NFIRAOS Integration Phase: Planning for Capacity, Integration and Other Logistics

NFIRAOS (Narrow-Field InfraRed Adaptive Optics System) will be the first-light multi-conjugate adaptive optics system for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). The system will be built, tested, and integrated with the first instrument, IRIS (InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph), at Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics (HAA) in Victoria BC. NFIRAOS is a complex instrument that will require careful integration planning to meet cost, schedule and performance deliverables. HAA has purpose-built a new facility for the integration of NFIRAOS. We present the key features of this building, and their roles during the assembly, integration, and test phase (AIV). NFIRAOS and IRIS will be fully operational in Victoria, including providing calibration sources, and able to close the adaptive optics (AO) loops with the IRIS On-Instrument Wavefront sensors. NFIRAOS will then be disassembled and shipped to TMT for final construction and commissioning, which requires navigating some logistical challenges.