[mmaimcal] FYI: 8-22 Sep BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO

Wed Oct 1 18:16:03 EDT 2008

Folks,

Comments, corrections or contributions?

Thanks
Al
                 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
                         8 Sep 2008 - 22 Sep 2008

******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*************************
Appointment of ALMA Director
The ALMA Board is pleased to announce that Dr. Thijs de Graauw of the
Netherlands has been appointed Director of the Atacama Large
Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA).  Dr. de Graauw's appointment
follows a search by an international committee.

Dr. Thijs de Graauw is a world expert in infrared and sub-millimeter
astronomy.  He has considerable experience in coordinating and leading
large international scientific projects. In particular, he was the
Principal Investigator of the successful Short Wavelength Spectrometer
that flew on the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and is currently
the Principal Investigator of the Heterodyne Instrument for the
Far-Infrared (HIFI) on the Herschel Satellite which is to be launched
in 2009.

Dr. de Graauw has been serving as Interim ALMA Director since April 1st,
2008.  Before joining ALMA, he was a professor at Leiden University.
At the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON), he was 
responsible for the infrared and sub-millimeter research program.

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On behalf of the ALMA Director, we are pleased to announce that Dr.
Richard Kurz has been appointed Project Manager of the Atacama Large
Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) in the Joint ALMA Observatory
(JAO) effective November 1st, 2008. Dr. Kurz's appointment follows a
search by an international committee.

Dr. Kurz has extensive management experience in space and astronomical
projects. He has been serving as Interim European Project Manager since
February 2008. From 1999 to 2004, Dr. Kurz was ALMA European Project
Manager at the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the
Southern Hemisphere (ESO) in Germany.  At ESO, he organized the European
side of the ALMA collaboration.  Dr. Kurz was Project Manager of the
Gemini 8-Meter Telescopes and, before that, managed a variety of NASA
and Department of Defense space programs while at TRW Space and Defense
and NASA.

Dr. Kurz holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California at
Berkeley. He has published many scientific and technical papers on high
energy elementary particle physics and presented ALMA at international
conferences throughout the last decade.

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ADDITIONALLY,

Dr. Tetsuo Hasegawa has been appointed Deputy JAO Project Manager of the
Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) effective November
1st, 2008. Dr. Hasegawa's appointment follows a search by an
international committee.

Dr. Hasegawa has considerable experience in management of astronomical
projects, as well as a distinguished academic career. He has been
serving as JAO Interim Project Manager since May 2008. Before coming to
Chile, Dr. Hasegawa was JAO Project Director and Project Manager at the
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
Dr. Hasegawa holds a Ph.D. in Science from the University of Tokyo,
where he taught at the Institute of Astronomy (1988-2000) and Nobeyama
Radio Observatory (1980-1988). He specialized in interstellar medium
physics and has published extensively on this and other topics.
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Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
***************************************************************************
General Happenings
Photos of activity may be found at NRAO eNews:
http://www.nrao.edu/news/newsletters/

Sky: The major planets are all in the evening sky.  Jupiter is in the 
South, Venus low in the West, Mars and Saturn nearby.

SCO (Santiago Central Office):

AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude):  Seventeen foundations have 
received concrete now.  Very low levels of precipitable water were 
measured, with 2/3 of nights below one millimeter of precipitable 
weather.  All crates containing the 64-antenna correlator first quadrant 
have arrived at the AOS.  All racks for the first quadrant have been 
installed in the AOS TB (see picture) and partially populated with 
boards. The tedious task of inter-rack cable installation has begun. 
See photo in NRAO eNews.

OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude):   Grading of the antenna 
assembly area for the AEM antenna was completed.  The first prototype 
Amplitude Calibration Device arrived for integration with the Front End 
and subsequent mounting in the production antenna.  The first BackEnd 
Antenna Article was installed in Melco antenna No 2.  Signal 
connectivity and synchronization have been established for all eight 
basebands between the Antenna Article in Melco antenna No 2 and the 
BackEnd Antenna Article Testset in the interim lab for Assembly, 
Integration and Verification elsewhere at the OSF.  Optical
telescope pointing continued on Vertex antennas No1 and No2.  Electrical
interface tests between the fourth ACA antenna and Transporter (Lore) 
were conducted.

AOC:  Construction of storage building is ongoing.

ATF: Antenna maintenance is scheduled for the ATF for this period. 
During August, amplitude and phase stability were demonstrated in 
interferometric observations of a series of quasars.  Planet tracking 
was demonstrated.

NTC (NRAO Technology Center): The last pre-production Warm Cartridge 
Assemblies finished testing. The Band 6 (1.3mm) Manufacturing Readiness 
Review is scheduled for Sep 18.  Validation of the beam scanner at the 
Front End Integration Center (FEIC) continues.

NAASC:  The ANASAC holds its face-to-face meeting at the NAASC on 12 Sep.

A calendar of NAASC events may be found at:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/calendar/calendar.php
***************************************************************************
DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS *************************
    July 16-18            Software Review No 6.
    Aug 11-12             EPO face-to-face                      Ch'ville	
    Sep 2      1430UT 	 ASAC Telecon 	                       Telecon
    Sep 8-10              Simulation Workshop                 Grenoble
    Sep 9-11              ACA 7m antenna PPDR                   Itami
    Sep 12                ANASAC f2f meeting             Charlottesville
    Sep 25-27             NAASC Workshop                 Charlottesville
    Sep 28-29 	  	 ASAC face-to-face            Charlottesville
    Oct 8-10              Safety Review				Chile
    Nov 12-14		 ALMA Board                             Chile
    Nov 17-19             Software Review                        Chile
    Dec 9-11 	  	 ALMA Annual External Incremental Review OSF 	
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS *************************
*****************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************
***************************************************************************
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