[mmaimcal] (no subject)
Al Wootten
awootten at nrao.edu
Fri Jul 11 12:24:19 EDT 2008
Folks,
Contributions, corrections, criticisms?
Clear skies,
Al
BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
16 June 2008 - 30 June 2008
******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*************************
The ALMA transporter has received provisional acceptance subsequent to
the review meeting held 20 June. Several antenna transports are expected
in the next months as antennas are accepted by ALMA. An preliminary
acceptance review was held for Melco antenna No 1.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
At its meeting in Provence, the ALMA Board accepted the development,
production, and implementation of Band 10 (350 microns) as an ALMA-J
deliverable.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
***************************************************************************
General Happenings
Photos of activity may be found at:
http://www.alma.cl
Sky: Comet C/2007 W1 (Boattini) is visible in the evening sky from the
Southern Hemisphere. South of Sirius, the comet passes south of the Sun
in mid-June, when it should reach 5th magnitude as it passes about a
quarter AU from Earth and 0.85 AU from the Sun. Watch for it to reappear
to the eye in early July. Mars and Saturn are evening objects, Mars passing
close to Saturn early in the month. Jupiter remains bright in Sagittarius;
Venus is very low in Aries. On 4 July, Earth will be at its furthest from
the Sun in the decade, owing to the near-coincidence of aphelion with New
Moon (3 July).
SCO (Santiago Central Office) : A team chaired by W. Wild visited the
EU Front End Integration Centers, in part to aid in development of a
commissioning plan for these centers. Management team meetings were
held in conjunction with the ALMA Board meeting in Provence.
AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Most nights have had less than
1mm PWV; some nights early in the period had much less. Earthworks for
the road and trenching for a Station No. 93 near the AOS Technical
Building (TB) continues, with completion expected during July. This station
has now received structural concrete. Another five foundations near the
TB are also being prepared; foundation No. 101 also received structural
concrete during this fortnight. Utilities installation is expected during
August. Grading of the Central Cluster area has reached 95% completion.
Provisional acceptance of the Transporter Hangar is imminently expected.
Weather instruments are ready for deployment at the AOS.
OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): The review for provisional
acceptance of the OSF Technical Buildings (TB) has been completed. A
site visit with interested bidders on the power supply contract was held
10-11.June. Repair of VxRSI antenna No 1 will begin 1 July. VxRSI antenna
No 2 will be moved from the transporter building in early July to an
antenna station near that occupied by No 1. Ant No 3 photogrammetry
complete. Ant No 4 HVAC commissioning performed. Ant No 5 pedestal is
on its foundation with Backup Structure assembly in progress. Melco Antenna
No 1 acceptance review began; Melco No 2 pointing tests continue.
Installation of computers in the OSF TB which will control the first
antennas located at the AOS is being planned. Road maintenance will be
handed over to Operations on 01 July.
AOC: A critical design review was held on 2008-06-17 for the Total Power
Digitizer & Monitor Control Assembly Test Set and a Rev B Development Board.
The Master Laser and Laser Synthesizer CDR Review was held at Teraxion in
Quebec City June 16-18. CASA tutorials were held at the Synthesis Imaging
School with about 50 participants. Preparations for the mid-July software
review continue.
ATF: One operator rather than two is currently at the ATF as activity
winds down. 140 students from the Synthesis Imaging School visited.
An emphasis continues on total power functionality tests, to lead to
testing of production antennas in Chile. Beam cuts of Saturn have been
made; raster scans were also produced. Development of procedures for
CASA reduction of data continues.
NTC (NRAO Technology Center): Testing continues on Front End No 2.
Assembly of holography receiver #2 is 70% complete. The 64-antenna
correlator Test Readiness Review was held June 13, and PAI testing was
completed.
HIA: Provisional Acceptance In-House (PAI) for Band 3 (3mm) cartridges
SN07 and SN08 was completed; they are ready to be shipped. DSB mixers
using chips from a new wafer were built, and the 3 units tested showed
excellent noise temperature.
Somewhere in Spain: Assembly of the first European production antenna
continues with the cabin mounted on the yoke and installation of motors
and other parts continuing.
ESO: Pavel Yagoubov began work 16 June as Front End System Engineer,
taking over duties (system budgets and block diagram) previously performed
by Luitjens Popken.
NAASC: Personnel participated in tests of the ALMA Observing Tool (OT).
The NAASC also took part in the Synthesis Imaging School events in New
Mexico. Improved spectroscopic data for acetic acid was added to the
spectroscopic data base Splatalogue. Wootten attended ALMA 2008 meeting.
A calendar of NAASC events may be found at:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/calendar/calendar.php
***************************************************************************
DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS *************************
June 16-18 Master Laser, Laser Synthesizer CDR Quebec City
June 16-17 EA-FEIC Review Taiwan
June 16-17 ALMA 2008 Worksop Madrid
June 19 63rd OSU Symposium Molecular Spectroscopy Ohio
June 23-27 Band 9 Preproduction Review
June 23-27 Band 9 Manufacturing Readiness Review
July 2 1430UT ASAC Telecon Telecon
July 16-18 Software Review No 6.
Aug 11-12 EPO face-to-face Ch'ville
Sep 2 1430UT ASAC Telecon Telecon
Sep 9-11 ACA 7m antenna PPDR Itami
Sep 28-29 ASAC face-to-face Charlottesville
Dec 9-11 ALMA Annual External Incremental Review OSF
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS *************************
*****************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************
Registration is now open for "Transformational Science with ALMA:
The Birth and Feedback of Massive Stars, Within and Beyond the Galaxy"
A workshop to be held at the North American ALMA Science Center
National Radio Astronomy Observatory Charlottesville, Virginia
September 25-27 2008
Please see: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/php/meetings/massive08/
Program is now on line at the above site.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A small workshop will be held at IRAM, Grenoble September 8 2008 on
the topic of simulations of ALMA imaging. The goals are
1) To bring together the radio astronomy community with expertise in
simulations of ALMA data to share experiences, ideas and code
2) To illustrate the power of ALMA in a small number of scientific
fields through the presentation of simulations of ALMA science
targets
3) To assess how simulations can be used to optimise the performance
of ALMA once it is operational, by, for example, suggesting the
optimal calibration strategies and observing modes
The workshop web-page is:
http://www.mrao.cam.ac.uk/~bn204/almasim08/
***************************************************************************
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
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