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SOAR
Project Timeline
- August
1997
The
four partners - MSU, the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
the National Optical Astronomy Observatories
and the country of Brazil - 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
- 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 Pach
ó
n,
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.
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