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National Radio Astronomy ObservatoryANASAC August 17, 2007

ALMA

Adrian Russell

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2008 Funding

• On Monday evening, June 11, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) approved a $53.6 billion spending bill for FY 2008

• The Subcommittee recommends the President’s budget request of $244.7 million for NSF’s Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) account, which is $53.9 million (+28.2 percent) above the FY 2007  level including $102 million to continue construction of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) telescope

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Prototype Antenna

• The Astigmatism has been solved!– One of the quadripod legs (upper vertical leg)

has a broken joint in the lower chord where it attaches to the headpart

– FE analysis by the Antenna IPT confirmed that this condition explains the astigmatism condition

• This FEA was independently done by Vertex and produced similar results

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Antenna• Antenna 1 is in Chile, assembly going well• Three week customs embargo on any use of imported materials must be

enforced– Customs prohibits any activity, usage or consumption, that may alter the state of

goods– Was not in Vertex plan & caused a day for day delay

• Error is translation of the ICD to the Fichner construction drawings meant that all the foundations at the OSF were too high by ~3cm

– A 3m diameter portion had to be ground down– The ICD says the slope should be 2‰ this was interpreted as 2%– The floor of the Antenna was being deflected by the foundation

• This is itself is not an issue since it is not structural• But the antenna had to be lifted and the pad ground down before more assembly can

happen• Concern about acceptance otherwise (dynamic performance/stiffness of the interface)

– 300 Ton from Calama – lift Thursday replace Friday– Cost ~$40k– Three days delay to assembly of the Antenna

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Antenna Cladding Problem• Major Problem with the cladding on the Antenna Pedestal

– Problems at the OSF due to the foam expanding– The foam expands by approximately 30% from sea-level to the high site– A solution has been found (open cell rather than closed cell foam) but the new

material had to be fabricated, laminated, cut to shape and shipped to Chile replaced

– This has delayed acceptance of Antenna #1 to Dec 20– Antenna 2 was also affected but shipped on schedule (with replacement

foam in the same package)• Antenna 2 acceptance will be delayed by a couple of weeks due to antenna 1 still

being on the pad outside

Antenna Production• Carbon Fiber

– Received for 3, 4-6 on order• Bus Segments

– 3 in production• Panels

– 3 in production• Steel

– Aluminum panel material all purchased & held at the mill

– Invar for 2-6 in delivered– Low temp steel all purchased

• 2-4 in place, partial receipt for rest

• Support Cone & Yoke• 3 delivered, 4 in production

• Receiver Cabin– 3 & 4 in production

• Az El Bearings– 2-5 in Kilgore

• Elevation Gear Segments– 3 &4 delivered, 4

• Gearboxes & Motors– 3 in production

• Servo Amps, UPS, Adjusters, HVAC– 3 in production

• Encoders, Hexapod– 3 in production

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Antenna: SEF

• The OSF Site Erection Facility is complete– It is ready to accept the second antenna

Mitsubishi #1 - Mar 2007

Mitsubishi #1,2,3 - June 2007

Antenna Status

• ALMA-J 7-m antennas:– Contract for #1 (prototype) signed early April.– Remaining 11 contract: April 2008

• AEM: – On schedule since PPDR.– Steel fabrication started in Spain, cabin being

manufactured in France.

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ALMA Transporter

Transporter – March 2007

Transporter – May 2007

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Site IPT

• AOS-TB complete

• Transporter Hangar at the AOS– NSF approval in place, contract imminent

• ALMA Camp extension phase 2 complete– Currently there are 479 people working on the site of which 207

use the ALMA and Contractor’s lodging facilities, 252 live in the VVMO Camp facilities, and 20 live out of Camps

• ESO: The SCO architectural competition contract awarded to Iglesis-Prat Arquitectos, Santiago, Chile

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FE IPT

• Decision made to send FE#1 straight to Chile– Software testing in FEIC– ATF will concentrate on other tests (interferometry, BE

hardware, software etc)

• FE Control Software– Everything except the cryostat can now be monitored

and controlled by the test software

• Automated noise temperature and image rejection measurements on the first FE underway

• Flexure problem

BE IPT• Clint Janes has retired as BE IPT lead

– Chris Langley new lead• Master Laser and IFDC contracts approved by NSF & under

contract– The first three pre-production IFDCs have been integrated and

tested with Total Power Digitizer & Monitor Control boards to form IF Processor LRUs

• Large procurements of connectors and cable assemblies in the analog and digital racks initiated to outfit 8 antennas

• The Laser Synthesizer procurement underway• LLC Fiber Stretcher Assembly procurement is underway • The LO Photonic Receiver is substantially complete and

verification testing has begun

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Production Review

• Formal production review of FE & BE planned for November this year

Computing Review (May)• Review was convened by the NSF to assess the software being

developed for ALMA, in terms of the success in fulfilling the requirements of construction, integration, commissioning, and science.

• Charges– Are development, testing and deployment of the modules on

schedule, especially those that support the critical path? If not, what mitigating steps might be taken? Schedule appears internally consistent (if slightly delayed), concerns about integration with overall scheduling; setting of priorities etc.

– Does the current scheme for tracking software development provide an accurate assessment of progress and issues? Are there other tracking schemes that might be employed? ~yes

– Is there effective input from other areas of the project (e.g. engineering and science) and is the computing group responsive to their needs? Are these other staffs adequately involved in testing? ~yes

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• Recommendations

– The project should have a formal review of software priorities, and adjust planning for releases accordingly. Such formal reviews should be periodic. A six-month release cycle is fine, but the CIPT should start to move to release cycles driven by priorities and functionality, rather than by what is completed at the time of a release. (Post Prod. Review)

– After a review of project priorities and content release cycles, the CIPT should consider if they need to request contingency funds be spent in order to meet software requirements on the timescales demanded by project priorities. (ASAP)

– CIPT should develop a reasonable time contingency, possibly by de-scoping early deliverables as allowed by the review of project priorities and timescales. (Agreed)

– The project should consider advancing the hiring date for software staff to be based in Chile, so that these staff can be brought up to speed in time to cope with the additional workload associated with initial AIV efforts. The Panel supports the proposal to continue use of ATF for software testing until ~June 2008. (Under consideration)

• Summary: good comments, positive result.

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Other IPTs

• Correlator– Two-antenna correlator delivered to ATF; second in

production• SE&I

– ATF work extended to June 2008 – additional software testing/development will occur

• Science– Array Configuration final

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First Fringes

• First Fringes were obtained on Saturn at 7:13pm on the 2nd March– Once both antennas were peaked up on

Saturn successfully and delays were set, fringes appeared immediately

– Saturn was tracked for over one hour

ATF “Second Fringes”, 19:14 hrs UTC June 18th 2007 - Venus.

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