UKSBS PR18067

Tender description

This is an Award Notice. MOONS (Multi-Object Optical and Near Infrared Spectrograph) is a new concept for an Astronomical Spectrograph that has been selected by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in response to their call for 3rd generation instruments for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) Observatory at Paranal, Chile. STFC (via the UK ATC) is the lead organisation of the Consortium responsible for the design, build and commissioning of the instrument under an ESO contract. To deliver its science case MOONS requires 1001-off Fibre Positioner Units (FPUs) mounted very precisely on a metal Baseplate. The Baseplate is large (Diameter = 522 mm) and has to be made to very tight tolerances. As such, the manufacture of the Baseplate is complex and requires highly specialised tooling and machining facilities. An open competition was conducted (UKSBS PR17164), during the course of which no supplier was able to offer a solution and provide a bid to UKATC.