effectively captured the overall project’s
guiding principle of doing the minimum to
obtain the maximum possible benefit.
The team undertook the fourth and final run
only once all problems identified in the first
three runs had been prioritized and any potential showstoppers solved. This time, observers performed all operations from the
base facility control room with no personnel
on the summit.
As this year in review issue goes to press, full
remote operations are ongoing at Gemini
North.
Implementation in Chile
As we enter 2016, we officially begin work
on BFO at Gemini South, with the goal of
handing over to Operations during the third
quarter of 2016.
While one might think that most of the work
required to establish BFO at Gemini South
would be very similar to what has been done
at Gemini North, there are significant differences. These will require the introduction of
some level of development before we start
to install, integrate, and test the work package products at Gemini South.
An Impressive Team Effort
BFO is the result of the effort and dedication
of many engineers, technicians, and SOSs
who incorporated this effort into their operations work in order to schedule tasks related to the project. Without their enthusiastic
participation it would have been impossible
to keep the 17 concurrent work packages
progressing at a steady state — from gathering requirements, to conceptual design, and
then to final design and implementation —
over a period of many months.
Because of its nature, we believe that everyone at the Observatory was at some level in-
January 2016
volved in the success of BFO. This is truly an
Observatory-wide project.
Special acknowledgments also have to go
to the people at the Canada-France-Hawai‘i
Telescope (CFHT) who shared many of their
lessons learned and important ideas on how
to develop and implement BFO at Gemini.
CFHT engineers and scientists were very patient and collaborative, especially considering our many visits (even at the beginning
of the night) to either ask for design details
or observe their facility operating remotely.
Their willingness to provide information was
always superb, and the information they provided was accurate and in-depth. We learned
much from the CFHT staff and management,
and for that we are extremely grateful.
BFO Legacy
With BFO fully implemented at Gemini North
we are the first 8-10-meter-class observatory to routinely operate from a base facility
at night. This will save money (important in
this era of diminishing budgets for research),
and reduce environmental impact on Maunakea and, ultimately, Cerro Pachón (which
was pointed out as an important and welcome outcome at a recent Maunakea management meeting in Hawai‘i).
Finally, Gemini’s remote operations will open
up new operational models. It is now possible to imagine observers in full control of the
telescopes and instruments, executing their
observations from anywhere on our planet,
and uniting our Partnership in new ways
that we cannot yet even imagine.
Gustavo Arriagada is Senior Project Manager
in the Engineering Group at Gemini South and
leads the BFO project for Gemini. He can be
reached at: [email protected]
2015 Year in Review
GeminiFocus
57