Tag Archives: Cobra

All fiber positioner modules were shipped

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It was April 2018 that the first fiber module was shipped from Caltech, US to Taiwan. Two years later, now we have completed delivering all the modules to Taiwan. PFS is an instrument to observe celestial objects using optical fibers. Actuators nicknamed “Cobras” are used to position fibers to the targets, and “Cobra” modules consisting of the “Cobras” and fibers… Read more »

5 “Cobra Modules” left from California to Taiwan

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Among the PFS instruments, “Cobra” modules position fibers to galaxies and stars on the Subaru Prime Focal plane. 42 Cobra modules, each of which consists of 57 fibers and its positioners, cover the entire PFS field of view without any inaccessible gaps as shown in Figure 1. Two groups are collaborating to assemble “Cobra Modules”; Brazilian team responsible for fibers,… Read more »

First “Cobra” Module is under the Test in Taiwan

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To talk about this story, one should go back in time a little … Some time ago, the Metrology Camera System was shipped over the Pacific Ocean(from Taiwan to Hawaii).  In fact, around the same time, the first fiber positioner module was also shipped over the Pacific Ocean, from California to Taiwan. The PFS instrument catches the light from galaxies and… Read more »

Joint work for shipping the first positioner module

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At California Institute of Technology (Caltech,  USA), the fiber positioners “Cobra” are assembled into a module (so-called “Cobra module”) by the teams from Caltech, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Brazil in collaboration. As highlighted in the previous article, the first Cobra module has been assembled, tested and calibrated,  so will be shipped soon to Taiwan, where the Cobra modules will… Read more »

The first fiber positioner module was assembled

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At the laboratory of California Institute of Technology (Caltech), USA, the fiber positioner modules are being assembled by Caltech, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (USA), and Laboratorio Nacional de Astrofisica (Brazil). PFS will develop 42 fiber modules for the observation, and the spare modules. We have been assembling the first module, testing it to control the 57 actuators “Cobra” in the… Read more »

Assembly of positioner module is in progress / ファイバー配置モジュール組み立て中

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PFS instrument catches light from about 2400 astronomical objects using fibers paved on the focal plane at the prime focus of the Subaru telescope, and each fiber is positioned by 2-staged actuator called “Cobra” (). As talked in the previous posts, 57 assemblies of Cobra positioners and fibers are integrated to one module, which is mounted to the optical bench…. Read more »

From the development site of Prime Focus Instrument

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Let us start with a question this time: What do you think these parts are used for? There are a number of holes… They are some of the parts for Prime Focus Instrument (PFI) named as the “Cobra bench” and the “rails”, on which the fiber positioning actuators Cobra are installed (Here for details). As a picture below, one actuator… Read more »

Mass production of fiber positioners have started

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PFS will accurately position 2400 fibers to stars and galaxies on the sky in the field of view of about 1.3 degree diameter and deliver spectra for such a large number of objects at one exposure. The key component of this fiber positioning process is the actuator named “Cobra”. In the previous article, we described our testing activities to characterize… Read more »

The fiber positionar is under the experiment

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One of the unique features of the PFS instrument is its multiplicity: Using 2400 fibers, a number of spectra of stars and galaxies can be obtained simultaneously. The actuator named “Cobra”, which is comprised of two motors, is used for moving each fiber to the position of an astronomical object of interest on the focal plane. The “patrol area”, where each fiber attached to Cobra… Read more »