Upon Lab testing of the vacuum vessel in Copenhagen, it was discovered to have several major problems which h required a re-make of much of the vessel itself. During integration work at CUO in June we successfully tested out the cold table assemblies incl. Bearings on cold motors were changed and cold tested and almost all internal wiring from motorized unit to the electrical vacuum connectors was completed. Test cables for the motorized units were made and tested also. Progress was made on the array electronics and the motor control electronics were tested and found to work extremely well.
Much work remains however, mostly related to the vacuum vessel.
This work will continue at CUO once the vacuum vessel is delivered, hopefully in early Nov 98. It is anticipated that 6-8 weeks work remains at CUO before delivery of the instrument to La Palma for lab testing there and eventual telescope testing. The design for the first generation grisms for NOTCam is almost complete and soon the drawings will be sent to Milton-Roy in the U.S.A. for quotations. We are optimistic that this initial observing phase will go ahead as planned.