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      • Rubin in Chile
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      • Organization
      • Leadership
      • Science Collaborations
    • Funding Information
      • Work With Us
      • Jobs Board
    • Explore
      • How Rubin Works
      • Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)
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      • Alert Stream
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Contact us

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science will support Rubin Observatory in its operations phase to carry out the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. They will also provide support for scientific research with the data. During operations, NSF funding is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF, and DOE funding is managed by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), under contract by DOE. Rubin Observatory is operated by NSF NOIRLab and SLAC.

NSF is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science. NSF supports basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future.

The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

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  1. About
  2. Organization

Organization

It takes a whole planet to support an organization like Rubin Observatory—it wouldn’t exist without the support and participation of many individuals and institutions all over the world.

Funding

Rubin Observatory is supported by funding from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of Energy (DOE).

More funding information

Our Partners

Rubin Observatory is operated by NSF’s National Optical Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. NOIRLab is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) through a Cooperative Agreement with NSF.

Our Facilities

The Rubin Observatory operational system consists of facilities located at several distinct geographic sites, as well as the dedicated high-speed networks connecting these sites:

  • Summit Facility on Cerro Pachón, Chile, which houses the Simonyi Survey Telescope and the LSST Camera
  • Base Facility and Chilean Data Access Center in La Serena, Chile
  • US Data Facility and Data Access Center at SLAC, California, USA
  • Headquarters Site (AURA) in Tucson, Arizona, USA
  • French Data Facility CC-IN2P3 in Lyon, France
  • UK Data Facility, IRIS network, United Kingdom

The Interim Data Facility (IDF), hosted on Google Cloud, plays an important role in Pre-Operations activities and the Data Previews.

Our Scientists

Rubin Observatory scientists have self-organized into eight Science Collaborations focused on specific research areas, from stars or our solar system to distant galaxies and galaxy clusters.


Explore the questions our scientists are trying to answer

The LSST Discovery Alliance

The LSST Discovery Alliance (LSST-DA, formerly LSST Corporation) is a non-profit organization dedicated to maximizing the science impact of the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time. LSST-DA provides support for the Rubin Observatory/LSST Science Collaborations, and funds workshops, classes, internships and more to train and engage future users of Rubin Observatory.

Learn more about LSST-DA
Bubble chart representing Rubin Observatory's organizational structure
The Rubin Observatory interconnected ecosystem. Credit: Rubin Observatory

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