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NOTCam Status Report, Aug 1997

  • Due to illness of crucial ROE staff, the final Critical Design Review of NOTCam will now take place at ROE in mid-August (instead of mid-June). Hugo Schwarz and Colin Aspin of NOT will be accompanied by Goeran Olofsson of Stockholm Observatory (as external assessor of the design) for the two day meeting. The final design drawings of the optical components and opto-mechanical concept layout will be available soon after this meeting.
  • The contract with IJAF/CUO is in the final stages of detailing and we hope that it will be completed and signed by mid-August. The contract will include production of the array controller electronics and the motor controller electronics.
  • Contract negotiations are progressing with the Norwegian company Prototech AS to perform the mechanical detailing and mechanical construction of NOTCam. A useful first quotation for the work was received in June and we are awaiting both the final design drawings and further communication from Prototech AS before this can proceed.
  • The company Graseby Specac in England have been tendered for the production of the optical components for NOTCam (the collimator assembly, the low-res lense unit, the high-res lens unit ands the pupil imaging lens unit). Discussions are currently taking place on the design details and a quotation from Specac is expected within the next few weeks.
  • The U.S. company Kelvin International have been tendered for the purchase of a pulse-tube refrigerator unit (PTR) for on-line operational cooling of NOTCam. The company is currently making final plans for the loan of a unit for lab testing in Copenhagen (in Sept-Oct) before final purchase of the unit is made.
  • The broad-band filter for NOTCam have been ordered from OCLI via the International IR filter consortium. The filters ordered are 25mm in diameter and cover the J, H and K passbands. These filters have been especially designed by NOAO/University of Hawaii staff to optimize sensitivity and throughput ands minimize atmospheric absorption band contamination.
  • The engineering grade array for NOTCam (obtained as part of the contract with Rockwell International Science Center) has been shipped and is due to arrive in La Palma within the first two weeks of August. On arrival here it will be shipped to Copenhagen for eventual testing in their test dewar with the array controller electronics.
  • Discussions on i) a general calibration unit for NOT (incl. calibration lamps./sources for NOTCam), ii) an f/11 simulator (for lab testing of NOTCam at the SLO), iii) a Integration and Test Facility for instrumentation at the SLO (where NOTCam will be assembled and tested) and iv) a handling rig for NOTCam when it is not on the telescope, are also under way. Several of these items involve collaborative projects with the U.K. ING Group also located in the SLO.