OIR national facilities roadmap

1
A Roadmap for National OIR Facilities
AAAC May 2005 OIR Long Range Planning
Committee Document for submission to NSF AST and
CAA May 2005
2
Members of the OIR-LRPC

• Roger D. Blandford, Stanford University NRC, CAA
  Co-chair (observer)
• Julianne Dalcanton, University of Washington
• Alan Dressler, Carnegie Observatories National
  Research Council, Astronomy and Astrophysics
  Survey Committee, Panel on OIR Astronomy from the
  Ground
• Terry L. Herter, Cornell University, GSMT SWG
  (alternate to R. Kudritzki)
• Garth D. Illingworth, UC Santa Cruz Lick
  Observatory Astronomy Astrophysics Advisory
  Committee (observer)
• Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, University of Hawaii,
  Institute for Astronomy Chair, GSMT Science
  Working Group
• Jeremy R. Mould, NOAO (in attendance)
• Patrick S. Osmer, Ohio State University Chair,
  OIR System Committee
• Catherine A. Pilachowski, Chair, Indiana
  University Past President, AAS
• Sara Seager, Carnegie Institution of Washington
• Chris Sneden, University of Texas at Austin NOAO
  Program Review Panel
• Michael A. Strauss, Princeton University Chair,
  LSST Science Working Group
• Alexander S. Szalay, John Hopkins University
  Co-I, U. S. NVO

3
LRP for OIR ground-based facilities, NSF request

• lay out the context for near- and
  intermediate-term decisions and actions
• looking forward from 2005 as far as 2030.
• two decadal surveys will occur before 2025
• these will outrank this roadmap, but may be
  influenced by it
• show how present investments realize the new
  initiatives,
• illustrate convergence paths,
• lay the basis for facility closures and
  transfers,
• address community structural change,
• logical decision points for public investment and
  disinvestment will be highlighted.

4
See the OIR LRPC website for more details

• www.noao.edu/dir/lrplan/lrp-committee.html
• NSF request
• www.noao.edu/dir/lrplan/nsf_request.pdf

• Meeting schedule
• September at IfA
• November at NOAO
• January at AAS
• February at DTM

Draft for public comment available on the
LRPC website
5
The roadmap now to 2012
6
LST Detail

• An NRC CAA subcommittee with the same status as
  the midcourse review could examine interference
  issues between LSST and GSMT proposals.

7
GSMT Detail

• Milestones for GMT and TMT are project generated
  and are still being updated

8
Cost to NSF in millions of 2005
9
Executive Summary

• The priorities for ground based astronomy have
  been outlined in the decadal survey Astronomy
  Astrophysics in the New Millennium and reaffirmed
  in the recent mid-course review commissioned by
  the NRC.
•  
• This places GSMT as the highest priority for the
  current decade.  In addition, the discovery of
  dark energy has increased the importance of LST
  (ranked third in the original decadal report).
•  
• These programs form the core of the roadmap for
  Optical and Infrared Astronomy.

10
Exec summary continued

• The availability of funding in the NSF budget to
  support the design and development phase for new
  projects is essential to achieving the decadal
  goals for OIR astronomy on the ground.  The
  senior review process proposed by AST is a good
  first step in this direction.
• The essential first step on the roadmap for GSMT
  is funding of the Design and Development Phase.
• Towards the end of this phase the System
  Committee will focus community planning for GSMT
  in the OIR System.

11
Exec summary continued

• The LRPC expects that at least two GSMT proposals
  will be submitted for peer review by 2008 (or a
  date consistent with the technology development
  path).  The peer review process will lead to one
  GSMT project for major public support. This
  chosen project is then eligible for entry into
  the MREFC process as a public-private
  partnership. 
• The decision to form a major partnership between
  NSF and one of the two GSMT proposal groups
  should not be interpreted as a lack of public
  interest in the other group's facility.  If this
  second GSMT effort comes to fruition it is in the
  national community's interest to gain access,
  through the usual mechanism of investment of
  federal funds in return for shares of observing
  time

12
Exec summary continued

• As a highly ranked goal of the Decadal Survey, we
  envisage support of a LST project that meets the
  scientific goals enunciated in that Survey and
  the subsequent Science Working Group Design
  Reference Mission.
• Facilitating effective interagency funding and
  oversight is an essential requisite for LST.
• The LST SWG should study the utility of single
  vs. multi-aperture implementation of the science
  goals of the LST concept outlined in the decadal
  survey updated with the discovery of dark energy.
  This should be done within the context of the
  two existing projects (LSST and Pan-STARRS).

13
Exec summary continued

• Any LST construction proposal should trigger an
  evaluation of its impact on the first rank
  project (GSMT). This should be assessed with
  community input. Public access to scientifically
  useful data products should be an important
  criterion.
• The LRPC is delighted to see that NSF and NASA
  are in the process of jointly funding the
  long-term operations of the NVO. It is important
  to ensure a smooth transition from the current
  development phase to full operations. 
• It is important to ensure that future projects
  (in particular GSMT and LST) provide community
  access to their data products through NVO
  compliant standards and services.

14
Exec summary continued

• The small- to medium-aperture (up to 4-m)
  telescopes of the OIR System have at least as
  great an opportunity for innovation as telescopes
  of larger aperture.
• We urge the creation of a subcommittee of the
  System Committee tasked specifically with
  identifying key capabilities needed by the
  community on small and moderate aperture
  telescopes and with guiding investments that will
  lead to community access to those capabilities
  provided through a mixture of national and
  private observatories.
• A small telescope subcommittee of the System
  Committee can serve to amplify the voice of the
  community of users of small to moderate aperture
  telescopes.
• The small telescope system should be supported
  through modest but enabling federal investments
  (PRESTNOAO)
• NOAO, in collaboration with the community, should
  provide a more centralized point of access to a
  network of diverse small telescopes that provide
  observing time to the broader community.

15
Exec summary continued

• Groups interested in conceptual studies of
  prospects outlined for the second decade of this
  roadmap should commence their work as early as
  2008, in order to inform the next decadal survey
  process. A good precedent is the MAXAT initiative
  by AURA in the late 1990s that led to GSMT.
• The responsibility for maintaining projects when
  they reside in the NSFs MREFC new start pool is
  a shared one. Private support can be enabling at
  this stage. Astronomy division support will also
  be vital. This is a (second) essential role for
  resources generated by ASTs Senior Review.

16
Beyond 2012

• Both array telescopes and single aperture
  telescopes are scientifically logical concepts
  for the next decadal survey. All of these large
  projects are likely to be international.