[mmaimcal] FYI: 4 Dec 2006 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO

[Alwyn Wootten]

Folks

Corrections or contributions?

Clear skies,
Al
                   BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
                        4 December 2006 - 18 December 2006

******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT***************************
New stills and animations of ALMA artist concepts are available at
http://www.alma.info
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Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
See also the JAO ALMA Calendar overview at:
http://www.alma.cl/alma_project
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General Happenings
Sky:   Saturn rises around 10 pm, Venus lost in the very early sunsets
this week.  Other bright planets are low in the morning sky.

Santiago: The Head of Science Operations (HSO) and Head of Administration
have been recruited. The Head of Administration, Mr. Russell Smeback, will
start to work at the ALMA Offices on December 12th, and will be moving to
Santiago with his family.  The final plans for HSO arrival in the ALMA
offices are under development but HSO is actively engaged in Operations
Plan development already.  Local hiring of AIV staff continues.  Some
staff are now arriving at North American sites.

AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): The building will be enclosed and
powered by a temporary generator by late January.  A temporary link to the
OSF should be operational by January.  HVAC (heating, ventilating and air
conditioning) systems were installed recently.

OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude):  The Holography tower is under
construction. The Vertex Site Erection Facility (SEF) is under
construction.  The Vertex antennas will be received and assembled in this
building.  The 27 containers holding the building elements have arrived in
Chile from Texas.  There are 333 contractor and 22 ALMA personnel working
on the site, of which 187 sleep at the site.

NTC (NRAO Technology Center, Charlottesville): The North American Front
End Integration Center (NA-FEIC) has installed bands 3,6 and 7 in the
first FE; all bands are healthy and integration of the FE subsystem
continues.

NAASC: Daily ALMA Operations Group telecons have dominated the weeks.

ATF: BEND racks are installed in Alcatel antenna, the central LO has been
relocated to VLA building, the Master Laser has been powered up in new
location at nominal power levels. Most of the above have M&C software
responding nominally. The Prototype Correlator is being moved.  A second
chain of electronics should be installed in Vertex prototype antenna the
week of 4 Dec.  Photogrammetric measurement of both antennas will occur to
validate the accuracy of the holography results.

ESO:  The ESO Council meets on 7-8 December.
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DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
 Mon  4 Dec -
Fourth Chilean School of Astrophysics--Interferometry in the Epoch of
ALMA and VLTI http://www.astro.puc.cl/school/
7:25 PM: Full Moon.  This moon reaches very high elevations in the
Northern Hemisphere, now suffering late Fall.  Today is the earliest
nightfall of the year.  It is the time of earliest sunrise in Santiago.
Tue  5 Dec -
Fourth Chilean School of Astrophysics--Interferometry in the Epoch of
ALMA and VLTI http://www.astro.puc.cl/school/
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
2:30 PM Chile (PUC) 16:30 hrs. ALMA Postdoc Itziar De Gregorio Monsalvo,
ESO/APEX.  "Radio Astronomical Study of the Environment surrounding
Low-Mass young stellar Objects"
 Wed  6 Dec
Fourth Chilean School of Astrophysics--Interferometry in the Epoch of
ALMA and VLTI http://www.astro.puc.cl/school/
ACA Correlator CDR will be taking place 6,7 December in Tokyo.
9:30 - ASAC Telecon
1:00 - NAASC Telecon
2:00 - NA Telecaucus
 Thu  7 Dec
Fourth Chilean School of Astrophysics--Interferometry in the Epoch of
ALMA and VLTI http://www.astro.puc.cl/school/
ACA Correlator CDR will be taking place 6,7 December in Tokyo.
9:30 - ALMA Board telecon
 Fri  8 Dec - Holiday (Chile) Immaculate Conception
Fourth Chilean School of Astrophysics--Interferometry in the Epoch of
ALMA and VLTI http://www.astro.puc.cl/school/
2:00 PM  - ANASAC Telecon
 Sat  9 Dec
 Sun  10 Dec
 Mon  11 Dec
 Tue  12 Dec
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
4:00 PM: ALMA Science IPT Telecon
 Wed  13 Dec
10:00 AM Science Software Requirements Group Telecon
 Thu  14 Dec
11:00 AM - Calibration Group Telecon
 Fri  15 Dec
NRAO/CV Christmas Party, Colonnade Club
 Sat  16 Dec Beethoven's Birthday
 Sun  17 Dec
 Mon  18 Dec
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ****************************
 Dec 6                           ASAC Telecon
 Dec 6-7         all day         ACA correlator CDR     Japan
 Dec 6-8         all day         Molecular database meeting  Leiden
 Dec 7                           ALMA Board telecon
 Dec 14          all day         LLC and LO Photonic Rx DR  Cville
 Dec 29           1900UT         ANASAC telecon
 Jan 16-17 '07   all day         Transporter FDR
 Jan 18 '07                      ALMA Board telecon
 Jan 29-30 '07   all day         B9 Cartridge CDR
 Jan 30          all day         AEM antenna PPDR
 Feb 6-7                         B9 cartridge CDR       Groningen
 Feb 15                   	ALMA Board Telecon 	Telecon
 Mar 9-12        all day         IPT F2F MEETING        Chile
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ***************************
*****************************ALSO OF INTEREST*****************************
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Please send information for upcoming calendars by Friday evening of the
preceding biweekly period to Jennifer Neighbours or Al Wootten via e-mail
(jneighbo at nrao.edu or awootten at nrao.edu).

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Past issues are available at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html