Gindex

PROGRESS REPORT - October, 1999

Accomplishments / Status

Summary: Work is proceeding on linear and rotary drive and optical mount prototypes and on the Optical Bench design.The gravity deflection analysis is being done in conjunction with the bench design. The Pre-Fabrication Review is the next major project milestone, and is scheduled to be held in February, 2000. Overall, the project has completed 4% of the work to delivery in July, 2002 and is on schedule.

One open item from the Restart Review, a software plan, is still pending.This plan is scheduled to be submitted to Gemini through the USGP by November 1, 1999.

The first GNIRS Quarterly Review was held on October 13.The Gemini representative was David Montgomery.The charts for this meeting can be found on the GNIRS web site at: http://www.noao.edu/ets/gnirs/ under Meetings/Reviews.

Next Milestone: Pre-fabrication Review, scheduled for February, 2000. This review will also serve as a USGP Quarterly Review.

Project Management: (8% towards completion) The GNIRS project schedule is now baselined, and report formats are in the process of being finalized.Capital and labor budgets have been established to the 5^th and 6^th WBS level, as applicable, and the cost tracking and reporting process is nearly in place.Status and progress are now being recorded on a weekly basis, and weekly project meetings with the engineering staff are being held.A summary task schedule is attached to this report, which shows percent complete on all tasks in work.This can be viewed on the GNIRS web site at: http://www.noao.edu/ets/gnirs/ under Planning. The effort in each major engineering discipline has been detailed in a Work Package, and a Work Package Manager appointed in each case. These terms are not to be confused with the Gemini work packages in the GNIRS report.

Systems Engineering: (19% towards Pre-fab Review)The activities being done under this Work Package are 1) thermal and structural analysis, 2) linear prototype, 3) rotary prototype, 4) optical mount prototype, 5) optical design update, 6) cold motor testing, and 7) mechanism test set.Completing the work in this package is the primary prerequisite to meeting the Pre-Fabrication Review project milestone.

Final detailing (2D design) is in process for the Optical Mount and Rotary Mechanism Prototypes.The drawings will be released into the shop for fabrication by the first week in November.The Linear Mechanism Prototype is in the 3D design phase and should be ready for detail drawings by mid-November.Cold motor testing is complete and the data for determining the operating point of the motors have been obtained. This effort will be completed when the final report is written and released.The Mechanism Test Set design has started.

Several SDN’s have been updated or added to the GNIRS web site, including one on the use of castings in the instrument.SDN’s can be found on the web site at: http://www.noao.edu/ets/gnirs/ under Systems Design.

Optics: The optical design is complete, and contracts have been let for the major powered elements. Since this activity is, for now, primarily a procurement activity, it will be reported under that heading.

Mechanical Design: (1% towards completion) The 3D design of the Main Optics Bench and Wavefront Sensor Bench assemblies are in process, being done in parallel with the analyses being done as part of the Systems Engineering effort.

Mechanical Fabrication: Instrument component fabrication, except that needed to support prototype testing, is planned to start in December ’99 – January ‘00.

Electronics Design: (0% towards completion) Activities in this Work Package has been focused primarily in defining dewar and mechanism wiring.A ground rule that all mechanisms have a common electrical interface has been established.All dewar and mechanism wiring will interface through a G-10 PC board for thermal isolation and cable routing.The design for this is in process.Other electronics systems information is installed on the web site and may be viewed at <ftp://ftp.noao.edu/gnirs/elect>

Software Development: (0% towards completion) Richard Wolff has been named GNIRS Software Work Package manager, and will start work on the project half time in November, and full time starting in January 2000.

Procurement: (2% towards completion) The major activities in this Work Package include working with the optics vendors RMI and II-VI.The RMI optics for the cameras and window, and II-VI mirrors for the Offner Secondary and Collimator, are in process and on schedule.In addition, casting and machining vendors are being screened

Problems / Solutions

The thermal and structural analyses are proceeding more slowly than planned.This is due in part to the task of optical bench design being more complicated than originally estimated.The key task in this work element is to insure that all mechanisms interface properly with the bench so as to minimize structural deflection and thermal gradients.This activity is being carefully tracked.There is no concern about this task impacting the Pre-Fabrication Review milestone at this time.

Key Personnel

Richard Wolff has been added to the GNIRS staff as Software Manager.