AUSTRALIS Phase A Study
Proposers: K Taylor and M Colless
The AUSTRALIS project involves the design and procurement of an optical/near-infrared,
multi-fibre, spectrograph for the European Southern Observatory (ESO). In
particular, the original proposal was for a spectrograph destined for the
ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT), a multi-telescope array, based on four 8
m units, currently under construction at Cerro Paranal in northern Chile.
The underlying philosophy is to provide, through the use of multiple optical
fibre light guides, a spectrograph able to observe many objects simultaneously
with a wavelength resolution sufficient to resolve the internal kinematics
of very distant galaxies. The main objectives of the Phase A study, as initially
proposed, were to develop the original concept design (as detailed in the
AUSTRALIS Concept Study) into a full optical, mechanical, electronic and
software specification.
However, very early in the Phase A project, ESO requested the AUSTRALIS
consortium to provide a costed proposal for the procurement of the fibre
positioner for AUSTRALIS. This represented a significant subset of the Phase
A study and an opportunity to incorporate the AUSTRALIS spectrograph into
ESO's future VLT instrumentation plans; as a result, a re-scheduling of
the study was required. Subsequent to the MNRF submission, the AUSTRALIS
positioner (now known as OzPoz) is being procured under a separate contract
to ESO while, in recognition of the fact that the original Phase A study
included substantial work on the positioner, half of its funds were donated
to the positioner procurement contract and the study de-scoped and extended
to concentrate on the critical engineering design issues surrounding the
spectrograph itself.
To date, progress on the Phase A study includes the successful completion
of the positioner design study, a continuing investigation into the difficult
area of microlensed integral fibre unit (IFU) design, and a detailed evaluation
of spectrograph design. The procurement of efficient, state-of-the-art,
microlenses requires an iterative design process to arrive at the best performance/cost
compromise. This analysis is complete and the proposers are in the procurement
phase prior to prototyping, with manufacture and test scheduled for quarter
3, 1998.
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This page is maintained by Michelle
Storey
Last update by Michelle Storey. 4/11/98