Science-based requirements and operations development for the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer

Modeling, Systems Engineering, and Project Management for Astronomy VIII

Mignot

et al. 2018

Self Cite

The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) will each year obtain millions of spectra in the optical to nearinfrared, at low (R 3, 000) to high (R 40, 000) spectral resolution by observing >4,000 spectra per pointing via a highly multiplexed fiber-fed system. Key science programs for MSE include black hole reverberation mapping, stellar population analysis of faint galaxies at high redshift, and sub-km/s velocity accuracy for stellar astrophysics.One key metric of the success of MSE will be its survey speed, i.e. how many spectra of good signal-to-noise ratio will MSE be able to obtain every night and every year. The survey speed is directly linked to the allocation efficiency -how many fibers in the focal surface can be allocated to targets -and to the injection efficiencywhat fraction of light from a target can enter the fiber at the focal surface.In this paper we focus on the injection efficiency and how to optimize it to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of targets observed in sky dominated conditions. The injection efficiency depends on the size of the fiber and requires highly precise, repeatable and stable positioning of the fiber in the focal surface. We present the allocation budget used for Conceptual Design Review and the modeling that allows to estimate the injection efficiency, which is just one part necessary to meet the science requirements on sensitivities.

“…2 and the science based requirements were explained in Ref. 3. An update of the project at the end of conceptual design phase is presented this year in Ref.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling and budgeting fiber injection efficiency for the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE)

Modeling, Systems Engineering, and Project Management for Astronomy VIII

Mignot

et al. 2018

Self Cite

“…2 and the science based requirements were explained in Ref. 3. An update of the project at the end of conceptual design phase is presented this year in Ref.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expected observing efficiency of the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE)

Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems VII

et al. 2018

Self Cite

The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) will obtain millions of spectra each year in the optical to nearinfrared, at low (R 3, 000) to high (R 40, 000) spectral resolution by observing >4,000 spectra per pointing via a highly multiplexed fiber-fed system. Key science programs for MSE include black hole reverberation mapping, stellar population analysis of faint galaxies at high redshift, and sub-km/s velocity accuracy for stellar astrophysics.One key metric of the success of MSE will be its survey speed, i.e. how many spectra of good signal-to-noise ratio will MSE be able to obtain every night and every year. This is defined at the higher level by the observing efficiency of the observatory and should be at least 80%, as indicated in the Science Requirements.In this paper we present the observing efficiency budget developed for MSE based on historical data at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and other Maunakea Observatories. We describe the typical sequence of events at night to help us compute the observing efficiency and how we envision to optimize it to meet the science requirements.

“…2 and the science based requirements were explained in Ref. 3. An update of the project at the end of conceptual design phase…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal scheduling and science delivery of spectra for millions of targets in thousands of fields: the operational concept of the Maunakea spectroscopic explorer (MSE)

McConnachie

Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems VII

et al. 2018

Self Cite

The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) will each year obtain millions of spectra in the optical to nearinfrared, at low (R 3000) to high (R 40000) spectral resolution by observing >3000 spectra per pointing via a highly multiplexed fiber-fed system. Key science programs for MSE include black hole reverberation mapping, stellar population analysis of faint galaxies at high redshift, and sub-km/s velocity accuracy for stellar astrophysics.The architecture of MSE is an assembly of subsystems designed to meet the science requirements and describes what MSE will look like. In this paper we focus on the operations concept of MSE, which describes how to operate a fiber fed, highly multiplexed, dedicated observatory given its architecture and the science requirements.The operations concept details the phases of operations, from selecting proposals within the science community to distributing back millions of spectra to this community. For each phase, the operations concept describes the tools required to support the science community in their analyses and the operations staff in their work. It also highlights the specific needs related to the complexity of MSE with millions of targets to observe, thousands of fibers to position, and different spectral resolution to use. Finally, the operations concept shows how the science requirements on calibration and observing efficiency can be met. is presented this year in Ref. 4 with a review of the instrumentation suite in Ref. 5. Other papers related to MSE are focusing on: the summit facility upgrade (Ref. 6, 7), the telescope optical design for MSE (Ref. 8), the telescope structure design (Ref. 9), the design for the high-resolution (Ref. 10, 11) and the low/moderateresolution spectrograph (Ref. 12), the top end assembly (Ref. 13, 14), the fiber bundle system (Ref. 15, 16), the Sphinx fiber positioner system (Ref. 17), the systems budgets architecture and development (Ref. 18, 19), the observatory software (Ref. 20), the spectral calibration (Ref. 21, 22), the throughput optimization (Ref. 23, 24), the injection efficiency (Ref. 25), and the observing efficiency (Ref. 26).MSE will be a facility dedicated to spectroscopic surveys. Multiple surveys will be executed in parallel to make the best use of the observatory capabilities, with both LMR and HR spectrographs simultaneously available at all time and sharing the telescope's field of view. While the surveys are envisioned to be multi-year large programs (LP), we expect that some observing time might be allocated to small programs (SP) that will likely be more focused, require smaller amounts of telescope time or number of fibers, and typically lead to more rapid publications. Even though MSE will be a significantly different facility than CFHT, the operations of MSE will benefit from CFHT's experience in queue service observations and from the transition that has already happened at CFHT with an increased importance of LPs and survey oriented operations.In this paper we focus on the operations concept of MSE: how MSE will ...