Mr. Maxime Boccas Profile

Maxime Boccas

Head of MSE at European Southern Observatory

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Publications (32)

Proceedings Article | 11 September 2024 Poster + Paper

20 years of experience maintaining the encoders in the Very Large Telescope at Paranal Observatory

Fernando Salgado, Rodrigo Huerta, Juan Carlos Pineda, Eduardo Garcés, Nicolás Alvarez, Juan Carlos Palacios, José Figueroa, Pascual Rojas, José Báez, Víctor Cea, Maxime Boccas

Proceedings Volume 13094, 1309447 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3019917

KEYWORDS: Head, Telescopes, Calibration, Observatories, Equipment, Design, Large telescopes, Control systems, Inspection

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More than 20 years have already passed since the first light of Antu, the Very Large Telescope (VLT) Unit 1 at Paranal Observatory on 25th of May 1998. Encoders are key parts of the control of axes like Altitude, Azimuth, Adapters and Rotators in all the telescopes, where absolute encoders are used to get an accurate measurement of the position, at the level of micrometer. The intention of this document is to summarize and show some problems we had in these years, some modifications and suggestion to improve the design in order to avoid those problems. We also present some new applications of encoders to measure speed instead of position. A typical problem in the Adapters is analyzed, given that the encoder tape is located too close to the bearing it easily gets dirty, forcing our Maintenance Support and Engineering Department (MSE) to dismount the attached instrument and the whole Adapter Rotator getting access to clean its encoder system, with the consequent risk of losing operation time. Same issue is shown in Auxiliary telescopes, GRAAL Co-rotator and the European antenna in ALMA. All the encoder heads in the Adapters and Rotators were modified to avoid damage in the encoder tape, a change of a damaged tape was needed in 2005 and was done for the first time at ESO. A new design of the encoder head support is shown for both Altitude and Azimuth, which provides a fine and accurate way to adjust them. They have been installed in UT4 Azimuth and UT3 Altitude axes. A new design for Azimuth encoder tape is suggested to improve its robustness against variations of height in the hydraulic bearing system. Preventive, Condition-based, Corrective, and “Predictive” Maintenance applied to encoder systems are commented. The Obsolescence is analyzed. And a special case related with Calibration of encoders is also discussed. The integration of encoder signals to the axes plays a pivotal role in the deployment of a cutting-edge control system for the primary axes, Altitude and Azimuth. These encoders not only accurately gauge position but also serve to measure velocity during the encoder initialization phase and provide high-precision commutation information for the power amplifiers. This further enhances precision and efficiency.

Proceedings Article | 25 July 2024 Presentation + Paper

Update on maintenance processes and performance of technical operations at the Paranal Observatory

M. Boccas, G. Blanchard, P. Campana, V. Cea, A. Doberti, I. Ferreira, J. P. Gil, S. Gonzalez, I. Kastinen, M. Ortega, F. Salgado, M. Tapia, J. Valenzuela

Proceedings Volume 13098, 1309804 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3019424

KEYWORDS: Equipment, Telescopes, Reliability, Observatories, Failure analysis, Statistical analysis, Astronomical instrumentation, Process engineering, Efficient operations

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Proceedings Article | 18 July 2024 Poster + Paper

Navigating instruments operational challenges and extending traditional maintenance frontiers

Patricia Guajardo, Javier Valenzuela, Maxime Boccas, Eduardo Garces, Chester Rojas, Roberto Castillo, Jose Luis Alvarez, Alvaro Diaz, Laurent Pallanca, Juan Beltran, Sergio Abadie, Nicolas Haddad, Marcos Ortega, Alex Morales, Rodrigo Badinez

Proceedings Volume 13096, 130967F (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3019916

KEYWORDS: Equipment, Observatories, Telescopes, Adaptive optics, Contamination, Sensors, Inspection, Head, Windows, Large telescopes

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Proceedings Article | 29 August 2022 Paper

Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) at ESO: updates on the current practices and strategies for the future

Pascale Hibon, Michèle Péron, Maxime Boccas, Marcia Saavedra, Francesca Primas, Claudio Cumani, Mariya Lyubenova, Belen Alcalde, Itziar De Gregorio Monsalvo, Maria Francisca Labayru, Enikő Patkós, Mylène François

Proceedings Volume 12186, 1218604 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2628910

KEYWORDS: Astronomy, Observatories, Telescopes, Astronomical telescopes

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Proceedings Article | 10 July 2018 Presentation + Paper

Technical operations and maintenance activities at the Paranal Observatory

M. Boccas, E. Diaz, M. Frantz, S. Gonzalez, G. Hüdepohl, I. Kastinen, V. Nurzia, P. Pozzobon, C. Ramirez, C. Reinero, F. Salgado, C. Stephan, J. Valenzuela

Proceedings Volume 10704, 107041Y (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2311769

KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Observatories, Failure analysis, Inspection, Reliability, Efficient operations

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Proceedings Article | 18 July 2014 Paper

Instrumentation at Gemini Observatory

S. Kleinman, Maxime Boccas, Stephen Goodsell, Percy Gomez, Rick Murowinski, André-Nicolas Chené, David Henderson

Proceedings Volume 9147, 914702 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2051372

KEYWORDS: Gemini Observatory, Spectrographs, Imaging systems, Gemini Planet Imager, Telescopes, Adaptive optics, Astronomical imaging, Charge-coupled devices, Stars, Infrared radiation

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Proceedings Article | 25 September 2012 Paper

Science readiness of the Gemini MCAO System: GeMS

Benoit Neichel, Franҫois Rigaut, Andrew Serio, Gustavo Arriagada, Maxime Boccas, Céline d'Orgeville, Vincent Fesquet, Chadwick Trujillo, William Rambold, Ramon Galvez, Gaston Gausachs, Tomislav Vucina, Vanessa Montes, Cristian Urrutia, Cristian Moreno, Sarah Diggs, Claudio Araya, Javier Lührs, Gelys Trancho, Matthieu Bec, Claudio Marchant, Fabian Collao, Eleazar Carrasco, Michelle Edwards, Peter Pessev, Ariel Lopez, Herman Diaz

Proceedings Volume 8447, 84474Q (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.925285

KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Stars, Electroluminescent displays, Gemini Observatory, Adaptive optics, Sensors, Mirrors, Observatories, Beam splitters, Turbulence

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Proceedings Article | 24 September 2012 Paper

Gemini's instrumentation program: latest results and long-range plan

Maxime Boccas, S. Kleinman, Stephen Goodsell, Eric Tollestrup, Andrew Adamson, Gustavo Arriagada, Julian Christou, Patricio Gonzalez, Kevin Hanna, Markus Hartung, Manuel Lazo, Rachel Mason, Benoît Neichel, Gabriel Perez, Doug Simons, Brian Walls, John White

Proceedings Volume 8446, 844606 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.925516

KEYWORDS: Gemini Observatory, Spectrographs, Observatories, Adaptive optics, Telescopes, Sensors, Gemini Planet Imager, Mid-IR, Charge-coupled devices, Stars

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