Blog

The telescopes arrived a little past 9am local time. All three containers were safely offloaded, and nothing appears to be damaged.We began to unload some items in the afternoon. The primary mirrors for telescopes #1 and #3 are now stored at the 2m building near the coating chamber. Tomorrow we will unload the remaining mirrors and start moving the smaller boxed items closer to the telescope enclosures. There are also several parts that will be installed with the domes (azimuthal encoder and home switch, a hoist that hangs from the shutter frame, etc.).Photos below.First truck arriving at obse...

The three telescopes have finally cleared customs this afternoon. They will leave Tijuana early Monday morning and arrive at SPM late afternoon or early evening.

They will try again tomorrow. UNAM people are working on the snag.

We installed the gantry cranes, including the hoists in all three enclosures today. We welded the rails down to the main floor joists at Site #1, but we will do the welding at the other sites later. Photos below. Gantry cranes for Sites #2 and #3 loaded onto flatbed. Gantry crane being lifted to top of enclosure #3. Gantry crane being lifted to top of enclosure #3. Gantry crane being lifted to top of enclosure #2. Gantry crane being lifted to top of enclosure #2. Gantry crane being lifted to top of enclosure #2. Gantry crane being lifted to top of enclosure #2. Gantry cra...

The painting crew tarted today on the enclosure at Site #2. They spent most of the time setting up, but they got the pier painted today along with the lower portions of the sunshade columns, cross members, and sunshade girts. Here is a picture of the pier. It looks much nicer.

We finished the dome at Site #1 this afternoon. Everything is working well. Photos below. Replacement shutter arriving at SPM. Drilling hydraulic arm mounting holes on lower shutter. Installation of lower shutter. Installation of lower shutter. Dome at Site #1 after completion.

The painting crew arrived at SPM this afternoon. They will begin work to paint the enclosures and domes tomorrow, starting at Site #2. We will have a meeting tomorrow morning to go over the schedule for completing the work.

All three telescopes have made it to San Diego, and they will be delivered to SPM this coming Thursday. Preparations will start tomorrow for a place near the control room to unload the shipping containers.

Today we got the shutter tracks sealed with putty, got the upper shutter installed with the motor and drive, and got the electrical installation completed. The replacement  bottom shutter got flagged for further inspection when going across the border this morning, so they only got as far as Ensenada today. They will now deliver the shutter tomorrow afternoon. After delivery, we will have the dome completed within a couple hours.Here are a couple photos from today: First top shutter section being lifted into place. Middle top shutter section being lifted into place. Top shutter compl...

We spent today installing all the braces inside the dome. We finished the pipe brackets and installed a bunch of supports for the shutter track. Tomorrow we will seal the shutter track with putty, install the top shutter, and get the control electronics working to test the system. The replacement bottom shutter is still scheduled to arrive tomorrow afternoon, and we will install it Tuesday morning.Here are a couple photos of the work we did today. Pipe brackets after installation. Additional support structure for shutter track. More support for shutter track at rear of dome. And as prom...