From David Le Mignant (LAM)
As of early 2016, several PFS spectrograph activities are on-going in parallel in France, led by Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) with the support from the other PFS members. Among them, two major items are:
1) the thermal validation for the Visible Camera Unit: Since last year we have been undertaking this validation process (https://pfs.ipmu.jp/blog/2015/11/p124). According to the thermal tests in Dec. 2015, we found some changes to be required in some thermal and mechanical parts. We also diagnosed a potential problem with the cryo-cooler and we are replacing it. Further tests are planned in late February.
2) the assembly test of the spectrograph: The mechanical parts for the Spectrograph Module #1 (SM1) are assembled also here in Marseille (https://pfs.ipmu.jp/blog/2015/08/p17). The parts were developed at different sites of the other PFS members, and are being integrated for the first time on the bench of 2.4m wide and 1.9m long. During assembly test, we have checked that the repositioning errors of every part on the optical bench are indeed small enough compared to the specification. We are also verifying the mechanical interfaces, particularly those between the optical bench and the large covers.
This is illustrated in the attached movie.
More slow and high resolution movie is available on the PFS web:
(http://pfs.ipmu.jp/movie/SpS/mountingsequence_201601.mp4)
