1. SSWG Meeting #15: May 2006, Cape Town SSWG #15: 7 & 8 May 20061 SSWG Agenda: Sunday 7 th May 1.Welcome. Minutes of Previous meeting. Matter arising (David)09:00 – 09:30 2.Overview of SALT activities & operations (David / Phil)09:00 –09:30 3.Report on SALT technical operations (Herman)09:30 – 10:30 4.Coffee/Tea10:30 – 10:50 5.Report on SALT Image Quality (Darragh)10:50 – 11:50 6.Update on SAMS (Hitesh, John)11:50 – 12:30 7.Update on Payload (Janus)12:30 – 12:45 8.SALTICAM status update (Darragh)12:45 – 13:00 9.Lunch13:00 – 13:45 10.SALTICAM Auto-guider update (James)13:45 – 14:00 11.Status of PFIS completion & commissioning (Steve/David)14:00 – 14:30 12.RSS Near IR Conceptual Design Review I (Andy/Marsha)14:30 –15:30 13.Coffee/Tea15:30 – 16:00 14.RSS Near IR Conceptual Design Review II (Andy/Marsha)16:00 – 17:00 15.HRS status (Peter)17:00 – 17:15 16.Possible expansion of the HRS to include iodine cell (Janusz)17:15 – 17:30 The first day’s business will be concluded with a drinks & snacks function at David & Jean Buckley’s house (House 3, SAAO), starting at 6 pm. This will also be an opportunity to informally meet most of the SALT Astronomers.

2. SSWG Meeting #15: May 2006, Cape Town SSWG #15: 7 & 8 May 20062 SSWG Agenda: Monday 8 th May 1.Status of Scheduling, Planning & Proposal Tools (Roy, Encarni)09:00 – 10:00 2.Data reductions update (Roy, Martin, Luis)10:00 – 10:30 3.Coffee/Tea10:30 – 11:00 4.Partner reports11:00 – 11:15 5.Other business11:15 – 11:30

3. SSWG Meeting #15: May 2006, Cape Town SSWG #15: 7 & 8 May 20063 Astronomy Operations Now 3 SOs: Fred, Sandisa, Lucian (Francois resigned), with Charl as backup. –Additional responsibilities to include ELS reporting, environmental trending & reporting (nightly summaries), calibrations –2 weeks on 1 week off routine (8 h nights; two shifts) All 6 SAs (Encarni, Petri, Martin, Nicola, Alexei & Yas) are now in place and fully trained –Various responsibilities assigned –Regular observing (1 week in 6) scheduled and Cape Town backup –Webpage developments –Beginning data analysis and evaluation –PI tools continuing to be developed Additional assistance from Res. Fellows/Post Docs –Ramotholo Sefako (past UW postdoc) –Lisa Crause (PAC’s postdoc) –Hannah Worters (UCLAN) –Christian Hettlage (Java developer on-loan from Goettingen) –Some giving general assistance to SAs at telescope

4. SSWG Meeting #15: May 2006, Cape Town SSWG #15: 7 & 8 May 20064 Astronomy Operations Night-time activities –IQ tests top priority –Many other engineering support priorities (e.g. Cal. Sys, guidance characterization) –Instrument support for RSS (e.g. obtaining throughput data) –The many problems still with reliability and efficiency will hopefully benefit from S/W fix weeks Liaison with PIs –Status report on SALT & Instruments –Webpage access to relevant SA Intranet pages »Data Quality webpages »Sample data for potential PIs/SSWG/Board to scrutinize & offer opinions –Resurrecting SALTeNEWS Data reductions –Meetings held with interested parties (SAs, SAAO astronomers & postdocs, IT division) –QUACK (LAB) installed and being used for on-line reductions –Development of other S/W (e.g. continuing development of SALT IRAF package) –S/W management and planning processes (version control, S/W repositories)

5. SSWG Meeting #15: May 2006, Cape Town SSWG #15: 7 & 8 May 20065 Astronomy Operations Breakdown of Science Time Nov (after 11th): –Science: 13 h –Technical time: 94 h –Weather down time: 31 h Dec: –Science: 50 h –Technical time: 104 h –Weather down time: 36 h Jan (until 26th): –Science: 11 h 49 m –Technical time: 96 h 20 m –Weather down time: 40 h 41 m Since Feb BEC, most efforts in support of Image Quality campaign, telescope subsystem & RSS commissioning. Science (P-V) is second priority to getting SALT and RSS commissioned.

6. SSWG Meeting #15: May 2006, Cape Town SSWG #15: 7 & 8 May 20066 Astronomy Operations Final Remarks SALT and instruments still not “commissioned” –Premature for full P-V phase Telescope & control efficiency issues –Reliability (esp. TCS, Tracker) »Some discernable improvements with advent of dedicated S/W & Eng. weeks –Commissioning observations only beginning »Need to expand targets to fill queue (PIs & Inst. Teams) »Comparative observations P-V began at low level, but low priority behind IQ work, subsystem comm. & RSS commissioning. Lots of Payload issues still to resolve Instrument characterization being done »Continuing ATP update for RSS »Obtaining template arcs, flats, etc for all gratings/angles Expect progress on many aspects over next 3-4 months, but realistically won’t be into full P-V work until latter part of year. Will depend on how long IQ and other issues will take to fix.