BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO Jan 16, 2006 -- Jan 30, 2006 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT***************************** ANNOUNCEMENT Head of North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC) As you are all aware, Paul Vanden Bout has stepped down as the Head of the North American ALMA Science Center effective January 1, 2006. Adrian Russell and I would like to take the opportunity to thank Paul for his superb work in developing the plans for the NAASC and helping bring it into reality. Of course Paul was also pivotal in the genesis of the entire ALMA project as well - we all owe him a tremendous debt! We are currently going through an internal search for a full-time Head of the NAASC and expect to fill the post very soon. In the meantime, Adrian Russell will assume the role of acting Head of the NAASC. We are also delighted to announce that John Hibbard has assumed the role of Acting Head of the NA ALMA Regional Center, a subset of the NAASC with responsibilities for the core ALMA Operations functions in North America. Fred K. Y. Lo Director ---------------------------------------------------------------------- At a meeting in Washington on 9-10 Jan, a delegation from ESO Council met with NSF for discussions of hiring local labor in Chile. It was agreed that a detailed agreement whereby AUI will hire all local labor in Chile will be pursued. Both ESO Council and NSF recognized the benefits of the offer of land at the Vitacura site in Santiago for the location of the Santiago ALMA building. This agreement is an important demonstration of the willingness of ESO Council and NSF to work together for the success of the ALMA project. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 75 astronomers met at the North American ALMA Science Center, Charlottesville, for a discussion of 'From Z-Machines to ALMA: (Sub)millimeter Spetroscopy of Galaxies on 13-14 January. Proceedings will be published; presentations well be posted (see NAASC below). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html See also the JAO ALMA Calendar overview at: http://www.alma.cl/alma_project ******************************************************************************* General Happenings OSF: Rough Work on the permanent access road from km 28 to the AOS is in progress at km 40. Construction of the contractor's camp completion is finished. Provisional Acceptance has been granted. There are about 175 people working at the site. The site museum at km 21 is complete. VERTEX working area earthwork started on 02-Jan-2006 to be completed on 15-Feb-2006. Each contractor's work area will have five antenna foundations. OSF antenna foundations excavations are under way. Sewage treatment plant mud drying facility is under way. AOS: Eduardo just sent along a photo taken recently of AOS construction progress: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/16Jan06AM2.jpg AOS building foundations and shell construction finishing date is March 2006. ATF: Disassembly of the Mitsubishi prototype antenna to be returned to Osaka for retrofit is under way. View: http://almacam4.atf.nrao.edu AEC antenna tested by Computing IPT. Optical pointing tests to commence this biweek. AOC: Python version of AIPS++/CASA demonstrated; testing planned for Feb. Central LO rack rework largely completed. NTC: Front End Support Structure and mechanical tolerances review occurs this week. Cryostat No. 2 was received at the NTC. Mixer preamps qualified for B6 (1.3mm) cartridges No. 3 & 4. SMA: Two prototype WVRs have been installed on SMA antennas for testing. Victoria: Testing of B3 (3mm) cartridge No. 2 completed. NAASC: The ZMachines meeting was very successful. A rogue's gallery may be viewed at: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~jmangum/ZMachines/ Presentations will be posted shortly. ******************************************************************************* DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT ) see https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar Mon 16 January Holiday in NA (MLKing Day) Tue 17 Jan 10:30 am JAO/IPT telecon 4:00 PM-5:00 PM: NAScienceIPT teleconference (open to all interested parties) (434)296-7082 Wed 18 Jan Thu 19 Jan 09:30 am MIPT telecon 10:00 am ALMA Calibration telecon Fri 20 Jan All Day: ESAC Meeting, Garching 10:30 am ALMA Holography telecon Sat 21 Jan Sun 22 Jan Mon 23 Jan All Day: ALMA NA Delta Cost Review Preparations Tue 24 January All Day: ALMA NA Delta Cost Review Preparations Wed 25 January Thu 26 January All Day: ALMA Delta Cost Review, NSF Fri 27 January All Day: ALMA Delta Cost Review, NSF 11:00 am ALMA Board Telecon Sat 28 January ASAC face-to-face meeting, University of Maryland Sun 29 January ASAC face-to-face meeting, University of Maryland Mon 30 January All Day: ALMA NA Delta Cost Review (thru 1 Feb) ****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS **************************** ALMA Calendar--https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar * Jan 12-14 -- ALMA Zmachines workshop * Jan 26-27 -- ALMA Delta Cost Review, DC * Jan 27 -- ALMA Board telecon * Jan 28-29 ASAC face-to-face * Jan 30-Feb 1 -- NA ALMA Review, Charlottesville * Feb 9-10 -- VERTEX Preliminary Pre-Production Design Review, Duisburg * Mar 22-24 -- ALMA Board meeting, Kyoto, Japan ******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ***************************** ******************************ALSO OF INTEREST****************************** ****************************************************************************** Please send information for upcoming calendars by Friday evening of the preceding biweekly period to Jennifer Neighbours or Al Wootten via e-mail (jneighbo@nrao.edu or awootten@nrao.edu). The calendar will be issued between late Friday and sometime on Monday by e-mail to all NRAO scientific staff members and anyone else interested. A specific mailing list, alma-info, has been created for anyone wishing to receive it. Past issues are available at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html