The Unit Telescopes (UT) at the Very Large Telescope (VLT), La Silla Paranal Observatory, are aging beautifully and delivering outstanding performances to the interfacing instruments.
Nevertheless, the introduction of 2nd and 3rd generation instruments comes with the demand of better, more continuous monitoring of key, high level performance.
While some of these demands cannot be met without restoring the commissioning cofiguration, a lot can be done by using the technical and science sensors distributed across the observatory for operational purposes.
This paper means to give an overview of the status quo and illustrate what developments are in sight for the mid-term future.
After 20 years of operations, the Paranal Observatory has accumulated some experience with maintenance of systems, and has lately adopted the methodology called ‘Maintien en Condition Operationnelle’ (MCO). We will describe and review the practical implementation of this strategy, the tools used, the benefits and challenges as well as practical examples and how it is overall managed. The approach is also a benchmarking exercise for operation of the ESO-ELT in the future.
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