Transferring operations from Johns Hopkins to Apache Point
Scot Kleinman and Alan Uomoto
(draft 9/28/2000 au)
(draft 11/27/2000 sjnk & au)
The 20-inch Photometric Telescope (PT) operations have been separate from other SDSS observing activities. Software development and routine observing were managed from JHU while technical and engineering support has been provided by non-observing SDSS staff, primarily John Briggs and Jon Brinkmann. The software and observing procedures are functional and effective so it's time to transfer operations and maintenance to the APO SDSS staff.
There are three distinct tasks:
Observing
Routine Maintenance
Heavy Maintenance
APO SDSS observing staff will be responsible for Observing and Routine Maintenance while APO SDSS engineering staff will handle Heavy Maintenance.
Observing The PT runs automatically during the night but requires substantial effort for setup and shutdown. Fortunately, setup and shutdown are simple and, except for twilight flats, not time critical. Nighttime operation also requires occasional data monitoring and weather awareness. Observers will diagnose and recover from nighttime anomalies such as power failures and software idiosyncracies. At least one of the two on-shift nighttime SDSS observers should have PT experience, although an daytime observer might handle daylight tasks.
Routine Maintenance At least one on-shift observer (day or night) should know enough to diagnose problems and request repair services. This person should be comfortable with routine jobs such as changing the flat field lamp, cleaning the dewar window, recovering from a loss of pointing, and closing the dome in a power-out situation. In software, knowing enough to deal with the Xyplex, MOPDB, MOP, and MTPIPE problems is necessary. An understanding of the data communications paths is helpful in diagnosing problems. Hoefully, all observers will eventually be proficient in routine maintenance.
Heavy
Maintenance This includes aluminizing the primary and pumping the
CCD dewar as well as new construction or instrument modifications.
Most of these will be handled by the SDSS instrument scientist (Jon
Brinkmann) with assistance from APO engineering staff or SDSS
observers. These items are not observer responsibilities, but
observers should report when these things might be needed and ought
to be aware of the work.
For some work an observer or the instrument scientist must be
present to move the telescope or advise the engineering staff of
allowed telescope motions. These items are noted in the
maintenance schedule.
schedule.
Training requires the observer handle (alone) two one-week observing runs separated by a few weeks. Thorough familiarity with the DFM TCS, MOP, MOPDB, MTPIPE, Xyplex, and the in-dome equipment (shutter, louvers, CryoTiger, telescope, filterbox, computers, etc.) is needed. It also requires basic knowledge of the instrument (CCD, filterbox, flat field system), data acquisition system, and the data communications paths.
While the PT is easier to operate than the 2.5m (there is only one instrument, for example), it is not so much easier that new observers can "pick it up" after a night or two. The telescope has quirks (it's the only permanent equatorially mounted telescope on-site) and it takes time for trainees to make the complete set of mistakes (which seems to be more effective than FAQ lists or warnings).
Two SDSS observers (Steph Snedden and Mike Harvanek) will be trained in Observing and Routine Maintenance by Alan Uomoto and Eric Neilsen. Observers will not overlap during training, that is, each trainee will be individually responsible for data during his or her run. One observer (Harvanek) plus the SDSS instrument scientist for the PT (Jon Brinkmann) will also receive in-depth maintenance training from Uomoto at a separate time. These first generation trainees will train the other observers.
Snedden will begin 20-inch training during the December and January dark runs. Harvanek might begin training as early as March and April, depending on staffing level and comfort at that time.
Three or four PT-trained APO SDSS observers are needed to cover a typical dark run. Only two observers will be PT-trained by April 2001, so we will continue to draw on external observers from JHU and LANL through June 2001.
12/00 - 01/01 Steph Snedden receives PT training during two observing runs.
02/01 - 03/01 Steph Snedden explores working with the PT as if in normal operations. Normally scheduled observers will be on-site to take over as needed.
03/01 - 04/01 Mike Harvanek receives PT training during two observing runs.
05/01 - 06/01 Third (& fourth?) observer is (are) trained. Full-up operations finalized.
07/01 - APO takes over PT operations.
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