VLA Outage Information
The electrical infrastructure of much of the VLA site dates back to the original construction of the array in the 1970s. It has been clear for some time that this old equipment needed replacement, and the NSF, this year, approved a major upgrade to the electrical infrastructure of the VLA site. The work began on June 11th, coinciding with the move of the VLA antennas from their A-configuration locations to their D-configuration locations. It was scheduled to conclude on June 29th, with power restored to the site on that day. Observing, under restricted conditions, was expected to be initiated roughly one week after this, after checking out the antennas, receivers, and correlator.
However, equipment delivery delays and problems after installation have extended this schedule. We now expect power to be available at the VLA site on August 27th. Due to this delay, we do not expect to be actually observing science projects with the VLA until August 31st.
We apologize for this delay. Questions should be addressed to the NRAO Helpdesk under the VLA Scheduling department.
