FORS-Up: Making the most versatile instrument in Paranal ready for 15 more years of operations. (arXiv:2012.09227v2 [astro-ph.IM] UPDATED)

FORS-Up: Making the most versatile instrument in Paranal ready for 15 more years of operations. (arXiv:2012.09227v2 [astro-ph.IM] UPDATED)
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Boffin_H/0/1/0/all/0/1">H. M. J. Boffin</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Derie_F/0/1/0/all/0/1">F. Derie</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Manescau_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. Manescau</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Siebenmorgen_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">R. Siebenmorgen</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Baldini_V/0/1/0/all/0/1">V. Baldini</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Calderone_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">G. Calderone</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Cirami_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">R. Cirami</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Coretti_I/0/1/0/all/0/1">I. Coretti</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Marcantonio_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">P. Di Marcantonio</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kolsmanski_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">J. Kolsmanski</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Lilley_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">P. Lilley</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Moehler_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">S. Moehler</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Nonino_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">M. Nonino</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Rupprecht_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">G. Rupprecht</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Silber_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. Silber</a>

The FORS Upgrade project (FORS-Up) aims at bringing a new life to the highly
demanded workhorse instrument attached to ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).
FORS2 is a multimode optical instrument, which started regular science
operations in 2000 and since then, together with its twin, FORS1, has been one
of the most demanded and most productive instruments of the VLT. In order to
ensure that a FORS shall remain operational for at least another 15 years, an
upgrade has been planned. This is required as FORS2 is using technology and
software that is now obsolete and cannot be put and maintained to the standards
in use at the Observatory. The project – carried out as a collaboration between
ESO and INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Trieste – aims at bringing to the
telescope in 2023/2024 a refurbished instrument with a new scientific detector,
an upgrade of the instrument control software and electronics, a new
calibration unit, as well as additional filters and grisms. The new FORS will
also serve as a test bench for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) standard
technologies (among them the use of programmable logic controllers and of the
features of the ELT Control Software). The project aims at minimising the
downtime of the instrument by performing the upgrade on the currently
decommissioned instrument FORS1 and retrofitting the Mask Exchange Unit and
polarisation optics from FORS2 to FORS1.

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