Building SOAR
Movie: SOAR Dome Construction Time Lapse (6.80 MB) (courtesy UNC)
SOAR Timeline
August
1997: Project Initiated
The four SOAR partners (MSU, UNC, NOAO and Brazil) met in East Lansing and
committed to build and operate SOAR, at a total project cost
(construction + operation) of $43M. MSU became a 14% partner.
March
1999: Major Contracts let
Following hiring of a project team, development of a conceptual design, and a
competitive bidding procedure, contractors were selected to provide the major
subsystems (the mirror blanks, the active optical system, the mount including
drives, the building, and the dome).
1997 - 1998:
Site Preparation
SOAR's superb dark-sky site on Cerro Pachon, Chile was selected and leveled.
2000 - 2002: Enclosure Constructed
October
2002: Mount Completed
and Installed
The mount has been in place and operational since October 2002, and has been
thoroughly tested and debugged during the ensuing months. All specifications for
pointing and tracking have been met or exceeded.
November
2003: Optics System
Completed
The optics system, consisting of primary, secondary and tertiary mirrors and
their active and tip-tilt control systems, were thoroughly tested at the
fabrication facility in Danbury, CT and sent to Cerro Pachon.
April 17, 2004: SOAR Dedication and First Light
2004
- 2005: Instruments
A full set of state-of-the-art optical and near-IR imagers and spectrographs
will become available soon. Second generation instruments are
already well into the planning stage.
2004
- 2023: Operations
There will be a rapid ramp-up to full operational status by early 2005.
Approximate Commissioning Schedule
The following list represents target dates in SOAR's
commissioning:
May 2004: Optical Imager available.
Built by NOAO, completed in December 2003. The commissioning instrument for
SOAR.
August 2004: OSIRIS IR Spectrometer/Imager available.
Existing instrument built by Ohio State University, on loan to NOAO.
November 2004: Goodman Spectrograph available.
High-throughput optical spectrograph, built by University of North Carolina.
November 2004: Phoenix Spectrograph available.
Existing near-IR echelle spectrograph, supplied by NOAO.
February 2005: Start of "Early Science" program.
February 2005:
Spartan Infrared Camera
available.
Wide field, high image quality near-IR imager, built by Michigan State
University.
Mid 2005: 100% of time for science operations.
May 2005: IFU Spectrograph available.
Integral field unit connected by fiber feed to a bench spectrograph, built by
Brazil.