The Project continues to hold to its schedule of a Gemini North "first light" in December 1998.
By the time you read this Newsletter, Gemini should have transported its first three large loads up Mauna Kea from Kawaihae harbor on the northwest side of the Big Island. A road test was successfully completed in late July to verify that a 62 ton load of proper width could negotiate all the twists and turns on the ~ 75 mile journey from sea level to the 14,000 foot summit. As of 1 August, the azimuth track and the two halves of the coating chamber were on schedule to be transported during each of the last three weekends in August.
Although there is still finishing work inside, the Gemini North enclosure appears as a completed dome now (as you can see on the Gemini web page www.gemini.edu). Although visible progress has been virtually nil for the last year at Gemini South in Chile, increased activity is due to begin there in mid-September when contractors gear up for enclosure erection and addition of siding to the support building.
The pace of the Project appears to be quickening as more and more people and hardware arrive in Hilo to support the start of integration activities for Gemini North. You can keep abreast of the latest developments through a new and regularly updated column on the Gemini web page.
Kathy Wood