LSST telescope integration and tests

Abstract

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) Telescope integration and test plan is phased to ensure that subsystems and services are available to support the integration flow. It begins with the summit facility construction and shows how the major subsystems feed into the activities through final testing. In order to minimize the amount of hardware mated for the first time during that period, the approach is to favor all hardware mated and pre-tested at vendors’ facilities with associated hardware and software prior to delivery onsite. The integration and test plan exploits the diffraction limited on-axis image quality of the three-mirror design. In addition, fiducials will be used during optical acceptance testing at vendors’ facilities to capture the optical axis geometry of each optical element. These fiducials will be used during the integration and tests sequence to facilitate the telescope optical alignment. In this paper, we describe the major steps of the LSST telescope integration and test sequence prior to the start of commissioning with the science camera.