WORK PLAN FOR SUMMER/FALL, 2002

We are continuing the acceptance and development tests on the telescope begun in July, 2000. Because of the summer rainy season in Arizona, our work in July and August has to do with modifications of the telescope that do not require extensive tracking of stars. They are mainly modifications of systems that have been giving us trouble during the early operation of the telescope. Some will be in Arizona' the rest in Nashville, concentrated on the spectrograph and on tweaking the control system.

The work planned for the second half of 2002 falls into four categories as follows:

  1. MECHANICAL ADJUSTMENTS of the telescope and spectrograph.

    1. Finish getting optics for the spectrograph coated. (Eaton&Busby.)
    2. Finish mounting the colimator/reimaging mirrors for the spectrograph and test their adjustments. (Eaton)
    3. Mount the echelle grating in its stand. (Eaton)
    4. Finish the primary feed for the echelle spectrograph. (Eaton&Williamson)
    5. Finish making the tools for rotating the telescope back to its home position by brute force in case the oil bearings fail. (Eaton.)
    6. Design fixtures for lifting the telescope off its base for working on the oil bearings, if ever required, and get them made. (Eaton.)
    7. Finish building the equipment for moving the optical table into the spectrograph enclosure at the observatory. (Eaton&Wells?)
    8. Build the insulated box to surround the spectrograph in its enclosure. (Eaton.)
    9. Finish assembling the calibration bench and decide where to put it in the observatory. (Eaton.)
    10. Take the finisahed spectrograph to Fairborn Observatory and get it working with the telescope system. (Eaton, Williamson, & Busby.)

  2. ELECTRICAL WIRING.

    1. Rewire the control box to bypass screw connections to the Galil controller and to position some devices so they are more accessible. (Williamson&Eaton)
    2. Buy new motor and variable-speed controller for the oil pump. (Eaton)
    3. Finish designing the air conditioning systems for the spectrograph enclosure and control building and get them installed. ( .)

  3. Work on MIRRORS.

    1. Finish polishing the spare folding mirror to the point that it could be aluminized and overcoated for use in the telescope. ( .)
    2. Run tests on the faulty secondary mirror with the Hindle shell to determine how bad the figure really is and to get experience with this kind of testing. (Eaton.)

  4. Work on the DRIVES and CONTROL SYSTEM.

    1. Extend the telescope simulator by writing a procedure to keep track of observations being made on longer timescales (days to months) and specifying nightly base priorities to get the right frequency of observations. ( .)
    2. Perfect the code for controlling the spectrograph so it runs reliably under linux and integrate it into the control system for the observatory. (Williamson.)
    3. ()