The new era of Multi-Object Spectrograph (MOS) Survey projects, in particular WEAVE (on the WHT at the ING) and 4MOST (on VISTA at ESO Paranal), require complex data flow systems. These systems encompass the software development for target selection, fibre configuration and observation at the telescope front-end and spectral processing, spectral analysis and archiving at the back-end. The system must also include quality control procedures, signaling mechanisms and alert reporting to ensure optimal use of telescope time and scientifically robust data products. Key to ensuring a fully functioning data flow system by first light are Operational Rehearsals (OpR) which use simulated data in end-to-end tests of the entire system. The Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit (CASU) has been integral in defining and coordinating these OpR efforts, in its role of providing the back-end data management and the spectral processing pipelines, for both WEAVE and 4MOST. The WEAVE OpR programme is complete and we await first light. The first two rehearsal stages (OpR1 and OpR2) of the 4MOST OpR programme are complete while the third, and most complex, stage will commence in 2022.
We present an update on the overall integration progress of the WEAVE next-generation spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), now scheduled for first light in early-2021, with almost all components now arrived at the observatory. We also present a summary of the current planning behind the 5-year initial phase of survey operations, and some detailed end-to-end science simulations that have been implemented to evaluate the final on-sky performance after data processing. WEAVE will provide optical ground-based follow up of ground-based (LOFAR) and space-based (Gaia) surveys. WEAVE is a multi-object and multi-IFU facility utilizing a new 2-degree prime focus field of view at the WHT, with a buffered pick-and-place positioner system hosting 1000 multi-object (MOS) fibres, 20 mini integral field units, or a single large IFU for each observation. The fibres are fed to a single (dual-beam) spectrograph, with total of 16k spectral pixels, located within the WHT GHRIL enclosure on the telescope Nasmyth platform, supporting observations at R~5000 over the full 370-1000nm wavelength range in a single exposure, or a high resolution mode with limited coverage in each arm at R~20000.
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