Summary of Automation on the AURA 150-inch Telescope

Extract

We hope to have a well-planned program tied to the astronomical specifications demanded. We also hope to save time and money, very important considerations in high cost, big science.

I have become really aware of the sink of dollars and man-hours that technology involves, especially so when it is not well defined and well planned. We hope to avoid a near bottomless sink if we can. Total systems design is very important, not just a careful design of each subsystem.

In adopting automation, I want to insist that we don’t lock out certain experimental possibilities that we had before, or lock out certain type people (good ones) who are unwilling or unable to work with the highly sophisticated equipment we’ll be providing. Excellent astronomy has been done with poor equipment used by good astronomers; even the best equipment doesn’t do the best astronomy without the full involvement of good scientists. What I’m saying is, perhaps, that the system has to be our slave, not the reverse, and that we should not be limited by it.

What we want is an improvement in astronomical research, not merely in the gadgetry involved. The key to success may well be to strive for the best possible astronomer-technologist interface.