Doubling the power of the TAIPAN survey facility (ARC LIEF grant administered by The Australian National University) (2018-2021)
Abstract
We propose upgrading the TAIPAN fibre positioner on the UK Schmidt Telescope (UKST) from 150 to 300 fibres at a cost of $799k ($399k ARC, $400k non-ARC). This will double the number of stars or galaxies that can be observed simultaneously and hence double the scientific power of the facility. The existing TAIPAN system represents a total investment of $4.8M in the UKST, fibre positioner, and spectrograph. Doubling the power of this system for an additional ARC investment of 8% of the total cost is outstanding value for money. TAIPAN will be used for two major projects: the Taipan galaxy survey probing cosmology and galaxy evolution, and the Funnelweb stellar survey seeking habitable exoplanets and clues to the Milky Way's formation.
