[asac] [almanews] MMAOC 2001 Report

[Carolyn White]

I am pleased to pass along the report of The Millimeter Array Oversight
Committee (MMAOC). The MMAOC, a panel charged by the NSF to review
progress and planning for the US portion of ALMA (formerly the MMA
Project), has strongly urged the Foundation to commit to
construction. Based on a detailed two-day review in February, the
committee concluded that "the ALMA project is ready to start construction
and we recommend that NSF approve ALMA to move to Phase II. The ALMA team
is more than ready for ALMA construction."

The committee further noted:

The project has made impressive technical progress and is meeting the
goals for Phase I ... NRAO is to be commended for remarkable technical and
managerial progress.  They have initiated implementation of all of the
recommendations we requested at our last meeting, and moved the project
from a scientific dream to a realistic plan for an observatory ... NRAO
has made rapid progress in all areas, including technical tasks, project
management, and also international coordination ... they have succeeded
admirably in the Design and Development Phase (Phase I).

Key accomplishments of the ALMA team include:

* Completion of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) enumerating all tasks
  for the project,
* Completion of the budget organized according to the WBS,
* Completion of a schedule leading to full deployment in 2009,
* Completion of an international plan allocating work elements to the US
  and Europe,
* Establishment of an Earned Value system, showing progress along the plan
  and calculating the performance for both cost and schedule,
* Awarding contracts (one NRAO, one ESO) for antenna prototypes, for
  delivery late this year,
* Production of advanced cryogenically cooled receivers, meeting the
  specifications for ALMA,
* Design of a suitable correlator chip, that meets the ALMA requirements,

The full text of the MMAOC report can be found at the following link:

http://www.alma.nrao.edu/docs/mmaoc2001.pdf

Marc Rafal
Project Manager
ALMA-US
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