[mmaimcal] November 2005 ASAC Report

[Alwyn Wootten]

Folks,

The ALMA Board has concluded its 1-2 November 2005 face-to-face meeting.

Highlights:

Passage of a Resolution:
The ALMA Board concurs with the ALMA Director's recommendation that the
European Exec proceed with the issuance of a contract to procure its share
of the ALMA antennas.

The November 2005 ASAC report is now available at:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/asac/ASAC_Report_2005_Oct_final_v2.pdf

It will appear at its regular place on the ALMA webpages shortly.

Among its charges was to advise on acceptance of a list of ALMA Baseline
Change Proposals.  The Board adopted $17M worth of these for substantial
cost savings to the project.  In the opinion of the ASAC and of the
Science group, ALMA's scientific abilities are preserved.

Total savings $17M.

1 Reduction to 50 antennas Accepted.  ALMA goal remains 64 antennas.
2 Construct only up to 4km ALMA 12,603   Rejected
3 OSF residence 5,223 PR Build pre-designed residence Cut funding by half
4a Miscellaneous Site 5,527 RE Recovery costs: 216 to 175 foundations
Accepted
4b Miscellaneous Site 996 RE remove high site Hanger for antennas Accepted
4c Miscellaneous Site 473 RE remove video surveillance Rejected.
4d Miscellaneous Site 445 RE implement overhead power lines &
communications; Accepted.
4e Miscellaneous Site 837 RE remove 20% furniture costs across site Accepted.
4f Miscellaneous Site 1,175 RE Delete sports facility/pool from Residence 
Combined with 3 above, redesign cheaply
4g Miscellaneous Site 744 RE Purchase road maintenance equipment instead
of rental Accepted
5 WVR production 4,612 PR  Defer production run for WVRs (units 9-50)
Rejected
6a FE support hardware 708 PR  (a) Defer solar filters (units 1-50) Rejected
6b FE support hardware 200 PR  (c) Remove 1/4 wave plate for Band 7 (units
1-50)  Rejected.
7a Back End descopes 6,109 MA  (a) Defer one IF DTS  rejected.
7b Back End descopes 887 PR  (b) Remove two (of four) subarrays (exclude
if 7c is selected) Accepted as deferred.
7c Back End descopes 1,016 MA  (c) Use AM LO scheme (exclude if 7b is
selected) Rejected
7d Back End descopes 572 MA  (d) Remove EDFA from DTS (serious technical
objections and risks) Rejected.
8 Front End Bands 17,560 MA  Defer receiving bands production runs units
9-50 for B3,6,7,9 Rejected
9 Front End Polarization 3,000 MA  Defer one polarization in FE receivers
units 9-50  Rejected.
10 Software Descope 8,157 PR/MA Rejected.
11 Travel 4,417 Lower travel budgets across project by ~20%; Accepted
12 Site Characterization 156 Eliminate Site Characterization 2006 and 2007
Accepted.

Clear skies,
Al