SOAR PROJECT TIMELINE

• August 1997
  The four partners &endash; MSU, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the National Optical Astronomy Observatories and the country of Brazil &endash; met in East Lansing and committed to build and operate the SOuthern Astrophysical Research Telescope.
• March 1999
  Following the hiring of a project team, development of a conceptual design and a competitive bidding procedure, contractors were selected to provide the major subsystems &endash; the mirror blanks; the active optical system; the mount, including drives; the building; and the dome.
• 1997-98
  The superb dark-sky site on Cerro Pachón, a 9,000-foot peak in the Chilean Andes Mountains, is selected and made level.
• 2000-02
  Enclosure, including the dome, completed.
• April 12, 2002
  MSU’s Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building, which houses the SOAR remote observing facility, is officially dedicated.
• October 2002
  The telescope mount is in place and operational, having been thoroughly tested and de-bugged. All specifications for pointing and tracking have been met or exceeded.
• November 2003
  The optics system, consisting of primary, secondary and tertiary mirrors and their active and tip-tilt control systems are thoroughly tested at the fabrication facility in Connecticut.
• January 2004
  The optics system arrives in Chile, and the primary mirror receives its reflective aluminum coating.
• February-March 2004
  The optics system is mounted on the telescope structure and the full system is debugged.
• April 17, 2004
  Dedication ceremonies for the SOAR Telescope are held in Chile and East Lansing.
• 2004-05
  A full set of state-of-the-art optical and near-infrared imagers and spectrographs will become available. Second-generation instruments are already well into the planning stages.
• For detailed information, visit the Web at www.pa.msu.edu/soarmsu