Project management for complex ground-based instruments: MEGARA plan

Abstract

The project management of complex instruments for ground-based large telescopes is a challenge itself. A good management is a clue for project success in terms of performance, schedule and budget. Being on time has become a strict requirement for two reasons: to assure the arrival at the telescope due to the pressure on demanding new instrumentation for this first world-class telescopes and to not fall in over-costs. The budget and cash-flow is not always the expected one and has to be properly handled from different administrative departments at the funding centers worldwide distributed. The complexity of the organizations, the technological and scientific return to the Consortium partners and the participation in the project of all kind of professional centers working in astronomical instrumentation: universities, research centers, small and large private companies, workshops and providers, etc. make the project management strategy, and the tools and procedures tuned to the project needs, crucial for success.MEGARA (Multi-Espectrógrafo en GTC de Alta Resolución para Astronomía) is a facility instrument of the 10.4m GTC (La Palma, Spain) working at optical wavelengths that provides both Integral-Field Unit (IFU) and Multi-Object Spectrograph (MOS) capabilities at resolutions in the range R=6,000-20,000. The project is an initiative led by Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) in collaboration with INAOE (Mexico), IAA-CSIC (Spain) and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain). MEGARA is being developed under contract with GRANTECAN.

Polishing techniques for MEGARA pupil elements optics

“…The manufacturing process is described by Carrasco et al [2]. Different MEGARA subsystems are discussed by Castillo et al [3], Ferrusca et al [4], Ortíz et al [5], García-Vargas et al [6] and Pérez-Calpena et al [7]. Specific processes in the optical fabrication are briefly described by Izazaga et al [8].…”

MEGARA, the new intermediate-resolution optical IFU and MOS for GTC: getting ready for the telescope

“…Finally, MEGARA includes a detailed management plan that, within a series of managerial parameters, that is currently allowing a successful AIV (Assembly, Integration and Verification) and a timely deliver to GTC while satisfying all instrument and functional requirements. More details on the MEGARA system engineering and management plan are provided in Section 10 and in other publications in this volume 21 .…”

“…This Management Plan is based on the final contracts for the detailed design, construction, assembly, integration, verification (AIV) and commissioning of MEGARA signed on April 28 th and May 5 th 2014 between GRANTECAN S.A. and the UCM 21 .…”