SETI public: The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA): Implications of a Potential Descope

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http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11326.html

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA): Implications of a Potential
Descope

Committee to Review the Science Requirements for the Atacama Large
Millimeter Array, National Research Council

48 pages, 6 x 9, 2005

The 1991 NRC decadal survey for astronomy and astrophysics included a
project called the Millimeter Array (MMA). This instrument would be an array
of millimeter-wavelength telescopes intended to capture images of
star-forming regions and distant star-burst galaxies. With the addition of
contributions form Europe, the MMA evolved into the Atacama Large Millimeter
Array (ALMA), a proposed array of 64, 12-meter antennas. The project is now
part of the NSF Major Research Equipment and Facilities budget request.
Increased costs, however, have forced the NSF to reconsider the number of
antennas. To help with that review, NSF asked the NRC to assess the
scientific consequences of reducing the number of active antennas from 60 to
either 50 or 40. This report presents an assessment of the effect of
downsizing on technical performance specifications, performance degradation,
and the ability to perform transformational science, and of the minimum
number of antennas needed.

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