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What We Got Done This Quarter (1Mar94)
(from KPNO, NOAO Newsletter No. 37, 1 March 1994)

During the fall and winter the bulk of engineering activity at Kitt
Peak shifts to completing projects started during the previous summer
shutdown and to planning for the coming one.  Installation of the oil
cooling system at the 4-m was completed and tested, although
implementation has been delayed until problems with the hour-angle
servo drive system are resolved.  Resolving those problems is a high
priority with the group just now, and we are hopeful of a fix before
this Newsletter reaches you.  The 2.1-m cryo-cooler was installed and
tested successfully with SQIID.  At the Burrell Schmidt Telescope, a
new filter wheel assembly was completed and will soon be tested.  A new
secondary mirror cell and mercury band have been designed for the 0.9-m
telescope to fix problems there with optical alignment and
collimation.  Work is also underway on a new Surrurie truss to improve
thermal performance of the primary mirror, and on providing ventilation
to the dome.  These efforts should lead to substantial improvement in
delivered image quality on the 0.9-m telescope.

The IR Instrumentation Group has completed an electronics upgrade for
IRIM and CRSP so that both instruments are in routine service with the
WildFIRE array controls and observing interface.  A detent mechanism
was added on the filter wheels in the Cryogenic Optical Bench (COB) to
provide repeatable filter positions, and the instrument is ready for
testing (and shared risk observing this spring) on the telescope.  Two
lab test dewars have also been built for the Aladdin Project (a
development project with SBRC to produce 1024 x 1024 InSb array
detectors).  One of the dewars is for use by SBRC and one by the NOAO
IR group. Fabrication started on the camera/ collimator unit for the
High resolution IR Spectrometer Phoenix.  The grating blank was sent to
Milton Roy for replication, and the detailed design for the optics and
slit and filter wheel was started.

The Optical/UV Instrumentation Group fabricated parts for four new CCD
dewars (including one for the Bench Spectrograph when it moves from the
4-m to WIYN, and one for the WIYN mini-mosaic detector), and the CCD
development project continued with testing of new devices from SITe
(formerly Tektronix), STIS, and the Loral foundry run.  A conceptual
design for the the large mosaic camera (81922 pixels), including a
dewar, shutter, filter mechanism, corrector support system and
telescope interface was also developed, and a Preliminary Design Review
will be held in the near future.  Most of the remaining resources of
the OUV group were devoted to the conversion of the 4-m Hydra fiber
positioner for use at WIYN.  The new focal surface assembly for Hydra
at WIYN was assembled, and detailed design of the calibration system
and spacer assembly was started.

During this period we also hosted a "Town Meeting" for Kitt Peak users
at the AAS meeting in Crystal City in January.  Announced at the
meeting were two new KPNO initiatives, electronic submission of
proposals and the Key Projects initiative, both of which are described
in more detail in this Newsletter.  Preliminary results from the KPNO
User Questionnaire were also presented, and are also described in this
Newsletter.

During this last quarter, KPNO also received 172 scientific visitors on
the mountain associated with observing runs.

Caty Pilachowski

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