[mmaimcal] 19 June 2006 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO

Adrian Russell arussell at nrao.edu
Wed Jun 28 12:26:54 EDT 2006


Fine by me

Ade 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Al Wootten [mailto:awootten at nrao.edu] 
> Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 6:19 PM
> To: Adrian Russell; tbeasley at nrao.edu; mmaimcal at nrao.edu
> Subject: FYI: 19 June 2006 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA 
> PROJECT at NRAO
> 
> Folks:  Comments criticisms or tantrums welcome...
> 
> Al
> 
>                     BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
>                           19 June 2006 - 3 July 2006
> 
> ******************************** THIS 
> FORTNIGHT****************************
> ALMA Special Session at Calgary AAS Meeting:
> "Imaging Star Formation in the Cosmos with ALMA"
> Members of the NAASC, including our Canadian colleagues, 
> organized a special session at the June meeting of the 
> American Astronomical Society (AAS). The June 5th afternoon 
> session was filled to capacity, with nearly 200 AAS and 
> Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA) members in attendance 
> to hear presentations on "Using ALMA to Disentangle the 
> Physics of Star Formation in Our Galaxy by Douglas Johnstone 
> (NRC-HIA, U. Victoria),  "Imaging Star-Forming Gas in Nearby 
> Galaxies with ALMA by Jean Turner (UCLA), and "ALMA and 
> Distant Galaxies by Andrew Blain (Caltech).
> The special session included an accompanying poster session 
> (#51), with nine posters and one in session #56 on the 3mm 
> cartridge.  These posters also traveled to the JAO in 
> Santiago the following week.  Invited session 30.01 featured 
> Christine Wilson speaking on "Luminous Infrared Galaxies with 
> the Submillimeter Array: Probing the Extremes of Star Formation.". 
> Powerpoint and pdf versions of the talks from the special 
> session and several of the posters are collected at
> http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/AAS/         -- J. Hibbard & 
> Crystal Brogan
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Jonathan Williams of Hawaii was appointed as the new ANASAC 
> Chair. Jonathan has been enlisted to organize ANASAC input 
> into key US community issues, such as a potential 
> grants-with-observing time program, as well as to perform a 
> general review of the North American ALMA operations plan. A 
> listing of the current ANASAC membership and dates of 
> scheduled meetings are given at 
> www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/admin.shtml. The community is 
> encouraged to contact their ANASAC representatives with any 
> ideas or questions on NA
> ALMA operations or the Science Center.   -C. Carilli
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Madrid meeting registration is now closed, having reached the limit.
> The number of participants in the conference is over 300; the 
> limit is 280.  There are many requests for contributing 
> talks. In order to have a reasonable scheduling of the 
> meeting and to give the participants half a day for visiting 
> Madrid, the LOC and the SOC, have decided to add one day to 
> the meeting, i.e., the new dates are Nov 13-17.  Participants 
> should be sure to make their hotel reservations soon.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> The ALMA Board held its eleventh face-to-face meeting on 
> 13-14 June 2006 in Santiago Chile.  Afterward, there was a 
> trip to the ALMA site to examine the considerable progress 
> made so far in ALMA construction there.  F. Lo and R. Booth, 
> respectively, served as alternate members for A. Sargent and 
> E. van Dishoeck, who were unable to attend.  P. Ho attended 
> as an Observer from the Japanese delegation.  Among its major 
> actions, the Board
>   * approved the ALMA Science Requirements Document pending 
> some wording adjustments,
>   * discussed the duties of the Project Scientist; a search 
> for a suitable candidate is expected to commence soon,
>   * concurred with the Director's recommendation that ESO 
> proceed with the placement of the OSF construction contract,
>   * discussed progress made on developing the Operations plan,
>   * recommended that the NSF/ESO/NINS amendment Version #2 
> recommended by the Board's Working Group be executed by the 
> parties by June 30, 2006,
>   * Agreed to a revision to the draft ALMA Agreement amendment # 2,
>   * Requested that the Director base the operations plan on a 
> single time allocation committee while the Executives further 
> examine this modality for ALMA in coordination with the 
> Directors' Council and the Chilean Board Member,
>   * Concurred in NSF's proposal to appoint John Bally to the ASAC. 
> Noting that I. Corbett's long association with the Board is 
> drawing to a close, the Board expressed its profound thanks 
> to him for his many years of service to the ALMA Project and 
> noted his substantial contributions in enabling the success 
> of the partnership.  To that appreciation, we add our own!
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> June 20th, 2006 - - The House Appropriations Committee has 
> sent all of its FY 2007 funding bills to the floor.  The 
> National Science Foundation receives $6 billion, the full 
> amount requested as part of the American Competitive 
> Initiative and an increase of $439 million above FY06.  
> Includes $4.6 billion for research, $334.5 million above FY06; and
> $832.4 million for science education, $16.2 million above the 
> request. 
> 
> National Aeronautics and Space Administration receives $16.7 billion,
> $462 million above the FY06 base level.  Funds the 
> President's vision for space exploration at $3.8 billion; 
> provides full request for the Space Shuttle; and restores 
> $100 million above the request to aeronautics research, and 
> $75 million above the request for space science. 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> The world's largest airborne astronomical observatory has 
> passed a technical and programmatic review that could 
> potentially lead to the continuation of the mission.  NASA's 
> Program Management Council concluded that there were no 
> insurmountable technical or programmatic challenges to the 
> continued development of the Stratospheric Observatory for 
> Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The agency has developed a 
> technically viable plan to proceed with the development of 
> the SOFIA aircraft, subject to the identification of 
> appropriate funding offsets.
> http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/jun/HQ_06240_SOFIA_update.html
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 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
> **************************************************************
> *************
> General Happenings
> Sky:  The Evening sky hosts Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and 
> Saturn.  Venus is the morning star.
> 
> OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): Approximately 90 
> people are working on the ALMA site; the largest contingent 
> is the Con-Pax contingent building the nine antenna 
> foundations at the Melco and Vertex laydown areas.  Work has 
> begun on the utilities for these areas.  The Vertex building 
> should arrive very soon.  Signing of the contract for the 
> construction of the OSF has been approved by all parties and 
> is imminent.  The ALMA Camp Recreation Room, adjacent to the 
> dining facility, should be complete by the end of this fortnight.
> 
> AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): From 15-21 June, the 
> APEX facility has seldom registered more than 1mm of PWV; 
> much of the time it has been below 0.5 mm.  S. Radford 
> (Caltech) reports data from near the summit of Chajnantor 
> (5612 m) has generally shown lower values than from a station 
> near the CBI.
> 
> Santiago:  A meeting on Assembly, Integration, Verification 
> and Commissioning (AIVC) was held in Santiago at the JAO offices.
> Study continues of siting and needs for the permanent 
> Santiago Central Office in Vitacura.
> 
> AOC: Bidders conference for the nutator was held 31 May.  
> Master Laser specification and SoW review was held.  An 
> updated ALMA System Block diagram was distributed.  Move of 
> hardware from the Socorro lab to the ATF is scheduled to 
> begin 2006-Aug-28.
> 
> **************************************************************
> *************
> DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT ) see
> https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
>  Mon  19 Jun
> All day: Assembly, Integration, Verification and Commissioning (AIVC)
>             meeting, Santiago
>  Tue  20 Jun
> Mercury is at greatest elongation, 25° east of the Sun in the 
> evening sky.
> All day: Assembly, Integration, Verification and Commissioning (AIVC)
>             meeting, Santiago
> 10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
>  Wed  21 Jun First Day of Winter (Southern Hemisphere)  Thu  
> 22 Jun Venus, Moon and Pleiades nearby after sunset.
>  Fri  23 Jun
>  Sat  24 Jun
>  Sun  25 Jun  New Moon
>  Mon  26 Jun  St. Peter & St. Paul Holiday, Chile  Tue  27 
> Jun 10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon 4:00 PM-5:00 PM: 
> NAScienceIPT teleconference (open to all interested 
>                                  parties) (434)296-7082  Wed  
> 28 Jun 10:30 AM EDT: Science IPT Telecon  Thu  29 Jun  Fri  
> 30 Jun  Sat  1 Jul  Sun  2 Jul  Mon  3 Jul NRAO Holiday  Tue  
> 4 Jul Independence Day Holiday, US.
> ****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS 
> ****************************
>  Jun 19-20       all day         AIVCSV Meeting         Santiago
>  Jun 30          1800 UT         ANASAC Meeting         Telecon
>  Jul 25-26                       FE face-to-fact        CV
>  Jul 27-28       all day         FE LO CDR              CV
>  Aug 8-9                         B7 cartridge CDR       Grenoble
>  Aug 28                           Move of PSI to ATF
>  Sept 22-23      evening         Dave Matthews Band     CV 
> JPJ Arena opening
>  November 9-10 	 all day 	 ALMA Board Meeting 	
> Madrid 	TBD
>  Nov 13-16    all day Science with ALMA: a new era for 
> Astrophysics Madrid
> ******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS 
> **************************** ALMA Memo # 549:  Reference 
> values of arterial oxygen saturation and heart rate at the ALMA site
> Author: Seiichi Sakamoto
> Abstract: Arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) and heart rate at 
> the ALMA site were monitored with portable pulse oximeters 
> for an astronomer over five years. A set of data is presented 
> to provide a reference range of these values at the ALMA site.
> 
> View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #549 at:
> http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma549/memo549.pdf
> ******************************ALSO OF 
> INTEREST*****************************
> ALMA has openings for Head of Science Operations, Head of 
> Technical Services, and Head of Administration.  Please see:
> http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/careers.shtml
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------
> **************************************************************
> *************
> 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).
> 
> The calendar will be issued between late Friday and sometime 
> on Monday by e-mail to all NRAO scientific staff members and 
> anyone else interested.
> A specific mailing list, alma-info, has been created for 
> anyone wishing to receive it.
> Past issues are available at
> http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
> 




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