Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

Monthly Operations Report

Status as of November 30, 2023

Table of Contents

1. Science/Technical Highlight (Anyone)

2. Photos (Anyone)

3. Directorate (Thomas and Dave)

3.1 Activities

3.2 Financial Status

• DKIST operations carried forward approximately $XX.XXM in unencumbered funds into FY 2024 from previous years.  A total of $0M in new funding has been obligated by NSF thus far in FY 2024 for a total funding amount of $YY.YYM.

• Financial status of 31 Oct 2023

  • DKIST operational expenditures for the current month were $Q.QQM

  • Total YTD expenditures for DKIST operations are $VV.VVM.

  • The average DKIST spending for the past 12 months (burn rate; BR) is $A.BBM / month.

4. Science Operations (Ali and Andres)

4.1 Status of Observing

• The fifth observing window (OCP2.5) closed on 03 Nov 2023. Observing continues in spring 2024.

• Observing Summary 2023:

  • Total Planned Observing: 127 days.

    • 14 out of the 127 days had to be dedicated and scheduled days on-sun without observing in order to allow (a) the instrumentation group to execute necessary tasks without which observing cannot start or continue or (b) allow science operations to execute tasks that are necessary in preparation for the next observing window in collaboration with the instrumentation group and technical operations.

  • Total Executed Observing: 41 days (out of 113).

    • Total Executed PI Observing: 30 days ; 23 individual PI’s (out of 50) received data.

    • Total Executed Community Observing: 11 days (co-observing with PSP and/or Solar Orbiter).

  • Total Shake and Bake: 11 days ; time necessary to prepare for on-sun time after observatory has been down.

  • Total Snow Clean: 7 days.

4.1.1 Regular Cycle Observing

4.1.2 Solar Orbiter Co-Observing

• N/A.

4.1.3 Parker Solar Probe Co-Observing

• N/A.

4.2 Observing Planning

• Quarter 2024 Priority planning meeting discussing observing time for March and April 2024. The respective OCP2.6 observing window will tentatively open on March 11, 2024 and close in April 2024, some tbd time after the Eclipse. This window will cover Solar Orbiters Remote Sensing Window #13 which opens on March 13 (Sun-Earth line crossing configuration), RSW#14 which opens on March 27 (SO perihelion) and closes after the total Eclipse on April 12. Also covered in OCP2.6 is PSPs 19th perihelion encounter on March 30 coinciding with Solar Orbiters perihelion window in RSW#14 both in quadrature configuration with Earth on the East limb of the sun.

• Development of a DDT proposal for observing on the day of the Eclipse 2024 is converging and on schedule. Potentially, the program can/wi be executed on immediate days prior the eclipse (we do need testing of this program) and the day after the eclipse (pending observing conditions and weather any observations of the corona with this program on days before or after the eclipse are still immensely valuable even if on the day of the eclipse no observing is possible).

4.3 Science Operations Training Activities

• tbd.

4.4 Science Operations Specialists

• tbd.

4.5 Cycle Preparation

• Preparations for Cycle 3 Call continue and include among other: FIDO configuration(s), Instrument modes/capabilities (spectral lines, filters, spectroscopy and/or spectropolarimetry), general systems capabilities (telescope and WFC), pointing targets, science priorities, etc.

4.6 Experiment Generation

• All Cycle 2 Experiments need to be revised for observing in 2024 to support (a) a new standard observing script allowing for more flexibility and functionality, (b) DL-NIRSP changes due to the image slicer upgrade, and (c) other instrument specific parameters in need of adjustment. The planning of that effort and the details thereof have started. This will be a phased effort prioritizing all Cryo-NIRSP experiments and those experiments that are compliant with the FIDO configuration selected for OCP2.6.

4.7 Science Operations Management

• Weekly meetings between Program Scientist and Science Operations Manager.

• Biweekly meetings between Science Operations and the Instrumentation Group Leads.

4.8 Science Operations Tools

• Completed Terraform scripts that will create new AWS Virtual Private Clouds (VPC)s for the production and development stacks of the Ops tools. Currently the Prod and Dev stacks are located within the same VPC, which is an unwanted situation as they share resources, queues, and security tools. The new Terrraform script will be tested and hopefully deployed in December.

• With the hiring of a new Software Engineer, began the migration of the Experiment Architect from VUE 2 to React. VUE 2 is nearing en of life and the migration is required to keep the product on a well surprted platform.

• Completed the second round of updates to the OT-OCS Interface Control Document (ICD) - The ICD was updated in significant ways as we learned from implementing and using the ICD during the OCP 1 and 2 Observing periods. The ICD change was major in that is modified, deleted, and added a number of messages in order to more efficiently transfer data and to add functionality that was not previously possible.

• Completed the Beta version of the OPMT migration to React, which include an extensive redesign of the user interface. The changes are now in user review.

4.8.1 Management

5 Technical Operations (Heather and Paul)

5.1 Site & Facility Status

5.2 General Site & Facility Repairs, Improvements & Upgrades

5.3 Electrical/Electronics/PLC and Facility Management System

5.3.1  Highlights of Recurring Preventative Maintenance Performed in October

5.3.2 System Repairs & Upgrades

5.4 Mechanical/Thermal

5.4.1 Highlights of Recurring Preventive Maintenance performed in October

5.4.2 System Repairs & Upgrades

5.5 Opto-Mechanical

5.6 Management

5.6.1 Recruitment & Training

5.6.2 Environmental Safety & Health

5.6.3 Observatory Community Service, Broadening Participation 

6 Instrumentation Operations (Bret, Friedrich, and Dave H.)

6.1 Optics

6.1.1 System Optics

• The Vibrometer was used with the GOS lamp November 21st collecting several types of jitter data at the ViSP slit plane focus. Many narrow, repeatable frequencies are present in the data. Impulse response of various mirrors is a work in progress, with several examples showing very clear and repeatable frequency “fingerprints”. This will be useful in upcoming vibration mitigation efforts.
  
  Image jitter of the DKIST beam path from the GOS lamp to the ViSP slit plane recorded over 10 minutes with minimal activity and most systems parked / off. Many narrow and repeatable frequencies are present in the DKIST beam:

  

  • Impulse response of the DKIST beam path at the ViSP slit plane when tapping the back of the M8 glass substrate:

  

• Impulse response of the DKIST beam path at the ViSP slit plane when tapping the VBI-Blue optical bench:

  

6.1.2 Facility Instrument Distribution Optics (FIDO)

• The GS50T950 was unpacked on the summit, shock load data analyzed, and the optic placed in the coude lab clean room, ready for use.
  

  

• The FIDO dichroic suite of coating samples was measured in an updated DSSC lab setup to assess their blocking density, and the coating design utility in upcoming Cryo-NIRSP out-of-band filter blocking improvements. The coatings were not optimized for high density blocking, but BS-680, -643, and -555 are better than OD3 to OD4.

  

• The coating stress assessment for the GS30T500 design continued. Stress values are relatively low, with the predicted surface power figure bias being below tolerances. This coating is particularly difficult as the front side dichroic coating has very low reflectivity at the interferometer wavelength (633nm). Discussions with both vendors are continuing to ensure good selection of a surface bias.

6.1.3 Polarization Analysis and Calibration (PA&C)

• Coating development is progressing on the fringe-suppressed Cryo-NIRSP polycarbonate modulator upgrade project for the 1080nm and 1430nm bands. The 5-layer anti-reflection base coating achieved 0.03% reflectivity, a factor of 3x better than the minimum specification. An initial test of an 11-layer coating adding UV blocking to protect the polycarbonate was successful, with at least 2 more test runs expected to dial in performance. The suite of windows for coating were ordered. The optical specifications were finalized and a Requisition approved (though no PO has been issued by AURA yet). A PO for two more modulator cells was submitted after a re-design of some internal threads caused difficulties in prior projects.

• The optically-contacted MgF2 for a fringe-suppressed modulator for infrared Cryo-NIRSP observations has made some steps forward. A new vendor quoted coatings after our current vendor has struggled to create a successful coating. The specifications, quote, and PO have been finalized and submitted. MgF2 coating samples have been ordered. Testing and development should begin next month on these new samples.

• The ViSP beam balancing retarder pair project had a vendor make progress in fixing an issue with retardance uniformity in polycarbonate layers. The DKIST team worked with the vendor to assess individual manufacturing process steps and update the polarization error budgeting. A new optic was completed with acceptance metrology at the vendor nearly completed. Next month we expect to have received and tested this new optic in the Maui DSSC labs.
  

6.2 Summit Instrumentation

6.2.1 Instrument Systems

6.2.2 Wavefront Correction System (WFS)

6.2.3 Visible Spectro-Polarimeter (ViSP)

• Some internal ghosting assessments were discussed using calibration data from recent observations. Test observations were planned for future on-sun campaigns. Discussions of additional internal aperture masks and baffles are ongoing.

6.2.4 Diffraction Limited Near-Infrared Spectro-Polarimeter (DL-NIRSP)

6.2.5 Cryogenic Near-Infrared Spectro-Polarimeter (Cryo-NIRSP)

• Some spectrally narrow filter leaks have been suspected of creating artifacts in CN 1079nm science data. The DSSC filter spatial mapping at high density and high spectral resolution revealed spatially variable leaks earlier this year, though filters passed specifications as written. Recent calibrations of data showed curved artifacts that change when using the CN density filters, which have strong spectral gradients in their transmission spectra, enhancing visible flux near the filter leak wavelengths. Models of these leaks by DKIST scientists show reasonable agreement in predicted stray light contamination. An additional dichroic-type blocking filter, based on the FIDO-BS-680 coating should suppress these CN filter leaks by >2 orders of magnitude. A filter optical design, temporary commercial mechanical mount, and coating design shifts from fused silica to a CaF2 substrate have been done this month. We expect specs, quotes, and POs for glass and coatings to be done next month, with filter delivery hopefully by mid February.
  

  

6.2.6 Visible Broadband Imager

• Dichroic blocking filters for VBI-Blue were ordered from a second vendor following last’s months spec development. Some commercial mounting hardware was ordered for both -Blue and -Red channel blocking filters. These filters should be installed before out-of-band flux is sent to VBI by the new Grey FIDO beam splitters.

6.7 Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO)

6.8 High Level Software (HLS)

6.9 Infrared Cameras

7 Data Center Operations (Bob and Alisdair)

7.1 Hardware Infrastructure

• Continued integrating Buys #4 and #5 hardware into the Data Center. The equipment has been racked and stacked, and is awaiting the installation and configuration of switches by CU personnel in order to be integrated and functioning in the DC.

7.2 Software Infrastructure

7.2.1 Data Center

• As a precursor to updating the Quality Reporting Framework, the quality data was moved from the Postgres DB to another DB as the volume of quality data wa on the verge of causing latency issues with the rest of the data in the search support DB.

• Began working on the design of the Quality reporting framework. The updated framework is meant to make the quality data machine readable, extensible, and usable in the context of scientific data trend identification and dashboarding of Quality data such that history of quality data may be graphically displayed

7.2.2 Portal/Archive/Public

• Updated the Portal to include an alerting function such that breaking news relating to the Data Center, the Data, or the Portal may be displayed to users when such alerts are warranted.

7.3 Science Data Processing

7.3.1 Calibration Pipelines

• Completed the 1st iteration of the DL-NIRSP pipeline and delivered it to the DL-NIRSP science team. It is expected to stay static until the new DL-NIRSP hardware is installed on the summit and new data is taken during the DL-NIRSP verification activities on the summit.

• Updated and refactored VISP pipleplie code to account for and implement the lessons learned during the Cryo NIRSP pipeline development.

• Continued working with the Cryo -NIRSP science team in the Cryo-NIRSP pipeline acceptance. The DC has updated the pipeline based on reviews of the data by the science team, and continues to update and rerun data through the pipeline as improvements are implemented.

• Began working (design and implementation) on the Manual Processing Worker (MPW) - which is the tool that will allow the DC to Calibrate data sets that have one-off issues that cause them to fail when running normally through the pipeline. There are a handful of VISP data sets in the backlog that will need the MPW in order to get processed

7.3.1 Data Released

• There were 9 new Datasets that were created and 12 Datasets that were made public

DataSets Released to PIs

Datasets Made Public