TSU 2-m AUTOMATIC SPECTROSCOPIC TELESCOPE PROJECT


                          Monthly Report for June, 2000


     This monthly report for the TSU 2-m AST project, now liberated from the 
hubris of NASA Code S, covers the calendar month of June, 2000.  The first part 
of the report (I) discusses what we did with the expected highlights identified 
in last month's report; the second section (II--VII) covers the status of various 
tasks in the schedule; and a third part (VIII) gives  highlights for July.  During 
June, 2000, we continued to have one part-time employee (Mike Williamson) working 
at TSU on the telescope program, in computer programming and electronic 
instrumentation, in addition to M. Krebs and M. Wells, who provide machining work 
at their private shops.  Allen Keel continued doing projects related to the control 
system as a summer student.


                          I. HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE PAST MONTH

     During June, 2000, we said we expected to do the following things [with steps 
taken then in brackets]:  (1) to transport the telescope to Arizona, [We loaded the 
telescope onto two flatbed trucks from sierrita Mining on 7 June and unloaded it at 
Fairborn Observatory on 12 June.  Eaton, Williamson, Boyd, and various contract 
workers from Sierrita spent the next seven days assembling the telescope and 
conducting preliminary tests on it.  The telescope suffered essentially no damage 
in transit, the only damage being water damage from the month NASA delayed shipment.
The telescope was performing all the tasks it had in the assembly building in 
Nashville, at least as well.]  (2) to continue writing the telescope control software, 
specifically preparing it for supporting Tasks 172, 175, and 177,  [Williamson has 
continued writing these programs and they will be ready to use for our next trip 
to work on the telescope in July.]  (3) to arrange with Bob Leach for actual 
delivery of the CCD dewar and controller (Tasks 145-150), [Delivery has been delayed 
by a misunderstanding about what CCD we actually have, but it is expected for July.]
(4) to finish the paperwork for procuring the material and services for constructing 
the camera for the spectrograph, [Busby iand Epps have made significant progress on 
these tasks, with sole-source contracts for the calcium-fluoride and glass lens 
blanks and for the cell design, with a contract for the lens generation (polishing) 
and with bidding for lens coating.]  (5) to finish contracting with Jeff Hall to 
write the data reduction and handling system.  [This task is finished.]


                                 II. ENCLOSURES

     Boyd has wired up the enclosures and finished the building control enough that 
we can run the top with a hand controller and the front door with a push-button 
pneumatic switch.  These properties were quite adequate for assembling the telescope 
and will be sufficient for the first round of testing the telescope in the two or 
three months to come.   He has done almost all of the routing of electrical cables in 
the main telescope enclosures, including installing work lights, but has deferred 
wiring the control buildings until they are modified and insulated by Sierrita. We 
have finished discussions with Sierrita Mining about how to modify those two buildings 
for the spectrograph and control room and expect to finish that work this summer.



                           V. SET TELESCOPE UP AT SITE

     We accomplished this task over the seven days, June 13-19, 2000.


                               VI. CONTROL SYSTEM

    Williamson ran the computer under its control system during setup in Arizona, 
which worked, but detailed tests of the controls must wait until our trip to the 
observatory in July.

                               VII. SPECTROGRAPH CAMERA

     Having contracted with Harland Epps to oversee development of the spectrograph 
camera, we have continued procuring the parts and services for it with his help 
and supervision.  Busby has spearheaded this effort.  Using the bidding documents 
Epps drew up, we have established contracts for obtaining materials for the lenses 
(CaF2 and optical glass blanksr), which are proceeding, for design of the cell to 
hold the lenses, and for grinding and polishing the lenses.  The contract for coating 
the lenses to minimize is being rebid but is expected to be resolved by the end of 
the month.  

Task 208-210: Mark Wells has made significant progress on manufacturing these mounts 
and expects to have most of the initial work on them done by the end of July.  We have 
had Marlyn Krebs make some of the smaller parts in Nashville, and these are finished.
We still have to produce shop drawings for the device to position the fibers at 
the focus of the collimator.


                           VIII. HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE NEXT MONTH

During July, 2000, we expect to begin detailed testing of the telescope and its control 
system on site in Arizona, specifically (1) to colimate the primary mirror and achieve 
first light with it, (2) to obtain images of the north star sufficient to begin testing 
the optical figure of the primary mirror and assess how well its supports work, (3) to 
find stars with the evolving control system and perform the first tracking tests with 
the telescope, (4) to assess the degree to which the telescope mount deviates from 
alignment in terms of perpendicularity of its axes, (5) to identify students to make 
mathematical models of the secondary-mirror cell and telescope mount and devise 
algorithms for moving the secondary with its drive motors and for correcting pointing 
for imperfections in the mount, (6) to continue procuring the material and services for 
constructing the camera for the spectrograph with the aid of Harland Epps.