A Roadmap for National OIR Facilities

1. A Roadmap for National OIR Facilities AAAC May 2005 OIR Long Range Planning Committee Document for submission to NSF AST and CAA May 2005

2. Members of the OIR-LRPC • Roger D. Blandford, Stanford University; NRC, CAA Co-chair (observer) • Julianne Dalcanton, University of Washington • Alan Dressler, Carnegie Observatories; National Research Council, Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee, Panel on OIR Astronomy from the Ground • Terry L. Herter, Cornell University, GSMT SWG (alternate to R. Kudritzki) • Garth D. Illingworth, UC Santa Cruz; Lick Observatory; Astronomy & Astrophysics Advisory Committee (observer) • Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy; Chair, GSMT Science Working Group • Jeremy R. Mould, NOAO (in attendance) • Patrick S. Osmer, Ohio State University; Chair, OIR System Committee • Catherine A. Pilachowski, Chair, Indiana University; Past President, AAS • Sara Seager, Carnegie Institution of Washington • Chris Sneden, University of Texas at Austin; NOAO Program Review Panel • Michael A. Strauss, Princeton University; Chair, LSST Science Working Group • Alexander S. Szalay, John Hopkins University; Co-I, U. S. NVO

3. LRP for OIR ground-based facilities, NSF request: • lay out the context for near- and intermediate-term decisions and actions • looking forward from 2005 as far as 2030. • two decadal surveys will occur before 2025 • these will outrank this roadmap, but may be influenced by it • show how present investments realize the new initiatives, • illustrate convergence paths, • lay the basis for facility closures and transfers, • address community structural change, • logical decision points for public investment and disinvestment will be highlighted.

4. See the OIR LRPC website for more details www.noao.edu/dir/lrplan/lrp-committee.html NSF request: www.noao.edu/dir/lrplan/nsf_request.pdf • Meeting schedule • September at IfA • November at NOAO • January at AAS • February at DTM Draft for public comment available on the LRPC website

5. The roadmap now to 2012

6. LST Detail • An NRC CAA subcommittee with the same status as the midcourse review could examine interference issues between LSST and GSMT proposals.

7. GSMT Detail • Milestones for GMT and TMT are project generated and are still being updated

8. Cost to NSF in millions of 2005 $

9. Executive Summary • The priorities for ground based astronomy have been outlined in the decadal survey Astronomy & Astrophysics in the New Millennium and reaffirmed in the recent mid-course review commissioned by the NRC. • This places GSMT as the highest priority for the current decade.  In addition, the discovery of dark energy has increased the importance of LST (ranked third in the original decadal report). • These programs form the core of the roadmap for Optical and Infrared Astronomy.

10. Exec summary continued • The availability of funding in the NSF budget to support the design and development phase for new projects is essential to achieving the decadal goals for OIR astronomy on the ground.  The senior review process proposed by AST is a good first step in this direction. • The essential first step on the roadmap for GSMT is funding of the Design and Development Phase. • Towards the end of this phase the System Committee will focus community planning for GSMT in the OIR System.

11. Exec summary continued • The LRPC expects that at least two GSMT proposals will be submitted for peer review by 2008 (or a date consistent with the technology development path).  The peer review process will lead to one GSMT project for major public support. This chosen project is then eligible for entryinto the MREFC process as a public-private partnership.  • The decision to form a major partnership between NSF and one of the two GSMT proposal groups should not be interpreted as a lack of public interest in the other group's facility.  If this second GSMT effort comes to fruition it is in the national community's interest to gain access, through the usual mechanism of investment of federal funds in return for shares of observing time

12. Exec summary continued • As a highly ranked goal of the Decadal Survey, we envisage support of a LST project that meets the scientific goals enunciated in that Survey and the subsequent Science Working Group Design Reference Mission. • Facilitating effective interagency funding and oversight is an essential requisite for LST. • The LST SWG should study the utility of single vs. multi-aperture implementation of the science goals of the LST concept outlined in the decadal survey updated with the discovery of dark energy. This should be done within the context of the two existing projects (LSST and Pan-STARRS).

13. Exec summary continued • Any LST construction proposal should trigger an evaluation of its impact on the first rank project (GSMT). This should be assessed with community input. Public access to scientifically useful data products should be an important criterion. • The LRPC is delighted to see that NSF and NASA are in the process of jointly funding the long-term operations of the NVO. It is important to ensure a smooth transition from the current development phase to full operations. • It is important to ensure that future projects (in particular GSMT and LST) provide community access to their data products through NVO compliant standards and services.

14. Exec summary continued • The small- to medium-aperture (up to 4-m) telescopes of the OIR System have at least as great an opportunity for innovation as telescopes of larger aperture. • We urge the creation of a subcommittee of the System Committee tasked specifically with identifying key capabilities needed by the community on small and moderate aperture telescopes and with guiding investments that will lead to community access to those capabilities provided through a mixture of national and private observatories. • A small telescope subcommittee of the System Committee can serve to amplify the voice of the community of users of small to moderate aperture telescopes. • The small telescope system should be supported through modest but enabling federal investments (PREST+NOAO) • NOAO, in collaboration with the community, should provide a more centralized point of access to a network of diverse small telescopes that provide observing time to the broader community.

15. Exec summary continued • Groups interested in conceptual studies of prospects outlined for the second decade of this roadmap should commence their work as early as 2008, in order to inform the next decadal survey process. A good precedent is the MAXAT initiative by AURA in the late 1990s that led to GSMT. • The responsibility for maintaining projects when they reside in the NSF’s MREFC new start pool is a shared one. Private support can be enabling at this stage. Astronomy division support will also be vital. This is a (second) essential role for resources generated by AST’s Senior Review.

16. Beyond 2012 • Both array telescopes and single aperture telescopes are scientifically logical concepts for the next decadal survey. All of these large projects are likely to be international.