GeminiFocus April 2019 | Page 17

over a range of target zenith distance and position angles. These tests demonstrated that the ADCs are working as expected and produce the required correction. These tests also marked the first on-sky test- ing of GHOST interoperability with the Gem- ini OCS. GHOST target configurations, in both high- and standard-resolution modes, were created in the Gemini Observing Tool. The telescope systems then used these tar- get configurations to determine the tele- scope pointing. GHOST also used them to place the fiber positioners on the requested targets. While these successful tests were a major milestone in our internal software development process, they also improved the efficiency of the on-sky tests by greatly reducing the time for target acquisitions at the telescope. The team operated GHOST on both the up-looking and side-looking ports. While GHOST is expected to operate primarily on the up-looking port during normal opera- tions, we wanted to ensure proper operation on the side-looking port, as well. This mainly consisted of checking that the GHOST oper- ations software was properly accounting for the additional reflection produced by the tertiary (science-fold) mirror and producing the correct coordinate transformations and ADC corrections, among other things. With some minor tweaks, GHOST worked suc- cessfully on the side-port. will be paired with the spectrograph for testing in the second half of 2019. The Aus- tralian National University team, along with a contractor, Software Design Ideas, is pro- viding the instrument control and data re- duction software for GHOST; they were also instrumental in the November Cassegrain unit testing, as were Gemini project team members from both North and South sites. SCORPIO Update At the end of February, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) hosted a progress meeting in San Antonio, Texas, to assess the matu- rity of the SCORPIO project’s Critical Design Review (CDR) documentation set. SwRI has provided Gemini with drafts of the Critical Design documents and the team continues to work on providing additional structural and thermal analysis required for the review. A readiness assessment will take place at the beginning of April. The project has now re- ceived the instrument’s four science grade visible detectors. The team used the prototype optical fi- ber cable for this round of Cassegrain unit testing. The science optical fiber cable is nearing build and test completion. Upon completion, the cable and Cassegrain unit build team (the Australian Astronomical Optics Group at Macquarie University) will ship these components to the spectrograph build team at the National Research Coun- cil Herzberg in Victoria, Canada, where they April 2019 GeminiFocus 15