[mmaimcal] The actual FY2000 budget

[Al Wootten]

Apologies for sending out the 1999 budget last week.  The real request
is much more sobering.  I thought I would distribute bits of this, from NSF.
Note that NSF doesn't think we're building Q band receivers, and still
has 40 x 8m telescopes.

Major Research Equipment. The FY 2000 Request includes $85 million for Major Research Equipment projects:
 
                     Terascale computing systems, as part of the IT2 initiative, to permit researchers to address problems of
        scope and scale that are inaccessible on current systems.
 
                     Initial investments in the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation, which will connect and integrate a
        national system of earthquake engineering research facilities. 
 
                     Completion of the design and development phase of the Millimeter Array - which will bring angular
        resolution comparable to that of the Hubble Space Telescope to radio astronomy. ($8M)
 
                     Investments in the construction of detectors for the Large Hadron Collider. 
 
                    Support for the ongoing modernization of South Pole Station. 
 
                     Upgrades to polar support aircraft.

In FY 2000, projects funded through the MRE account will include: $12.0 million to complete the upgrade of Polar
Support Aircraft to meet Air Force safety and operability standards; $5.40 million for the continued modernization of
South Pole Station; $15.90 million for the continued construction of detectors for the  international Large Hadron
Collider; $8.0 million to complete the design and development phase of the Millimeter Array; and $7.70 million to begin
construction on the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation.  In addition, as part of the President?s Information
Technology for the 21st Century (IT2) Initiative, $36.0 million is requested for the acquisition of Terascale Computing
Systems.  Additional information regarding these projects can be found in the MRE section.
 
--Extract from that section:

Millimeter Array (MMA)
 
The Millimeter Array is planned to be an aperture-synthesis radio telescope operating in the wavelength range from 3
to 0.4 mm, consisting of 40 8-meter diameter radio telescopes located at the same site and electronically linked. This
would make MMA the world's most sensitive, highest resolution, millimeter-wavelength telescope.  It will combine an
angular resolution comparable to that of the Hubble Space Telescope with the sensitivity of a single antenna more than
fifty meters in diameter.  The completed MMA would provide a testing ground for theories of star birth and stellar
evolution, galaxy formation and evolution, and the evolution of the Universe itself, reveal the inner workings of the
central black hole ?engines? which power quasars, and make possible a search for earth-like planets around hundreds
of nearby stars.  In FY 2000, NSF will provide $8.0 million for the final year of a three-year Design and Development
Phase for the MMA.  Following this phase, NSF will decide whether to proceed to the second phase, a five year capital
construction phase. 
 
An increase of $1.38 million, or about 2 percent, for the National Astronomy Centers is planned, for a total of about
$71.17 million in FY 2000.  Half of this increment will be provided to the National Optical Astronomy Observatories
(NOAO) to enhance support for instrumentation upgrades, continued operation of the Global Oscillation Network
Group (GONG), and continued construction of instruments for the Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigation of the Sun
(SOLIS).  The remainder of the increment will be provided to the National Radio Astronomy Observatories (NRAO) to
enhance support for operations and maintenance and development of new instrumentation at the Very Large Array
(VLA) and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA).  Funding for the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center
(NAIC) remains level with FY 1999.
 
--What does NSF tout as its big success last year?  They say:

An Accelerating Universe:  During 1998, the discovery that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate was a
major breakthrough in cosmology.  Research performed by two international groups using telescopes at the National
Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO) found that the universe is actually accelerating, rather than decelerating as
would have been expected if gravity alone acted on large-distance scales.  This implies the existence of a repulsive
force opposing gravity at cosmological distances, and also suggests a current dynamical age of 14 billion years for the
Universe, consistent with the ages of the oldest reliably dated objects.  The discovery of this acceleration was selected
as the major scientific breakthrough of 1998 by Science magazine.
 
--What do they say astronomical research should address:

    Origins of the Universe:  Research in this area seeks to answer some of the most intriguing questions of all: How
    did the universe begin?  How did matter, planets, stars, and galaxies form?  Did life exist elsewhere in the
    universe?  Does it now?  We still do not know exactly how the chemical elements form, and how galaxies, stars,
    and planetary systems are born and evolve.  We do not completely understand the Sun's impact on processes here
    on Earth.  These important questions require many complementary contributions from astrophysics, particle
    physics, nuclear physics, exobiology, and chemistry.  Ground-based telescopes such as the Gemini Observatories,
    accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory
    (NSCL), and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) will contribute to the solution of
    these questions, as do companion efforts in theoretical physics and chemistry.  It is estimated that increased
    support $4 million will be provided for this work in FY 2000.  
 
--Apparently, radio facilities won't contribute to the solution of these questions.

-Al