Duties & Responsibilities

The Curtis-Schmidt (CS) telescope, on which the PreCam Survey will be conducted, is owned and operated by the University of Michigan's Department of Astronomy. The CS is currently dedicated to a program of optical observations of space debris for NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office. The Principal Investigator (PI) for the NASA program is Dr. Patrick Seitzer of the Department of Astronomy. The conditions that DES-PreCam observers must meet during the observing periods are outlined in Section V of the University of Michigan-Astronomy/DES MOU and are reproduced below:

A. DES will be responsible for properly training all DES observers in the use

of PreCam and the CS and for making them familiar with the CS documentation,

which has been provided by the PI [Pat Seitzer]. DES will endeavor to provide

two observers at all times. One observer should be an experienced optical

observer.

B. DES observers will report all problems with the CS both to CTIO and to the PI.

C. DES observers will not attempt any maintenance, adjustments, or modifications to the CS or building, or any NASA or Michigan equipment at the CS. During DES time emergency repairs to the CS may be carried out by Telops to safely secure the telescope.

D. On days that the CS is scheduled to change from PreCam to NASA, or reverse, the changeover will take place at 2 PM local Chilean time. DES personnel may remove PreCam prior to that time when the change is from the PreCam Instrument to the NASA Instrument.

E. During periods that the NASA camera is mounted and the NASA project is using the CS, DES will have no access to the CS building without specific written approval in advance from the PI. In addition, DES computer systems left at the CS during periods of NASA activity will be physically disconnected from all networks and powered off to prevent interference with use of the telescope.

F. PreCam will setup and operate from the outer control room at the Curtis-Schmidt, the first room that one enters when entering the building. Only Telops will have access to the inner control room, where the NASA/Michigan computers are, and where the NASA CCD camera and auxilary equipment are stored. The door to this room should be closed and locked at all times. There is no equipment or supplies for DES use in the inner control room.

DES observers can access the TCS through the console in the dome.

The DES PreCam observers are also encouraged to read the full MOU, which can be found here [link to be provided].