By the time this is printed, the entire mechanical assembly will have been disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled in the clean room for final installation in the dewar. Simultaneously, work has been proceeding on the electronics. The printed circuit cards have been received and populated, and the electronics boxes have been fabricated. The backplane and heat sink have just been received, and will be installed in the electronics box in the next week. The radiation shields and internal dewar supports are suspended by a crane over the dewar prior to being installed for a mechanical test fit of all the components.
Phoenix now appears on the telescope schedule.
1 April is the first night on a telescope, but no data will be taken. This 24 hour block on the 2.1-m is to check the mechanical fit of the instrument and mechanical interface units to the telescope. We will try out all the handling equipment, connect all the required cables and cooler lines, and exercise as many functions of the instrument as are possible without having the instrument cold. For the Phoenix test fit night we will learn how to get Phoenix on the telescope in the required time. Ken Hinkle is shown with the Phoenix dewar.