JSSA News

In November 1999 JSSA made a series of recommendations to the CSA and CASCA. These were also summarized in the December solstice issue of e-Cassiopeia. Below is an update based on deliberations at the 25 May JSSA meeting, as reported at the CASCA AGM. The new and revised recommendations below remain consistent with the science goals -- and the suite of facilities with which to address them -- articulated in LTSP III and in the LRP report.

This remains the top priority and the most costly item. Significant progress has been made toward defining the form of the Canadian contribution, both to the spacecraft/ground control and to the science instrument package. While there is still some uncertainty about the latter, the case for providing a fourth instrument to be provided by Canada is strong. To assist in the planning, development, and advocacy of these opportunities and commitments to NGST, the JSSA recommends an update of the steering committee which will work with the Project Scientist Simon Lilly and the interim IFS instrument PI, David Crampton (see also item 5). A high resolution imager is also being considered.

The JSSA reaffirmed that strong participation in the Planck mission is the next priority. The anticipated major collaboration via building and testing the telescope has evaporated due to internal decisions within ESA. However, in the six weeks leading up to the JSSA meeting, new opportunities for Canadian contributions have emerged in consultations between the Planck/First steering committee (chaired by Douglas Scott) and the PIs and teams of the two main science instruments (HFI, LFI). The Canadian contributions will involve hardware, software for the data pipeline, and production of the final data products (fully calibrated maps at many frequencies and deduced component maps and point sources). The anticipated budget is $9M.

A proposal to provide funding toward a major Canadian participation in this international project (BLAST: Balloon-borne large aperture submillimetre telescope) was presented by Netterfield and Halpern. Given the exciting science opportunities, the strong group of Canadians to be involved, the fact that results will come relatively quickly compared to our major satellite projects, and the fact that BLAST will leverage our participation in SPIRE, the JSSA adopted this as its next priority. JSSA recommends an envelope of funding for BLAST of $1M through 2003.

Two proposals were considered regarding the local oscillator source unit (LOSU) for HIFI. One involved producing an engineering model only ($948K), whereas the second included the flight hardware as well (estimated $8.4M). Given the scientific priority and the available budget, and consistent with its November 1999 recommendations, JSSA recommends only the lower cost option, which nevertheless together with the SPIRE contribution will give Canadians considerable access to FIRST. A small amount of travel money is recommended to send some members of the Canadian FIRST/HIFI community to the FIRST symposium in Spain in December 2000. To avoid misunderstanding and false hopes, JSSA states explicitly that there should be no expectation for further funding for the flight hardware.

JSSA recommends that CSA issue calls for "Letters of Interest" in order to involve as wide a selection as possible of Canadian scientists in NGST, FIRST/SPIRE and FIRST/HIFI. These will be the basis for establishing appropriate Canadian committees and representation on international committees

Another LRP priority, continued significant presence of Canadians in Space VLBI, has also been studied further. Although the VSOP II proposal planning has become more advanced and ARISE appears in the US decadal report, no approved mission is yet available for which Canadian participation could be proposed. To position Canada for possible involvement, JSSA recommends that CSA provide funding at the level $450K per year for the next several years to fund enabling hardware development, such as the S3 system, and to allow Canadian scientists to participate in SVLBI international planning meetings.

This project is moving well toward launch readiness. A workshop was held before the CASCA meeting and MOST received a lot of attention in the press.

This project is still on the back burner awaiting international partner opportunities. Hutchings continues to monitor/explore the situation and described some recent possibilities. A collaboration could be attractive if Canada did major work on the telescope. Serious involvement would still take $5M over several years.

A report received by JSSA outlines the outstanding and leading-edge contributions of the CADC to Canadian and indeed international space astronomy. Increased funding is desired particularly with respect to the HST ACS camera (archiving and data mining), for an enhanced FUSE archive, and for activities anticipating the virtual observatory. Advanced planning is being done concerning possibilities for NGST archives at CADC (to part of the Canadian contribution to NGST). JSSA recommends a budget of $323K from CSA for 2000/01, the increase being on a one-time-only basis.

Various Canadian space astronomy missions have web sites of various degrees of sophistication. There is only a rudimentary overall summary site (portal) by the JSSA of all of the missions under its wing. Given that Space Astronomy is a major component of LTSP III and the LRP for the coming decade, significant effort is needed to bring all sites up to a high standard and maintain them. This will be of value to the Canadian community and our international collaborators/competitors, and to the general public. JSSA recommends that a modest budget be established for this.

CSA staff continue to be very supportive of Space Astronomy and their efforts on behalf of the astronomy community are very much appreciated. JSSA looks forward to the imminent appointment in CSA of a professional astronomer as Program Scientist to focus on timely and effective implementation of the ambitious Space Astronomy program. JSSA applauds the efforts that have gone into establishing the CSA fellowship and scholarship programs.

Gemini    JCMT CTAG    Contents

Cassiopeia -- 2000-JS