[mmaimcal] FYI: 18 December 2006 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
Dick Sramek
dsramek at nrao.edu
Mon Dec 18 17:45:19 EST 2006
Hi Al,
I'd re-phrase the December PSI item a bit. We have signal from the
Eval-FE in the AEM antenna to the correlator, but have not yet seen the
external beacon. The lines we show at the correlator were generated in
the IF by a source within the antenna. As of today, we're having
trouble tuning the 1st LO Gunn oscilator and have not yet found the
transmitter line. But perhaps by the end of the week this will be achieved.
How about:
"December - Signal connectivity through the ALMA prototype system from
Front-End to correlator achieved at ALMA Test Facility."
..DS..
Al Wootten wrote:
> Folks,
>
> Comments or contributions?
>
> BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
> 18 December 2006 - 1 January 2007
>
> ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT***************************
> ALMA's Year in Review 2006 This observer's candidates for the top ALMA events
> of 2006:
> January - Chilean Local Labor hiring agreement between ESO and AUI.
> March - The Board approves selection of the ESO's Vitacura site as the location
> for the ALMA Headquarters building in Santiago.
> May - the National Science Board approved NSF's request for additional funding
> for ALMA. This action provides the NSF Director with spending authority that
> covers the revised baseline as approved by the ALMA Board.
> June - Operations phase ramps up. Chris Carilli has been appointed Head of
> the North American ALMA Science Center, Paola Andreani has been appointed
> ARC Manager for ESO and John Hibbard and Ryohei Kawabe continue as acting
> ARC Managers for NRAO and Japan. Later in year New Operations Plan nears
> completion. Head of Administration for Joint ALMA Observatory hired Dec 06.
> June - first ALMA antenna pad constructed, at the Vertex Site Erection
> Facility at the OSF.
> June - Array Operations Site Technical Building construction contract signed
> by AUI and ConPax.
> July - Amendment #2 to the Agreement Concerning the Construction of the
> Enhanced Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) Between ESO,
> NSF and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan was executed by
> all of the parties, marking the beginning of the trilateral ALMA project.
> August - Operations Support Facility Construction Contract signed between
> ESO and VVMO.
> November - More than 300 astronomers meet in Madrid for the second ALMA
> conference, Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics, held 13-17 Nov.
> December - Signal connectivity through the ALMA prototype system from
> transmitter to correlator achieved at ALMA Test Facility.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at
> http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
> See also the JAO ALMA Calendar overview at:
> http://www.alma.cl/alma_project
> ***************************************************************************
> General Happenings
> Sky: Saturn rises around 9 pm, Venus emerging from the very early sunsets
> this week. Other bright planets are low in the morning sky.
> The sunspot group causing last week's coronal mass ejections and aurorae
> (http://www.spaceweather.com/aurora/images2006/14dec06f/dmsp1_dec1415.gif)
> has passed behind the solar limb.
>
> AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Work continues toward the immediate
> goal of enclosing and powering the technical building by late January,
> including an internet connection to the OSF and beyond.
>
> OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): Work has started in the Vertex
> Site Erection Facility (SEF) area. Excavation for foundations, earth grounding
> and utilities is ongoing. Building erection will begin in January 2007.
> Currently there are 357 persons working on the site of which 187 use the
> ALMA and Contractor's lodging facilities, and 147 live in the VVMO camp.
> Extension of the contractor's camp continues with 80 of 160 new beds in use.
> Delivery date was Feb 2007.
> Images at http://www.alma.nrao.edu/almanews/almagallery/index.html
>
> TUC: D. Emerson traveled to the ATF to assist in PSI tests. Holdaway is
> working on a final design for the extended configuration.
>
> NTC (NRAO Technology Center, Charlottesville): First Band 9 (650 GHz)
> cartridge passed tests on 2006-Dec-12. It will be installed in the cryostat
> after Christmas, joining bands 3 (3mm), 6 (1.3mm), and 7 (.87mm) for the
> first complete bilateral cartridge set in a cryostat. Integrated testing
> for electromagnetic compatibility continues. At IRAM, B7
> Cartridge No. 2 is ready to be shipped to the NTC/FEIC.
> Informal reviews were held by the LO photonics group of the Line Length
> Corrector and LO Photonics Receiver.
>
> NAASC: Planning for the workshop 'Transformational Science with ALMA:
> Through Disks to Stars and Planets' to be held 22-24 June 2007 continues.
> Early registration is under way; registration will open with the new year.
> See http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/disk07/
> A. Hales traveled to the ATF to assist in PSI tasks.
>
> ATF: Prototype Antenna racks have been installed in the VertexRSI antenna.
> The 2-antenna correlator was successfully updated and tested at the ATF.
> Evaluation frontends were used to detect the holography signal, followed
> through to the correlator. Holography testing continues with improving results.
> Software has been updated to post-ACS (ALMA Common Software) Version 6.
>
> ESO: "Today is a great day because the ESO Council has authorised us to go
> forward with the final design of the next flagship telescope of ESO,", says
> Catherine Cesarsky, ESO's Director General, speaking of the decision by the
> ESO Council to go ahead with the design study for an European Extremely
> Large Telescope.
> ***************************************************************************
> DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see
> https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
> Mon 18 Dec -
> Tue 19 Dec -
> 10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
> 5:59 PM - International Space Station 47 deg above NW horizon.
> Wed 20 Dec
> 9:01am - New Moon
> 9:30am - Science IPT telecon
> Thu 21 Dec
> 7:22pm - Summer solistice occurs in Chile.
> Fri 22 Dec - Half Day (Chile)
> A flurry of meteors may emerge from Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper) on
> Dec. 22nd between 18 and 23 hours UT when Earth runs into a filament of
> debris trailing comet 8P/Tuttle. Meteor forecaster Peter Jenniskens of the
> SETI Institute anticipates as many as 39 meteors per hour, best seen from
> Europe and Asia.
> Sat 23 Dec - Holiday (Japan) The Emperor's Birthday
> Sun 24 Dec
> Mon 25 Dec - Holiday (Chile, NA, Europe) Merry Christmas!
> Tue 26 Dec - Holiday (Chile, NA, Europe)
> Wed 27 Dec
> Thu 28 Dec
> Fri 29 Dec - Half Day (Chile)
> Sat 30 Dec
> Sun 31 Dec
> Mon 1 Jan - International Holiday. Happy New Year!
> ****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ****************************
> Jan 3 ASAC Telecon
> Jan 16-17 '07 all day Transporter FDR
> Jan 18 '07 ALMA Board telecon
> Jan 29-30 '07 all day B9 Cartridge CDR
> Jan 30-1 Feb all day AEM antenna PPDR Mestre
> Feb 6-7 B9 cartridge CDR Groningen
> Feb 15 ALMA Board Telecon Telecon
> Mar 9-12 all day IPT F2F MEETING Chile
> ******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ***************************
> *****************************ALSO OF INTEREST*****************************
> ***************************************************************************
> Please send information for upcoming calendars by Friday evening of the
> preceding biweekly period to Jennifer Neighbours or Al Wootten via e-mail
> (jneighbo at nrao.edu or awootten at nrao.edu).
>
> The calendar will be issued between late Friday and sometime on Monday by
> e-mail to all NRAO scientific staff members and anyone else interested.
> A specific mailing list, alma-info, has been created for anyone wishing
> to receive it.
> Past issues are available at
> http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
>
> _______________________________________________
> mmaimcal mailing list
> mmaimcal at listmgr.cv.nrao.edu
> http://listmgr.cv.nrao.edu/mailman/listinfo/mmaimcal
More information about the mmaimcal
mailing list