• A beam splitter that separates the light into
blue and red channels.
• Blue and red gratings that act as both the
cross-dispersers, to separate the échelle
orders, and to introduce an anamorphic
factor for more efficient use of the effective
area of the detector in the cross-dispersion
direction.
• Blue and red multi-element camera lenses.
• Blue and red detectors that collect the
full wavelength ranges of each camera,
mounted in separate cryostats.
• Focus controls for each camera.
staff reviewers and crafted a comprehensive
CDR Executive Report that contained rec-
ommended actions to close out the Design
Phase of the project and reduce risk going
forward into the Build Phase.
We remain confident that the SCORPIO team
will build a successful instrument for Gemini.
SCORPIO is a complex and challenging in-
strument to create, and the finished product
promises to become a major capability at
the Observatory, aiding scientific discovery
in the coming decades. Look for further de-
tails in the next issue of GeminiFocus.
The team will work the remainder of the
year to complete the final integration and
testing before shipping to Chile near the
end of the year.
SCORPIO: Moving Toward Its
Build Phase
On June 5-7, the SCORPIO project held its
Critical Design Review (CDR) at the South-
west Research Institute (SwRI) headquarters
in San Antonio, Texas. Team members from
SwRI, FRACTAL (an instrument design firm
in Madrid, Spain), Space Telescope Science
Institute, Johns Hopkins University, George
Washington University, and Gemini Obser-
vatory, participated in the review, presenting
material to an eight-member external review
committee. John Troeltzsch from Ball Aero-
space and the National Center for Optical-
infrared Astronomy Management Oversight
Council chaired the very experienced exter-
nal review panel.
The reviewers recognized and congratu-
lated the team for the tremendous amount
of work and effort spent in progressing the
project since the Preliminary Design Review.
In the following weeks, Project Executive
Scot Kleinman took the identified concerns,
issues, and risks from both the external re-
view committee and the internal Gemini
19
GeminiFocus
July 2019