HARPS: regular operation with the Laser Frequency Comb are pending the results of commissioning activities during Period 97 and 98.

UT instruments and facilities

• CRIRES is being transformed into a cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph. The upgraded instrument will be installed during the first semester of 2018.
  
• Commissioning of ESPRESSO, the Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations, will continue in Period 99.

Activities related to the installation of the Adaptive Optics Facility on UT4 (Yepun)

• GALACSI, the adaptive optics module for MUSE will be commissioned during Period 99. It is expected that MUSE with GALACSI in GLAO mode will be offered in Period 100.
  
• The commissioning of the AOF and AOF-related systems is expected to require monthly slots of up to 7 days or bi-monthly 10 to 15-day slots during Periods 99 and 100.  

VLTI instruments and facilites

• Pending successful commissioning during Period 97 and 98, GRAVITY may start operations in spectro-imaging mode on the UTs during Period 99.
  
• Installation of MATISSE, the Multi AperTure mid-Infrared SpectroScopic Experiment, is expected to start in Period 100 and may affect VLTI operations.
  
• The installation and commissioning of the first New Adaptive Optics Module for Interferometry (NAOMI), the low order adaptive optics system for the ATs, is expected to take place during Period 100, during which the corresponding AT will not be available for regular operation for approximately two weeks. The three others will be installed and commissioned during the second half of 2018.
  

 

• ZEUS-2: Pending successful commissioning, the redshift (z) and Early Universe Spectrometer (ZEUS-2) may be offered as a PI instrument during future periods. ZEUS-2 is a broadband spectrograph covering 7 telluric windows covering 200 to 850 µm. For details, see Ferkinhoff et al. 2010.
• ARTEMIS: In future periods, parallel observations at 450 µm (4 arcmin x  2 arcmin )  may be offered.
• Pending successful commissioning, a new single pixel 230 GHz receiver with dual polarization, sideband separated 8 GHz bandwidth per sideband may be offered as of Period 99.