[asac] Letter to NSF

[Karl Menten]

Dear ASAC members,

At the last ALMA SAC telecon, Bob Brown strongly urged the ASAC
to send a letter to the NSF endorsing the scope of the project
described in the Construction Cost Document presented at the
April 7 ACC meeting. 

Attached you'll find a draft for such a letter. Please send me
your comments as soon as possible, by Monday, April 17, the latest,
so that the letter can be mailed to the NSF in a timely manner.

Cheers,
	Karl

********************************************************************

--DRAFT--

Dr. Robert A. Eisenstein
Chairman, ALMA Coordinating Committee
The National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA  22230   USA

Dear Dr. Eisenstein:

As Chairman of the ALMA Science Advisory Committee (ASAC), I am writing
on behalf of the ASAC to inform you, as Chairman of the ALMA
Coordinating Committee (ACC), and your colleagues on the ACC, of the
following:

1. The ASAC met on Monday April 10th via teleconference to receive the
   formal presentation of the "Atacama Large Millimeter Array Construction
   Cost: Draft April 2000" from the ALMA Project management, the ALMA
   Executive Committee (AEC);

2. It is the unanimous conclusion of the ASAC that, with the scope as
   described in that document and with a cost of $552M (Y2000 US$) to be
   shared between the European and U.S. partners, a very ambitious
   science program will be accomplished with ALMA;

3. The ASAC will continue to work closely and actively with the Project 
   management to assure that the Project successfully meets its scientific
   objectives and is built to the cost and schedule to be agreed by the ACC.

Sincerely,

Dr. Karl M. Menten
Chairman, ASAC

cc. ACC Members
ASAC Members
AEC Members