GREAT – History
Mentionable events of the GREAT project
Date |
Event |
---|---|
2008 | |
4 th – 5 th December | GREAT Pre-Shipment Review: release of shipment, airworthiness ok’d |
2010 | |
September | Shipping GREAT to NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility (DAOF) in Palmdale, CA |
October | Re-installation at DAOF, successful post-shipment verification |
2011 | |
1 st Quarter | Installation in aircraft, interface checks, EMI/EMC, software interfacing during series of line ops |
1 st April | Observatory characterization flight OCF4, GREAT detects first light |
April | GREAT Short Science flights |
July – November | GREAT Basic Science flights |
September | SOFIA deployment to Germany & Washington D.C. with GREAT installed on aircraft |
18 th November | Kick-off meeting for upGREAT development |
2012 | |
May 2012 | Special Feature of Astronomy and Astrophysics published |
2013 | |
April | Begin Cycle 1 Science flights |
July | SOFIA’s first southern deployment (with FORCAST and GREAT): GREAT has 9 flights out of Christchurch |
2014 | |
January | Closing Cycle 1 Science |
May |
Begin Cycle 2 Science flights
Commissioning of H-channel (4.7 THz) |
2015 | |
January | Closing Cycle 2 Science |
May | Begin Cycle 3 Science flightsCommissioning of upGREAT LFA |
13 th May | upGREAT LFA sees first light |
July | GREAT is part of SOFIA’s 2 nd Southern Deployment to New Zealand |
October | First design ideas for low-frequency extension 4GREAT (working title “downGREAT”) |
December | Closing Cycle 3 Science |
2016 | |
May |
Begin Cycle 4 Science flights
Commissioning of upGREAT HFA |
June | GREAT is part of SOFIA’s 3 rd Southern deployment |
December | Build-up of 4GREAT starts |
2017 | |
February | Closing Cycle 4 Science |
1 st Quarter | NASA completes the installation of the Phase 2 infrastructure on board: two liquid-cooled Helium compressors available |
June |
Begin Cycle 5 Science flights
Commissioning of the full upGREAT configuration (operation of HFA and LFA in parallel) |
July |
GREAT is part of SOFIA’s 4
th
Southern Deployment
Commissioning of 4GREAT’s bands 4G-1, 4G-2 and 4G-4 in New Zealand |
2018 | |
February | Closing Cycle 5 Science |
May | Transfer of GREAT-L1 mixer into 4GREAT system: 4GREAT at its full capabilities |
June |
Begin Cycle 6 Science flights
GREAT is part of SOFIA’s 5 th Southern deployment to Christchurch |
December | Closing Cycle 6 Science |
2019 | |
May | Begin Cycle 7 Science flights |
June | GREAT is part of SOFIA’s 6 th Southern deployment to New Zealand |
2020 | |
March |
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, GREAT’s flight series ends early
Last GREAT flights within Cycle 7 Science |
May | COVID-19 pandemic: GREAT’s coming flight campaign and SOFIA’s Southern deployment canceled |
2021 | |
January – March | Flight series with GREAT from Köln (Cologne), Germany during the COVID pandemic |
July/August | Southern Deployment of SOFIA with GREAT to Tahiti, French-Polynesia; New Zealand is still in lock-down |
October/November | Cycle 9 Science flights |
2022 | |
July/August | Southern Deployment to Christchurch, New Zealand, with GREAT |
19 th August | Flight series is canceled due to damage to the aircraft |
Autumn | Cancelation of SOFIA project is announced |
November | Packing of GREAT for return shipment to Germany |
2023 | |
4 th April | GREAT is picked up at NASA’s AAOF to start its final journey |
20 th June | GREAT arrives at the MPIfR |