Teleconference 14 February 2000
Participants: Blake, Brown, Crutcher, Emerson, Evans (chair), Gurwell, Hasagawa, Martin-Pintado, Menten, Richer, Scoville, Shaver, van Dishoeck, Walmsley, Welch, Wilson, Wootten, Yun
Draft Minutes
The minutes from the last meeting were approved.
Recent News
R. Brown briefly reported on new developments concerning the 2001 budget. Phase 1 for the US project had been planned to finish at the end of FY 2000, but the Europe-US MOU called for completion at the end of FY 2001. The NSF therefore put a fourth year of Design & Development into the budget for FY 2001. However the amount, $6 million, was insufficient.
It can probably be revised, and NRAO is to respond this week to the NSF with a more appropriate amount. For FY 2002 Phase 2 funding will be requested, and this should bring the US and European funding into synch.
In Europe, current plans call for a proposal to be submitted by the end of this year, with a decision in 2001.
R. Brown also mentioned that the contracts for both prototype antennas should be signed this week, with delivery still scheduled for Oct/Nov 2001.
Agenda for next meeting
The agenda and plans for the face-to-face ASAC meeting in Leiden (10-11 March) were reviewed. There were suggestions that the polarization session be closer to the receiver session (Crutcher), that a contribution be given on an IR WVR (Wilson) in conjunction with the planned WVR report, that there could be a session on correlators (Scoville). The white papers received by the 3 March deadline will be distributed before the meeting.
Correlator
A. Wootten gave a summary of the recent correlator PDR meeting in Cville. (At the moment there is no official definition for an ALMA PDR, and the original MMA definition is being used). The PDR included several outside experts. A full report will be available shortly on the web. The next step will be the CODR (Concept Design Review), which is being planned. It is still intended that a decision regarding the final correlator for the full array will be made in the 2002-2003 time frame. As a report will shortly be available, the correlator will not be a major topic at the Leiden meeting.
Web management
Current developments and plans for the web site(s) were summarized by A, Wootten. The persons involved on the US side are B. Glendenning, K. Weatherall, and A. Wootten, and in Europe T. Contini, R. Warmels, and P. Shaver. Suggestions to any of these persons are welcome. Issues concerning availability of documents and electronic communication tools were briefly discussed. It was felt that, as these are mostly technical issues, recommendations should come from the individuals involved for approval by the AEC and (where relevant) the ASAC.
4. Progress Reports on White Papers
Polarization. R. Crutcher said a first draft is available now, and the paper will be ready for the March 3 deadline.
Total Power. W. Welch said that a partial draft and outline is available now. These include the science case and tests to be made with the prototypes. J. Richer asked whether any experiments could be done before the prototypes are available. The possibility of using SMA antennas was suggested.
WVR. J. Richer said that this document will review the experience up to the present, and discuss the experiments necessary for a 2nd generation. A. Wootten commented that there are relevant pages on the web.
Report on Receiver Meeting (Dec99)
This item was cancelled from the agenda, as S. Guilloteau was unavailable for the teleconference.
AOB
C. Wilson described the infrared WVR being developed by David Maylor at Lethbridge. A prototype has been tested on Mauna Kea. It operates at 20 microns, and should ultimately give a one-sigma sensitivity of about 6 microns in the optical path at 1 mm. The sensitivity is comparable to the JCMT and CSO 183 GHz systems at present. It is a compact, closed-cycle liquid-nitrogen cooled system, and the cost will be about $50,000 each. Maylor is writing a report, and this could be incorporated in to the WVR White Paper being prepared by J. Richer. C. Wilson will show a comparison of this system with the 183 GHz systems at the Leiden meeting.
7. Next Meeting
The next ASAC meeting is in Leiden on 10-11 March.