At some point recently while this work was being done, there was an episode in which the switch between support systems was done incompletely, with the consequence that the mirror ended up with a transverse displacement. Intensive work last week has fixed the immediate problem, and as of last night, the images look much better, although not perfect. In the meantime, all kinds of other problems were found in the old support system. Rather than characterizing them and fixing them, we will switch to the new system by the end of this month. Telescope optics and pointing have been stable over the last two days.
Tonight is set aside for engineering, including a new pointing model.
A fixed-cost proposal, which is a good thing. Delivery by August '98. Further negotiations are in progress. Once the mirror support system is under control, the next major job is to work on the baffling for the telescope. This will be posted on a suitable web page.