JSSA Report June 5, 1997 1. Membership 2. Meetings There were two meetings: 1. a regular JSSA meeting, but combined with the ODIN science committee meeting on Jan.10-11, 1997, at McMaster University, followed by a teleconference on Jan.30, 1997; 2. special one to discuss the Long Term Space Plan III and Canadian participation in Next Generation Space Telescope on May 16. Minutes from both meetings are attached. 3. The three Canadian astronomy missions. FUSE: report by John Hutchings, May 30, 1997 The FUSE project is in a very active stage this year, with all the hardware being fabricated and integrated, and considerable activity in setting up the operations and software. Launch will be in September next year. The Canadian hardware is the FES, and Com Dev are also supplying the Instrument Data System in a contract to JHU. Schedules are being maintained, with the usual number of crises and problems to this point, and the project is looking good overall. The DAO team continue to work closely with the FES contractors and with the US groups, in reviewing designs and performance, monitoring tests, and developing and testing software. The CSA team of three now includes Roger Colley who is representing Bob Hum in overall management of the project. A contract is being finalised to support a Canadian scientist in the operations centre at JHU. Applications have been received at UVIC and will shortly be evaluated and an appointment made as soon as possible. The formal agreement between agencies as agreed by both sides and approved by JSSA, is expected to be signed soon. This includes participation in a mission extended beyond the nominal 3 years, which is now being proposed by JHU. There will be a call for proposals for the first year, early next year. A users committee is being set up, which will contain one Canadian, and we also need representation on the proposal review committee. I am soliciting suggestions and volunteers for these duties. Canadian astronomers should become aware of the time available and the proposal deadlines, and I will be posting reminders. There will be a workshop on FUSE science in the US in July and the PI program will be published soon after that. ODIN: no report received, but the JSSA meeting in January 1997 was specifically organized around this mission VSOP (now called HALCA): report by Wayne Cannon on May 30, 1997. (Peter Dewdney could not write the report). The report concentrates on the use of the Canadian S2 systems for VLBI, but is related to HALCA; besides there is some CSA funding of the S2 development: The world is slowly filling up with the Canadian S2 VLBI system. There are S2's in Australia, Canada, China, France, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Puerto Rico, and USA. It is likely that Korea will be the next country to acquire S2 VLBI systems. CSA and ISTS/SGL have provided some of these S2 systems for VSOP. The others have been acquired by individual radio observatories from their own budgets. The CSA and ISTS/SGL S2 VLBI systems for VSOP Ground Radio Telescopes (GRT) are now all on-site at Greenbank, Hartebeesthoek, Usuda, Arecibo, and Noto. The systems at all of these sites, with the exception of Arecibo, have been installed and checked out by ISTS/SGL personnel and declared RFU (Ready for Use). Arecibo is scheduled for final installation and check out in the next few weeks. The CSA and ISTS/SGL S2 VLBI systems for VSOP Ground Tracking Stations (GTS) are not all installed. The S2 system at Goldstone is installed, checked out, and declared RFU. The S2 system for Tidbinbilla has been shipped to Australia. The S2 system for the DSN station at Madrid has been returned from the 70 m antenna at Ussersyk, Russia and is presently located at Sheremetyovo Airport in Moscow awaiting export from Russia but is involved in what appears to be a protracted dispute with Russian Customs that may take some weeks (months?) to resolve. The NASA (JPL/DSN) GTS for HALCA at Goldstone, Tidbinbilla, and Madrid are behind schedule and are still not performing reliably. As a consequence of these difficulties the S2 systems on-site there will be unable to contribute to the mission as fully as expected until these stations are running properly. This is not expected to happen for a couple of months. The S2 at the 64 m antenna at Usuda Japan has also been interfaced by the Japanese to the HALCA Ground Tracking Station at Usuda. The S2 at the 140 ft antenna at Greenbank has also been interfaced by the Americans to the HALCA Ground Tracking Station at Greenbank and so, once the NASA GTS are debugged, the Canadian S2 systems will have access to data from HALCA from as many as five (5) GTS for this mission. Fringes have been obtained on more than one occasion between Earth and Space from the tracking station in Japan and the 64 m antenna at Usuda using the Japanese K4 VLBI system and the L-Band (1.67 GHz) receiver. These fringes yielded good closure phase results indicating that good imaging at L-Band will be provided by HALCA. Similar data have been recorded using the US VLBA system but it has to date failed to yield fringes at the VLBA correlator at Socorro on several attempts. Last week saw the first recording of Earth to Space data using the S2 systems. This data has yet to be correlated. Outstanding problem areas affecting the Canadian S2 network that remain are: 1. The completion by NASA of the DSN Ground Tracking Stations 2. The export of the S2 system from Russia and its delivery, installation, and checkout at the Madrid Ground Tracking Station 3. The completion of the Arecibo antenna upgrade and its resumption of full operational status 4. The upgrade of two S2 VLBI Playback systems at the DRAO correlator from AG2510 tape transports to AG2530 tape transports to achieve 6 hour data recording at all GRT and GTS sites in the VSOP network In general the mission is more or less ``on track'' to complete the in-orbit checkout phase as scheduled by September 1997. 3. Small Payloads Program. The program, funded at the level of $2.5M/year, supports balloon, rocket or micro-sat experiments in 3 disciplines: upper atmosphere, ionosphere and astronomy. The first AO was announced in January 1997 and programs were selected in May 1997. The micro-satellite (2-3 cu feet) project MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations of STars, PI - Rucinski) has been awarded the Phase-A contract. Because PI is moving to CFHT in August 1997, Jaymie Matthews will be the new PI. Intensive negotiations are currently under way on the new management of the project. MOST will obtain obtain continuous (weeks to months) photometry of a small number of relatively bright stars (<10 mag) with a temporal resolution of about 0.1 min using a 15 cm telescope over 1-2 years. 4. Concept Studies Program. AO-1 (1996/1997): The CS of the Canadian UV Imaging Telescope (CUVIT) is currently underway and will result in a report for CSA (draft form in July'97). It is conducted by a team: Rucinski (PI), Hutchings, Bolton plus Routes Inc as the industrial partner. The study describes a small satellite (mirror 33 cm) for obtaining 1 arcsec/pix images of sky in filter/detector defined UV bands within 1200 - 3000 A. The baselined bus is the Spartan-LITE design with the instrument cavity 100 cm long and 35 cm in diameter. AO-2 (1997/1998): No proposals were submitted by astronomers because of an error in the distribution of information. 5. Next Generation Space Telescope and Long Term Space Plan III. JSSA is attempting to establish Canadian presence in the NGST mission. During the reporting period, Michael De Robertis represented JSSA at the meeting at the NASA/Goddard (GSFC) on 7-9 April 1997 (report attached). The special meeting of JSSA in Vancouver on 16 may 1997 is related to these matter, as the NGST must be part of the new Space Plan III (report attached). 6. JSSA Web page. The WWW page is mow fully linked to the CASCA home page in Montreal (via "officers & committees" then "space"). Direct access is via: http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/~rucinski/jssa.html. The content will most likely move to Calgary with links remaining in Toronto for continuity. 7. CSA funding of CADC in Victoria. No report received so consult the minutes of the McMaster meeting. Attachments: a. Minutes of the McMaster meeting, Feb.10-11 & 30, 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: JSSA members Re: Minutes Meeting of JSSA, McMaster University, Jan.10-11, 1997 Teleconference, Jan.30, 1997 Fm: Slavek Rucinski On: Feb.11, 1997 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A. January 10 (Friday) morning Joint meeting JSSA/Canadian Odin Astronomy Working Group Attending: ODIN science: Kwok (PI), Bernath, Fich, Mitchell, Wilson CSA: Kendall, Werle ODIN hardware (CSA): Torchinsky JSSA: Rucinski (Chair), Halpern, St-Louis, Taylor 1. Steve Torchinsky gave a review of hardware development in Sweden. He described several minor problem areas with hardware which will probably make the launch date of March 1998 unlikely; an additional about 1/2 year (at least) will be needed. Torchinsky seems to be very well integrated into the development team. 2. Sun Kwok described software developed at Calgary for scheduling and observation optimization. The Swedes have not yet developed any similar software. 3. Sun Kwok described NSERC/CSP funding of the science. The total is $867K for 5 years starting approximately now, via U of Calgary. The distribution in time during the 5 years is as follows: $82K, $225K, $250K, $210K, $100K (Torchinsky is not supported from these funds). Currently two scientists are supported (Volk and Hasegawa) plus travel to meetings, etc. It was not clearly stated how these funds will be used by the team. 4. Kwok stated that NSERC/CSP will not support any ground station & data inspection efforts. He felt that a scientist participating in the final stages of data calibrations would be useful. Kendall said that the Swedes promised to deliver final data on time and stressed that amount of astronomy data will be moderate (long exposures hence few objects, simple spectra). Kwok asked JSSA for an opinion on the matter of an additional person funded by CSA to participate in the final stages of data calibration and delivery. [see JSSA statement] 5. Kwok described interesting predictions on the detectability of water on the basis of new ISO observations. ODIN will almost certainly detect water. Bernath described a laboratory work to be done at NRC Ottawa - U.Waterloo - U.Alberta on the line lists for the range 400-600 GHz. Currently, very little data is available. Wilson described supporting JCMT observations of galaxies. Generally, the science of ODIN seems to be in good shape. SWAS will be delayed by about one year as they are waiting for a couple of successful Pegasus-XL launches to happen first. 6. Kendall summarized the status of ODIN as seen by CSA. The Canadian contribution to the mission seems to be in very good shape. The mm-wave technology developed for line identifications may be attractive to industry. Although NSERC/CSP no longer exist, CSA is close to signing a formal agreement with NSERC of similar nature. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - B. January 10 (Friday) afternoon and January 11 (Sat) morning Meeting of JSSA. Attending: JSSA: Rucinski, Halpern, St-Louis, Taylor CSA: Kendall Three JSSA members could not attend the meeting: McCall, Morris, Pipher. Action items in [ ]. 1. Various current matters, presented by Dr David Kendall, CSA. This was more like a discussion than a structured presentation as the speaker was interrupted frequently. Many subjects were touched. Current support: 4 international missions: ODIN, FUSE, VSOP, Time-X. The three first were discussed further. In the case of Time-X (Denis Leahy), a small contribution of a Sun workstation (which was never discussed/approved by JSSA) was sent to the US. "Big picture" and the Long-Term Space Plan - III (LTSP-III): In about 1998 all international missions will be done. The are no new commitments, although there should be some funds available. In particular, the Sci-Sat and Small Payload Programs could be increased from the current (low) numbers of about $7M/y and $2.5M/y. Generally, the Space Science Program, Ottawa, needs new ideas and new action. The SpSciProg is perceived as very successful within CSA, but in the same time not following basic trends of stronger business involvement: The new ideas and plans at CSA may lead to further cuts of the basic research, in favour of industrial/business applications. [What type of action can JSSA take on this? CASCA Board statement needed?] Next Generation Telescope: An industrial partner in Canada interested in this mission must be identified. Otherwise, all expenditures must remain well within the current Space Sci Program cap of $25M/y, perhaps at the level of $7M/y, which would be simply too little for NGT. The problem is that big Cdn companies do not see any business coming from astronomy and it is not easy to reach important persons there. A "back-door" approach via the US maybe more effective. [Chairman will write to Simon Lilly if the US team could find an industrial niche for Canada. NOTE: Chair wrote an e-mail message to S.Lilly after the meeting]. Vision 2020: The document D3 prepared by the Working Group 5 was distributed by Kendall. This preparation took many days of hard work of several dedicated people. JSSA Chairman participated in its preparation. But the summary of all WG documents is very badly written and does not reflect the content of D3 or other documents. It is currently being re-written by a professional writer assuming that he/she can improve it. Chairman of JSSA previously informed the members by e-mail about results of the WG5 deliberations. The priorities (reasons to do space science) in D3 are: 1. Environmental Protection and Sustainability 2. Human Presence and Laboratory Science in Space (astronauts) 3. Fundamental Knowledge (basic research in space sciences, incl astronomy) 4. Planetary Exploration (entirely new in Canada, but we should not be left out) (Rucinski attempted and failed to exchange positions of items 2 & 3). The Vision 2020 documents were used as input to the Task Force on Canada's Space Vision and Long Term Space Plan III. The Task Force consists of 11 members, in this: 4 are from CSA, 6 are from industry (2 from SPAR) and only one D.Brooks represents Academia/Users. [Chair to notify the CASCA Board about the problems with long-term planning, as perceived by JSSA] Funding of the Cdn Astr Data Ctr: Bob Hum had to cut back this year because of the cash flow problems. He would like to keep the level of $120K. JSSA knows that CADC needs about $150K for operations involving new, high data-rate HST instruments. David suggests that CADC should put a strong request to Bob Hum and explain why an increase in funding is needed. Note: The support was originally $180K/y. [CASCA President will write a letter to Bob Hum; Chair informed the President and CADC about the current situation]. Astronomer at Sp Sci Prog: No progress at all. According to Dave, Gerry Atkinson sees the need of part-time involvement only. This is filled by current employees plus PI's of the missions (eg. Hutchings for FUSE, $50K/y for NRC). Sci-Sat: Negotiations between CSA and NASA are going nowhere. Modest funds are available within the current budget of the SpSciProg (at the level of about $7-8M/y), so that waiting for the outcome of the negotiations maybe a wrong approach. Possibly, the US side is not really interested in concluding the negotiations? [JSSA to recommend development of or search for other launch options? JSSA statement?] Concept Studies: 2nd AO with deadline Jan.10, 1997. In the first round, one astronomy CS: CUVIT = Cdn UV Imaging Telescope (Rucinski et al) Small Payloads: 1st AO with deadline Jan.10, 1997. Two applications known to JSSA: a balloon flight by Halpern et al and a micro-sat by Rucinski et al. Pictures for CSA: Whatever happens with the Vision 2020 document, Sp Sci Prog, Ottawa, plans to prepare its own plan. They would like to have a nice, well illustrated document, so space astronomy (or related) pictures are very much needed. JSSA placed already a note in Cassiopeia and some illustrations have been sent to Kendall, but the community could generate more. Space Science Program overview: A short document (not yet approved) prepared by the SpSciProg, Ottawa was presented. It summarizes the present status of 4 main programs: 1. International, 2. Sci-Sat (known also as Small Sat), 3. Small Payloads, 4. Concept Studies. [Kendall requested a statement of JSSA]. 2. ODIN matters. Thanks to relatively modest CSA investment in scientific planning and pre-launch research, the Canadian contribution is well visible and strong. Torchinsky's excellent integration with the hardware team is a very positive sign. Although work on ODIN is progressing well, some problem areas may exist. One is the "orthogonal" character of the Cdn Sci Team relative to Scientific (international) Teams organized by subjects. It is not obvious how the two schemes relate to each other. Concerning additional CSA-funded person for data calibration and initial pipelining: see separate statement. 3. Space VLBI. VSOP. The international effort is extremely complex and diversified. The Canadian S2 recorders will play an important role. Is community aware of possibilities of obtaining competitive time? Currently the main problem is that, officially, Canada is still not in the mission as an important NASA/CSA agreement (which would lead to CSA/ISAS (Japan)) agreement has not been signed yet. [Action item for Dave Kendall & the Chair. Matter resolved a few days after the JSSA meeting: MOU has been sent to Japan]. 4. FUSE. Several explanatory documents have been received from Hutchings (Cdn PI). The Cdn effort seems to be in good shape, but again the NASA/CSA agreement is not in place. Why? The time allocation "deal" of 5%, as discussed in these documents is acceptable to JSSA & FUSE Steering Comm, so that CSA should sign this agreement. After the JSSA meeting, Dave Kendall talked to Bob Hum. Bob considers the agreement as unfair: both NASA and CSA de-scoped, but - according to Bob - we lost (in relative terms) by going from 7.5% to 5%. Bob sees ways of convincing the US side to increase the percentages. [what to do with that now?] FUSE will be open for competitive time allocation so that the awareness about the mission could be improved among the younger part of the Cdn community by seminars in various university centres about potential FUSE capabilities and science. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Teleconference, Jan.30, 1997; about 1.5 hours started at 14:30 EST. Participated all members with the exception of Simon Morris. Dr Atkinson participated as CSA representative. 1. Statement for CSA about the organization of the Space Sciences Program into the four main categories. See the JSSA Statement #1. 2. Sci-Sat. Gerry informed us about some progress with negotiations between CSA and NASA. This would indicate that NASA is not postponing the decision indefinitely. If I understood what Gerry said, NASA offered that the payloads of the two "free" launches will be defined by NASA and CSA, respectively. Does it mean that one of those is Canadian by name only? See the JSSA Statement #4. 3. LTSP-III and Vision 2020. JSSA is alarmed by the state of the preparations of the Long Term Space Plan III and the related document Vision 2020. Of the 11 members of the Task Force, only one represents scientists, as Barry Wetter is arguably more involved in CSA administration than science. Chair to contact the Chair of STRAC, Gordon Rostocker (re representation of all sciences in the TF) and the CASCA President. An informal inquiry with Dr. Brooks (the only scientist on the TF) will be done by Mark. 4. Next Generation Space Telescope. It would be useful to define a group of Canadian astronomers ready to participate in the NGST. A separate CASCA committee maybe useful. Chair to discuss this matter with the CASCA President. Judy will contact Pierre Bally re involvement of Canadian scientists. See the JSSA Statement #5. 5. Astronomer at the Space Science Program, Ottawa. JSSA repeated the never-ending plea to include an astronomer in the SSP. However, Gerry Atkinson feels that there is not enough activity in astronomy in the program to incorporate an astronomer and a new position would be impossible to create because of the budget restrictions. See the JSSA Statement #6. 6. The FUSE and VSOP international agreements. In the case of FUSE, Bob Hum thinks that he could improve "visibility" of the program if he could improve on the 5% deal. But the result is a total stalemate with signing the international agreements. This is a recurring theme as the previous JSSA meetings were confronted several times with complaints about Bob Hum's management style. Chair will call Barry Wetter and then will draft a letter to him. [Chairman phoned Dr Wetter on Feb.5. He was not aware of the problems with signing the international agreements. Chairman informed Dr Wetter about dissatisfaction of JSSA with the current status of the Vision 2020 and LTSP-III exercises.] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - JSSA statements: 1. Status of ODIN, in relation to the joint ODIN/JSSA meeting JSSA recognizes with satisfaction the important scientific, technical and logistical contributions of the Canadian team to the ODIN mission. These contributions promise high scientific returns and a strong and visible role for Canadian scientists. Key to this success is the early support of scientific research as part of planning of the mission. This should be taken as a model of how relatively modest funds can ensure high visibility of CSA-supported international projects. The organization of the project into International Science Teams is well matched to the scientific purpose of the mission and the Canadian participants are playing useful and productive roles within that framework. We hope that the Canadian resources are used wisely to enhance the scientific productivity of the diverse projects of the participants and also to enhance the smooth internal collaboration of the International Science Teams. 2. ODIN calibration and data specialist: Advice on the additional funds to be requested from CSA. The JSSA is not convinced that ODIN needs additional funds earmarked for a specialist in calibration and data verification. It is clear that understanding the detailed working of the instrument is important, but the ODIN group can meet this need within their present resources. Similarly, the ODIN group and the astronomical community already have the resources to archive the small volume of astronomical data anticipated. 3. Organization of the Space Sciences Program JSSA fully approves the division of the activities at the Space Sciences Program of the Canadian Space Agency into the 4 main categories: Concept Studies, Small Payloads, Scientific Satellites and International Missions. This structure should permit management of space missions commensurate with the budget available to the SSP. While the first three categories have a clearly defined process of acceptance through the AO mechanism, the International Missions seem to be left to an ad hoc handling. JSSA suggests that the SSP develops a better defined system of selection and acceptance for the International Missions. Choices between proposed missions is preferred to making yes/no decisions on each proposal alone. 4. Sci-Sat program Although JSSA fully approves the concept of the Sci-Sat program, we are concerned about the lack of progress with the program. At present, it is only a hypocritical suggestion without much substance. Since the concept of the Sci-Sat program very well matches the capabilities and scientific interests of the Canadian space science community, JSSA urges the SSP to conclude the talks with NASA or to consider options of other launch vehicles. 5. Canadian participation in Next Generation Space Telescope. JSSA considers participation in the Next Generation Space Telescope mission of NASA as one of the most important goals facing the Canadian astronomy community. The NGST will be the single most significant new international space astronomy mission in the next millennium, and Canadian scientists stand to benefit tremendously from scientific and technical participation in this mission. At this time groups in the United States are well advanced in planning and design studies. The next year will a critical period to involve Canadian scientists and engineers in these early activities. Both the JSSA and CASCA, should undertake steps to explore potential Canadian roles in this mission and to foster Canadian involvement. Because of the scope and visibility of this mission, Canadian participation could potentially occur at a level that is beyond the resources of the CSA Space Science Program. It will be crucial to identify ways in which the Canadian industrial and research and development sectors might make a substantial contribution to the mission. 6. Astronomer at the Space Science Program, Ottawa. Since its creation, JSSA has expressed several times the opinion that an astronomer at the Space Science Program would improve communications between the SSP and the community. Because creation of a new position seems to be impossible, JSSA suggests that (1) in case of future replacements of the management personnel, an astronomer could replace an engineer and (2) the astronomer would not be considered to be restricted to matters related to astronomy, but should contribute to the general work force at the SSP. Slavek Rucinski