Recent news
Over the summer, there have been two major pieces of good news in the international ALMA project. The first was in July 2002, when ESO Council approved the construction phase of the ALMA project (Phase II). The second occurred in August 2002, when the U.S. National Science Board reviewed and approved the full ALMA Project, which includes a construction funding profile for the next nine years. With these two approvals by the major partners in place, ALMA is well on its way!
The North American prototype ALMA antenna built by Vertex/RSI is now nearing completion at the ALMA Test Facility (ATF) on the VLA site in New Mexico. Delivery of this prototype is one of the highly visible early milestones of the ALMA Project and is currently scheduled for November 2002. During the recent ASAC meeting, we had an opportunity to visit the prototype antenna. The European and Japanese prototype antennas are both scheduled for delivery to the ATF in April 2003.
ALMA Science Advisory Committee
The ASAC met in Socorro September 7-8, 2002. One of the main items of the meeting was discussing four charges which had been given to us by the ALMA Coordinating Committee. These charges concerned the site statistics, early science with ALMA, the highest resolution array configuration, and the priorities for enhancements to ALMA that would be enabled if Japan joined the project. Among various other items, we also heard a report on software tests involving AIPS++ and a report on the testing plans for the various prototype antennas. As the report of the meeting isn't written yet, I will give a more complete summary in my next update.
ALMA Developments in Canada
The results of the CFI competition were announced in late June (just after my previous update). We had submitted a proposal to seek funding for ALMA site infrastructure and the Expanded VLA correlator [titled Canadian Participation in the North American Program in Radio Astronomy (NAPRA)]. The CFI decision on the proposal was to provide funding for the ALMA site infrastructure but not for the building of the EVLA correlator. In August 2002, the CFI confirmed that this decision was final. This decision means that funding for the EVLA correlator development, which is coupled to Canadian ALMA access through the NAPRA agreement, must be found through other means. Many people are working hard on finding a solution to this difficulty and I hope we will be able to report some good news later this fall.
The second face-to-face meeting of the Canadian ALMA Science Steering Committee (CASSC) took place August 12-13, 2002 in Victoria, B.C. The current members of the CASSC are Ernie Seaquist, Jean-Rene Roy, Chris Pritchet, Rene Plume, David Naylor, Doug Johnstone, and myself. The main items discussed at the meeting were the scientific charges being worked on by the ASAC, the various work packages that Canada is contributing to ALMA (currently the Band 3 (3 mm) receivers, with some contributions to software and the archive), the issue of outreach to the Canadian astronomical community, and the CFI funding situation. Since the report from that meeting is also not written yet, I will include a more detailed summary in my next update.
Chris Wilson wilson@physics.mcmaster.ca
Canadian ALMA Project Scientist