EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY

La Silla Observatory

SCIENCE OPERATION DEPARTMENT

Minute of the SciOp meeting held on 2003-08-13:          Concerns about science operation of La Silla LSO-MIN-ESO-90000-4

Prepared	Olivier Hainaut	2003-08-13
Reviewed	SciOp and JMelnick	2003-08-20
Released	J.Melnick	2003-08-21

Revision History

1.- INTRODUCTION

1.1- PURPOSE and SCOPE

1.2- STYLISTIC CONVENTION

1.3- ACRONYMS AND DEFINITIONS

1.4- DOCUMENTS AND REFERENCES

• [1] Concerns about science operation of La Silla, LSO-MEM-ESO-90000-5
• [2] La Silla SciOp Staffing Plan, LSO-PLA-ESO-90000-6/1.0
• [3] "La Silla 2006+" Report of the Working Group, 3.0. [Link]
• [4] SciOp Job Titles and Generic Job Description,  LSO-SPE-ESO-90000-1/1.0
  
• [5] La Silla SciOp: Astronomy Operation, LSO-PLA-ESO-90000-3/1.1

2.- MINUTES

2.1- SciOp staffing plan

•  four persons will leave before end of the year or have left already  (George, Rene', Jon and Michael; Michael has been replaced by Ivo,    Jon by Cedric, but this leaves a fellow and an OPA less, so still   4 people less) and no replacement is forseen -> 400 nights lost
•  by middle next year three more people will leave or have reduced    duty (Malvina, Lisa, Linda), and no replacement is forseen    -> another 160 nights lost
•  Vanessa is in sick/maternity leave until indefinite date...temporary    replacement looked for, but not yet found
•  two more TIO positions will be cut by the end of the year
  

• 5 Staff Astro, 3 OpAs, 4 Fellows, i.e. 1250n/yr, or 3.42 astro/night
  
• 14 TIOs, i.e. 6.09 TIO/day
  
• 2 OpEng

• 4 Staff Astro, 3 OpAs, 3 Fellows, i.e. 1065n/yr or 2.92 astro/night
• 12 TIOs, i.e. 5.22 TIO/day
• 2 OpEng

• we keep the 14 TIO positions, that R.Mendez' position will remain (with replacement of Rene when needed) and that a departing fellow will be replaced to keep 4 fellows.
  
• two TIO positions will be closed at La Silla at the time we stop operating WFI, corresponding to the opening of 2 TIO positions at VST. The objective is that 2 SciOp TIOs will be transfered to VST, selected among the SciOp TIOs that show interest for these positions and that are considered to have the abilities to become successful VST TIOs.
  To be crystal clear: if the TIOs interested by the VST positions do not convince us (their direct supervisor + ohainaut + jmelnick) that they will be successful VST TIOS, their automatic transfer will not be approved: we are not going to send someone to fail at VST. The goal, however, is that by that time, all SciOp TIOs will be fully "compliant".
  

2.2- SPECIFIC PROBLEMS

• Sometimes:
•  no TIO support during visitors' nights/days (2p2) Comments: Usually there is a TIO for the night and no day support (startup, day operation), very seldom the other way round.
•  Startup of the telescope done by astronomer Comment: Astros have only basic knowledge of how to bring systems up.  If something goes wrong, they need someone who can help. Possibility that if everyone else is busy bringing up other telescopes, the telescope might not be ready to start the night.
  
  
  As indicated above, the staffing plan consider that we should have 6 TIOs most of the time. More care will be taken for the scheduling to ensures that we actually do have 6 TIOs most of the time.  Nevertheless, there will be occasions in which only 5 TIOs are available. In that case, the default configuration is 2 days, 2 night and 1 midday-midnight TIOs, and the default distribution is that the midday/night TIO is on the 2p2. Nevertheless other combinations can be chose on a case by case. In the default configuration, the 3p6 and NTT TIOs should give support to the 2p2 (provided that it does not cause problems on these telescopes). This will remain a "sometimes" issue.
   *When the Service Astronomer finishes the night alone: 
  - the astronomer will park and close the telescope from the RITZ,
  - one of the DAY TIO will go to the dome at ~08 o'clock to check that everything is OK and to refill the dewar.*
  Nevertheless, in case of emergency (eg unforeseen sick leave), any configuration can be considered till the end of the emergency (eg have an OpA or an Astro replacing a TIO, or a TIO replacing an astro, special transport to bring someone in, etc). This should be an "exceptional" issue.
  
  
• Often:
• Working shifts during day and night (e.g. service + calibration) Comment: While this happens on all telescopes, at the 2p2 this situation is standard during service mode operation. Astros and TIOs agree that the astro leaves the queue filled with relevant calibrations and the TiO executes it. But however, if something goes wrong, the astro will be held responsible since it is their job to check the calibrations. 
  
  During the discussion, it was pointed out that the only efficient way to check the calibrations is when they are taken. As they are taken by the TIOs, the TIOs will be trained, and mini-procedures will be written so that the TIOs can certify the calibs. *The procedures/check-lists will include MIDAS/IRAF scripts that do some simple tests and produce some values to be logged on the check-list and compared with a range of valid values*.
  The astronomer will have then only to deal with rejected calibrations, which should be "exceptional".
  
  
• First night up already on service
  
  Should happen only exceptionally. More care will be taken to avoid this to the max, bringing this issue to the "exceptional" level.
  
  
• Too often:
• service nights or at least second part without TIO (2p2 mainly) Comment: The service observer knows how to run the telescope and fix the basic problems **depending on their experience**. The service observer may not immediately understand what the problem is when it occurs whereas a TIO knows exactly the symptoms and how to fix the problems when they occur.  i.e. astros are much less efficient without a TIO [...].
  
  New rule:  if a problem arises after the night TIO of the telescope has left, and if nobody at RITZ knows how to solve it, the problem is to be reported and the telescope shall be closed. Obviously, this will result in a higher down time. * This policy starts immediately.
  
  It must however be noted that this  increase of total down time should not  be accompanied or caused by a large number of small problem reports. *
  
  
• Doing service and introducing a new astronomer for the next days
  
  This should not happen. More care will be taken to avoid this to the max, bringing this issue to the "exceptional" level.
  
  
• Doing calibration for/with visitor in the afternoon (mainly NTT and 2p2)
  
  The visitors have to be trained until they can take their calibrations only with the assistance of the TIO. At that level, the Support Astro does not have to babysit the visitor, just to be available for assistance if required. Note that the same is true for night support. Also note that the CALOB tool should reduce the quantity of afternoon calibrations to a mimimum.
  
  In order to aleviate the load on the WFI service observers, more astronomers will be trained to perform service on WFI *
  
  
• Working more than the agreed days for La Silla in Vitacura, because of   the goals and objectives and few time to really work on them when we  are on La Silla.
  
  The contract of the fellows specifies that they have to perform 35days of duties for the observatories when in Vitacura. Until now, this has never been enforced and, at the time of the SciOp Re-engineering, the concensus was that the amount of duty work in Vitacura does not (or did not?) amount to 35d. The job descriptions [4] and the SciOp Astronomy Operation Plan [5] indicate that "These 35d are used to ensure the continuity of their service to SciOp (e.g. read SciOp email, reply to those concerning them directly, complete urgent tasks, etc.), and perform background tasks such as documentation, analysis, etc. The Fellows are not expected to keep detailed track of their time in Vitacura, but experience (+ time record from some template fellows) shows that this does not amount to 35d. The remainder is considered as a compensation for possible over-run of their 80n quota on La Silla (not to be abused, and to be kept at a small level, e.g. no more than 10%), required by emergency situations or schedule impossibilities".
  
  For the Staff and OpAs, their contract indicates the number of nights to be spent on La Silla, but does not specify anything about Vitacura. The job descriptions [4] indicate that "It is expected from the OpA that he will remain informed while being in Vitacura, by reading emails and replying to urgent emails related to his duties, and perform/complete urgent tasks related to his duties for SciOp. This should take a very small fraction of his research time".
  
  It should be noted that the night statistics for La Silla astronomers are following extremely strictly the contractual constraints, as listed in the table below for the last accounting period (running from 2002-Q4 till 2003-Q3).
  

  Name	Nights/Contract	Notes
  M.Billeres	82/80
  Th.Dall	78/80
  V.Doublier	88/105	sick leave
  C.Foellmi	121/125	OpA contract ending
  L.Germany	93/80
  O.Hainaut	109/105
  G.Hau	60/80	End of contract in Q2
  G.LoCurto	130/125
  R.Mendez	130/105
  E.Pompei	105/105
  J.Pritchard	128/125
  I.Saviane	78/80
  F.Selman	111/125

  
  
  Nevertheless, as of today (2003-08-14) and until 2003-09-30, we will perform the following experiment, which consists in enforcing strictly what is said above about the staff.
  
• Background duty work in Vitacura should be avoided.*
• When receiving a message related to duties, acknowledge reception indicating when you will deal with it (something like the 2d day of next stay at la Silla). In case of urgent mails, pass them to lasilla@eso.org

• Being shift-leader when doing night work
  
  This should not happen. More care will be taken to avoid this to the max, bringing this issue to the "exceptional" level.