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The US SAC Meeting (1Jun94)
(from USGPO, NOAO Newsletter No. 38, 1 June 1994)

The principal advisory committee to the USGPO, the US SAC, met in
Tucson in April, in preparation for the Gemini Science Committee
meeting in Cambridge, England.  Attending the US SAC meeting were the
following members:

     Charles Beichman (JPL/IPAC)
     Todd Boroson (NOAO/USGPO)
     Fred Gillett (NOAO/KPNO)
     John Huchra (CfA)
     Frank Low (U. of Arizona)
     Gerry Neugebauer (Caltech)
     Pat Osmer (Ohio State)
     Steve Ridgway (NOAO/KPNO)
     Malcolm Smith (NOAO/CTIO)
     Charles Telesco (NASA/MSFC)

Here is a short summary of the discussion.  We emphasize that none of
these statements represents a decision, but rather the consensus of
this advisory committee at the time that they met.  A number of these
issues (the instrument complement and the instrument specifications in
particular) were later reviewed with somewhat different outcomes by the
Gemini Science Committee.

1)   The project is on budget and on schedule. The Gemini Board initially
     approved a project budget with 10% contingency on large contracts.
     40% of those are now committed, and the contingency on the remaining
     large contracts is still approximately 10%.

2)   A revision was made to the proposed complement of first-light
     instruments. Motivated by discussions within the communities of
     other partner countries, the US SAC endorsed the idea of delaying
     the High Resolution Optical Spectrometer slightly and including,
     instead, a copy of the moderate resolution Multi-Object Spectrograph
     (MOS) and a mid-IR imager.  This list was provisional and was
     considered by the Gemini Board in mid-May.

3)   The specifications of two of the instruments, the MOS and the IR
     (1-5 um) spectrometer, were discussed in detail.  Because there is
     no optical imager among the first-light instruments, the US SAC
     encouraged the inclusion of an imaging capability for the MOS.  The
     design goal for this instrument is a 5 arcminute field with 0.07
     arcsecond pixels.  For the IR spectrometer, the committee stressed
     the importance of a small pixel scale to sample well the diffraction
     limited images at 2 um.  For both instruments, the US SAC encouraged
     the design teams to investigate the possibility of an integral field
     mode, in which spectra can be obtained of a large number of contiguous
     points within a two-dimensional sky region.

4)   The process by which groups would be selected to build the US-allocated
     instruments was discussed.  These instruments are the IR (1-5 um)
     Imager (already allocated to the University of Hawaii), the IR
     spectrometer, the IR arrays and controllers, and the Optical
     detectors/acquisition cameras.  It was argued that the process should
     allow open and fair competition, but should be streamlined to permit
     the project to go ahead with a schedule that has phase A design studies
     underway by the end of 1994.  The USGPO was encouraged to develop a
     plan for such a competition, with the understanding that an impartial
     group would be selected by the NSF to make the evaluations.

5)   The USGPO was encouraged to continue and expand its outreach
     activities, including colloquia at US institutions, displays and
     presentations at scientific meetings, articles in popular and
     professional magazines and newsletters, and e-mail announcements.

Todd Boroson

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