New Worlds, New Horizons A Midterm Assessment (2016) / Chapter Skim
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3 Progress Toward NWNH Goals - Ground-Based Program
3 Progress Toward NWNH Goals - Ground-Based Program
Pages 45-62
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From page 45... ...
, a Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope (GSMT) , and the Atmospheric Cerenkov Telescope Array (ACTA)
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From page 46... ...
and active galactic join European nucleus science ˇ Cerenkov Telescope Array a The survey's construction-cost appraisals for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) , Giant Segmented ˇ Mirror Telescope (GSMT)
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From page 47... ...
LSST's observations repeatedly cover large areas of sky followng a preordained and optimized sequence to create a data set that addresses a i majority of SFP-identified questions.2 The top ranking of LSST in NWNH was "a result of its capacity to address so many of the identified science goals and its advanced state of technical readiness."3 The expected scientific performance of LSST is essentially unchanged since NWNH, and there has been major progress programmatically. LSST is an excellent example of successful interagency cooperation, and it also leverages the relative strengths of public and private funding.
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From page 48... ...
funding agencies -- two thirds by NSF and one-third by DOE.4 The budgets presented to the committee by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences (NSF-AST) cannot accommodate LSST operating costs without a reduction in support for other activities, and the cur rent individual investigator programs do not have the resources to carry out the scientific program enabled by LSST.
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The unsolicited programs ranged from $10 million to $15 million per year for 10 different projects and included the Very Energetic Radiation Imag ing Telescope Array System, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, POLARBEAR, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment, the Virtual Astronomical Observatory, the Dark Energy Survey, the Murchison Widefield Array, Precision Array to Probe Epoch of Reionization, and LSST design and development. The NSF-AST Portfolio Review of 2012 recommended a vigorous divest ment from many facilities in order to accommodate new priorities, including the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)
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From page 50... ...
Of the mid-scale rojectsp identified by NWNH, FASR, Exoplanet Initiatives, Next-Generation Adaptive O ptics Systems, and Next-Generation Instruments for Solar Telescopes have not yet been funded through MSIP. FINDING 3-4: Despite limited resources for MSIP, NSF-AST has funded an exciting set of highly ranked proposals in a heavily oversubscribed competi tion.
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, operating funds, and instrumentation support is most favorable."7 The two GSMT projects in the United States, the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT)
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NSF budget constraints have prevented NSF's implementation of the NWNH recommendation that NSF-AST select one partner and participate in GSMT construction. FINDING 3-6: A selection process leading to MREFC commitment to con struction of a U.S.-led GSMT project, without commitment of NSF funds to GSMT facilities operations, would partially address the NWNH recom mendation of U.S.
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AGIS team collaborate as a partner with the European CTA team and that a U.S. budget for construction and operations of approximately $100 million over the decade be shared between DOE, NSF-Physics, and NSF-Astronomy"10 The 2014 Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5)
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FINDING 3-8: In the current budget climate, NSF-AST has not been able to fund CCAT beyond an initial contribution to the design. This is because the NSF-AST budget increases anticipated by NWNH did not materialize, and NSF-AST, consistent with the Portfolio Review's guidance, gave higher priority to funding the MSIP program within the constraints imposed by the budget.
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($7.5M) 2020s broad extragalactic, -- University-led, galactic, and 33% federal share outer-solar-system science a The survey's construction-cost appraisal for CCAT is based on the survey's cost, risk, and technical readiness evaluation (i.e., the cost appraisal and technical evaluation, or CATE, analysis)
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From page 56... ...
NWNH placed strong emphasis on expanding support for individual inves tigator grants: "Individual investigator programs are paramount in realizing the science potential of existing facilities, in pathfinding for future space missions and ground-based projects, and in training the current and future workforce. A healthy enterprise in astronomy and astrophysics requires a vigorous research grants rogram.
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From page 57... ...
Feedback can amplify the effect of such a mismatch: as even highly rated proposals are declined for lack of funding, investigators resubmit similar proposals in successive years or to multiple programs, driving proposal pressure up and success rates down. The committee concurs with NWNH that "the data analysis and dissemination and theoretical work performed by both individual scientists and science teams are ultimately responsible for the amazing results witnessed in astronomy in the past few decades."17 Without adequate support at the level of individual investigators and research groups, the United States cannot reap the rewards of its investment in advanced observational and computational facilities.
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From page 58... ...
, partly offset by $4 million in reduced operations funding for Arecibo and NOAO. With the NSF-AST individual investigator grants program declining 3 percent in real-year dollars over this period, the increases in facilities operations have come at the expense of mid-scale initiatives.
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The NANOGrav consortium (with funding from MSIP and an NSF Physics Frontier Center) and the Breakthrough Listen initiative are supporting Byrd Telescope operations in Green Bank by buying observing time.
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. While full implementa tion of the Portfolio Review divestment recommendations is an essential step, it will not come close to offsetting this increase in facility operations costs.
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NOTE: Acronyms are defined in Appendix C Even following divestment at the maximum feasible level, anticipated facilities operations costs will constrain the mid-scale and individual investigator programs by an amount that could rise to $10 million to $20 million per year by the end of the decade.
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62 New Worlds, New Horizons: A Midterm Assessment This committee is of the opinion that the optimum allocation of funds between facilities and mid- and small-scale activities is probably different for different levels of funding. Therefore, this balance is best left to the discretion of the NSF-AST Director once budget levels are known, and it would be appropriate for the Director to seek advice from the community by convening a panel for this purpose.
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