Subject: APO 3.5m Primary Status

From: elt@astro.Princeton.EDU

Submitted: Sat, 2 Oct 1999 01:57:11 -0400 (EDT)

Message number: 384 (previous: 383, next: 385 up: Index)

This message reports the current situation regarding the cracks
in the APO 3.5m primary and its implications for resumption of
science operations.  See apo35-general #383 for a detailed summary
of the situation one week ago.

During the past week great progress has been made in determining
the state of the mirror, characterizing the functioning of the
(transverse) primary support system, devising an engineering
response to the problem and beginning to execute it.  Although
the problem is certainly a significant one, the news is generally
quite good relative to the range of possibilities being considered
a week ago.

The Users Committee, which had its first ever face-to-face meeting
on 29 Sept. at APO, has been briefed extensively on the technical
details of the situation.  Please consult your institutional
representative (or Don York, substituting for Lew Hobbs during
that portion of the meeting, at UC) for more specific information.

At this point it is clear that science operations will not be resumed
before the night of 25 October (civil time = 26 October UT).  

During the coming week engineering work on the primary support system
will continue and an additional outside expert (on fractures) will
be consulted.  I expect that we will be able to announce a more
definite schedule for return to science operations by about 8 October.

Ed Turner

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