Fibre positioner integration
by Joe Liske on 2020-04-28
On 27 April 2020, Scott Smedley reported that the AESOP fibre positioner reached a significant milestone. All 2,448 spines were installed in their final configuration. Almost the entire AESOP team (comprising 24 people) were involved in the assembly and testing of spine modules. All 28 spine modules successfully passed their unit tests. System testing will commence once all four electronics cabinets are fully assembled and integrated with AESOP.
All 28 spine modules have passed unit testing and been integrated into AESOP.
The AESOP focal surface comprises 2,436 science spines + 12 guide spines + 24 fiducial probes.
A team of two dozen engineers and technicians is involved in the design, manufacturing, assembly and testing of each spine module. This picture shows Sufyan Baker, one of the team's mechanical technicians.