VERITAS Facili.es Steve Criswel - VERITAS Ops. Rev., D 1 ecember 2009

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1 VERITAS Facili.es Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

2 VERITAS Facilities Provided by SAO Site in Na.onal Forest U.li.es at basecamp Backup power at basecamp Offices, electronics labs, and storage at basecamp Founda.ons for telescopes and electronic sheds Mirror lab at basecamp Vehicles for transport Heavy equipment (maintenance and opera.on) Communica.ons Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

3 Current FacilitiesTasks In 2009, Telescope 1 was relocated on budget and ahead of schedule using NSF construc.on funds. (~$270k) Smithsonian maintenance funding - Off Budget Mirror lab ven.la.on upgrade. (~ $60k) - Completed Upgrade the UPSs and ba[eries. Reinforce the shed founda.ons. (~$50k) - Requested Upgrade FLWO wide communica.ons. (~$100k) - Requested Repave basecamp pavement and Telescope 3 area (~$30k) - Requested Control Building Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

4 Why a Central Control Building is Needed. VERITAS has displaced several support employers from their offices. (JW, ML, MMT, TW) FLWO projects have lost drop offices. VERITAS is paying $357/month to rent a trailer that is too small for our technicians. The basecamp bedroom was converted to the VERITAS control room. During summer when collaborators are here, we have to eat lunch in shics. VERITAS has no offices for observers (3) or visi.ng collaborators during the summer. FLWO has no offices for visi.ng scien.sts. Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

5 Central Control Building Status Conceptual design and Forest Service approval is complete. Final design is at 68%. Design and building will be LEED cer.fied. Should have bids in March To save $s, we dropped the dorm and reduced the floor area from 4,500 to 3,000 sf. Lack of day sleeping rooms forces observers to drive to the mountain acer a nights work. Central building is mostly funded by SI. We may have money problems. Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

6 VERITAS Central Building 1 Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

7 VERITAS Central Building 2 Open Office Office Office Storage Control Computer Lab Conference Kitchen Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

8 VERITAS Central Building 3 Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

9 Central Building Cost Estimate 4 Item Estimate Subtotal Base Bid w 10% MR. $937k 1. Lower Wall $15k 2. Glass Walls $39k 3. Folding Wall $12k 4. Rain Collection $1k 5. Work Benches $5k* 6. Central UPS $55k* 7. Concrete Floors $11k All Options Subtotal Furnishings Construction Administration Less Opt. Deleted * Architect Estimate Dec Grand Total Cost Est. +$138k +$80k +$30k -$60k $1,125k $659k Surplus $21k Shortfall Funding w NSF encumbered & unencumbered $ s NSF Construction - Unencumbered NSF Construction - Encumbered $680k $194k SI Construction $910k Total NSF Construction - Encumbered $1,784k Funding w only NSF encumbered $ s $194k SI Construction $910k Total $1,104k Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

10 End VERITAS Facili.es Facili.es Backup Slides Follow Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

11 65% Bid Options # Descrip.on $ 1 Removes top half of exis.ng CMU wall. $14,789 2 Adds interior glass walls. $38,906 3 Adds accordion par..on to separate conference from kitchen. $ Adds water collec.on system with cistern. $1,242 5* Adds built- in work counters in lab and control room. 4,795 6* Adds central UPS unit and wiring. 54,857 7 Replaces.le floor with finished concrete floor. $11,340 Total $137,859 Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

12 Horseshoe Canyon Construc)on stopped in April of (5 founda.ons, water tank, underground- u.li.es, power entrance and powerline road) (~ $1,000k). The Horseshoe Canyon recontouring and revegeta)on cost es.mate report is underway. Recontouring and revegeta.on tasks are undefined and costs are unknown. Ques.ons If we are giving the report to the Na.on, how should it be edited? Are we burying or removing the Horseshoe Canyon infrastructure? Will any NSF construc.on funds be available for the Central building construc.on? (~~ $200k). Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

13 Discussion of Risks Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

14 Risks 1 I have listed the major risks that threaten VERITAS on a separate spreadsheet. In the following slides I comment on some of these risks. We have examined these risks to identify any low cost actions we could take to significantly reduce the risks. The actions we have taken are listed. Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

15 Risks 2 Lightning strikes could take out a lot of expressive electronics. We shutdown for the monsoons, installed lightning rods and are located in a valley. We have had only one minor strike in the first three years of operations. Funding reductions or terminations are a constant threat to government funded programs. We do good science, make presentations and hope for the best. Optics Support Structure (OSS) collisions could damage the OSS or the positioner. We have had 4 collisions. In all cases, the OSS bent what it hit and sustained no damage. We have increased training and are investigating additional interlocks. We are 42 miles from the nearest hospital. Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

16 Risks 3 The original VERITAS designers are starting to disperse. For the most part, they are retaining their connection to VERITAS. The collaboration has modified its rules to encourage this. We have one mirror recoating technician to strip, clean, recoat and anodize 250 mirrors a year. If he were to leave, we would loose this ability. Currently industry is not setup to do this work. If they were, we would have to pay ~ $1,000/mirror. If this were to occur, we would hire and train a new technician using the original design engineer as a teacher. Washington University designed and built the FADC boards. These large complex boards have a very low failure rate and we keep spares. Nonetheless, if WU was not available to repair these boards, it would be difficult to find these skills elsewhere. Mirror lab vacuum pump ($30k) is a single point of failure. Upgrade will provide a new pump and current pump will become the spare. Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

17 Risks 4 The scientific and engineering VERITAS staff is limited. Proposals have been submitted for AGIS and the VERITAS upgrade. If awarded, these projects can impact VERITAS Operations. Fortunately, most of the work for both projects takes place at the collaborating institutions not the VERITAS site. Wild fires are always a risk in unpopulated areas. We work with the Forest Service to reduce the fire risk. The location of VERITAS in a flat area with roads, few trees and a water supply reduce the danger somewhat. Black helicopters with search lights are the natural enemies of astronomers. We work with the Border Patrol and have had few issues. At night the basecamp area is active with UDAs drug transporters and government agencies chasing them. We brief observers and have had few problems since the basecamp was occupied in Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

18 End of Risk Slides Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

19 Safety and Environmental Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

20 Safety and Environmental The VERITAS site is inspected yearly by a team of specialists from DC. A copy of this years report is available at the review site. All visiting observers must complete a 30 minute safety briefing before they work a shift for the first time. All manlifts, cranes, forklifts are inspected yearly by a independent inspector. All crane and lift operators take yearly training. Harnesses are worn for all operations above 10 feet. Bears, ringtailed cats and rattle snakes have been observed within the basecamp. Observers are told to use flashlights and not to feed wild life. Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

21 Fire drills are conducted twice a year. All waste is disposed of using the FLWO HazMat waste disposal systems. First aid (and CPR) training is conducted yearly. Respirators and special ventilation systems are used for mirror stripping. Hard hats are used for all lift operations. Observing crews are always at least 3 persons. Most observers stay at the ridge dorm. This requires mountain driving after a nights work. Mountain driving advice to provided to new observers. There were no injuries during the relocation of telescope 1. For the entire VERITAS project, there have been no night time injuries and two lacerations and a shoulder injury during the day. Steve Criswell - VERITAS Ops. Rev., December

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