Our temporary workshop, the "Barn", is almost complete and will be in use by the end of the month. The Barn is a temporary replacement for the machine shops lost in the fires and will be replaced by the planned Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre as the observatory is rebuilt. Building work on the Barn was completed in late September and the handover was celebrated with a barbecue.

The slab for the Barn was laid in early June. Framework went up in late June and July.

Cladding was complete by mid-August and internal fit-out followed. The building was handed over in late September.

Left: There was plenty of room for a barbecue.
Right: Some of the workshop staff, contractors and canine supervisors.

Machinery has been arriving during September and October and is being connected to power and commissioned. Deliveries so far have included a state-of-the-art CNC (Computer Numerical Controlled) mill, manual and CNC lathes and several power saws. The old welding equipment survived the fires and has been salvaged. The welding bay was one of the few sections of the workshops not totally destroyed. Delivery of machinery is expected to be complete by the end of November.

Machinery began arriving in late September. Delivery should be complete in November.

Left: Dave, John, James and Rob installing a CNC lathe.
Right: The temporary technology complex. Barn, Long Bay and Pentridge

Since the fires, our workshop staff have been working in borrowed space in the shops of the ANU's Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, and the Australian Defence Force Academy. Three of them (John De Smet, James Bowman and Rob Cappuccio) are now back on Stromlo installing and commissioning the new machinery. The others (Ross Tranter, Bob Miles and Helmut Gebauer) will return to site in late November. All of the Stromlo staff will then be home on the mountain.

For more images of Barn construction and machinery, click here.

Many of the images were taken with Stromlo's new Nikon digital cameras, donated by Maxwell Optical Industries as their sponsorship of our rebuilding program.

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