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Report of the CTIO Users Committee (1Mar94)
(from CTIO, NOAO Newsletter No. 37, 1 March 1994)

The CTIO Users' Committee held its annual meeting in Tucson on 8 and 9
December 1993, and after discussions with CTIO Director Malcolm Smith
and Interim Director Mark Phillips, submitted the following report:

                          Introduction

US astronomy is facing a fundamentally changing situation.  A new
generation of large telescopes is coming on line during a time at which
level funding is expected and in which both the grants program and NOAO
are already experiencing budget difficulties.  The subsequent pressure
on NSF astronomy funding and for CTIO in particular is a cause for
serious concern.  As a result, CTIO is proposing innovative plans for
surviving a flat funding situation and preserving critical access for
US astronomers to the Southern hemisphere.  A major goal for CTIO is to
have its existing telescopes and instrumentation on Tololo functioning
at an extremely high degree of reliability and simplicity.  Thus when
commissioning occurs of the Gemini telescope at Cerro Pachon (which is
expected to heavily affect CTIO's available manpower), the existing
Tololo operation can be maintained with limited resources.  The
Committee strongly endorses these goals, and emphasizes the need to
keep the smaller telescopes operating, as they have traditionally been
a strong complement to the larger telescopes.  Moreover, the Committee
wishes to express strong support for the energetic approach and
innovative ideas of the new CTIO Director, Malcolm Smith.

Due to the above issues, and to the arrival of the new Director, the
Committee felt obliged to take a longer-term outlook than usual.  As a
consequence, issues concerning the long-term strategy for CTIO occupied
much of the discussion and this is reflected in the report that
follows.  This discussion is ongoing and will continue to evolve as the
budget picture develops.  Thus the Committee urges CTIO users to
contact individual Committee members with their thoughts about future
strategies for CTIO, so that it can effectively advance the opinions of
the user community.

                  Funding Outlook and Long-Range Planning

At a joint session of the KPNO and CTIO Users' Committees on 8
December, Hugh van Horn, the new Director of the Division of
Astronomical Sciences at the NSF, outlined the funding difficulties
facing US astronomy.  The advent of a number of new large telescopes
for the US community in addition to new technological developments,
such as adaptive optics/ interferometry and large format detector
arrays, will create a need for additional funds to operate these
facilities.  However, the expectation at present is for flat funding
levels in the foreseeable future.  Given that the NSF astronomy grants
program is already severely constrained, as is the NOAO budget (which
has experienced a decline of ~30% in real dollars over the past
decade), a careful review is being undertaken of the future of
optical/IR astronomy in the US.  A major component of this review will
be to examine the future mission of NOAO.  Clearly, difficult decisions
will have to be made regarding the balance of funding between the
individual grants program and that for the national centers.  The
Director emphasized the importance of obtaining input from the entire
astronomical community in conducting this review and proposed that the
KPNO and CTIO Users' Committees serve as a vehicle for canvassing the
user community.  Consequently, our Committee will carry out a survey
similar to the one already conducted by the KPNO Users' Committee.  In
addition, individual users are urged to contact members of the
Committee with their thoughts on long-term issues for CTIO (e-mail
addresses of all Committee members follow at the end of this report).
It is essential that the planning process for NOAO go forward with
strong input from the community.

                    Impact of Gemini on CTIO Operations

In the joint session of the KPNO and CTIO Users' Committees a report
was given on the status of the Gemini project.  The project is well on
track: all international partners are now on board, funding has been
secured, and a number of major contracts for the telescope
subassemblies are expected to be awarded during the next year.  The
main issue regarding CTIO is the impact that Gemini South will have on
operations at Tololo.  The role of CTIO in Gemini operations is still
under discussion and remains to be clearly defined.  Nevertheless,
facing flat funding, the US money for Gemini operations will have to
come from somewhere, and the logical expectation is that CTIO will
"pay" by having some personnel switched to Gemini duties.  Thus it is
the expectation of the CTIO staff that the commissioning of the Gemini
telescope on Cerro Pachon (which is likely to begin in 1998) will place
especially heavy demands on CTIO personnel.  As a result, it is
essential for the existing telescopes on Tololo to be operating in the
most reliable and efficient manner possible by the time that the
commissioning of Gemini South is underway.  The Director has proposed
partnerships between CTIO and universities as a means of ensuring that
the above goal will be expedited.  The recent ongoing collaborations
with the University of Michigan (upgrade of CCD imaging at the Curtis
Schmidt), the Space Telescope Science Institute (upgrades to the
spectrograph cameras on the 1.5-m and 1-m telescopes), and the Ohio
State University (loan of their OSIRIS IR instrument) are possible
examples of constructive partnerships between CTIO and the
universities.  A limited amount of observing time has been allocated to
these partners in exchange for instrumentation upgrades.  The Committee
enthusiastically endorsed this approach.  However, we have since
learned that at the worst-case budget levels predicted over the next
five years CTIO will not have any resources available for this sort of
matching of effort on the smallest telescopes, if they are to keep the
larger telescopes (down through the 1.5m) operating at an acceptable
level.  The Committee strongly opposes a decline in the CTIO budget to
that level.  Instead, we must ensure that the existing, well-run, and
unique (for US astronomers) CTIO operation is not sacrificed when
Gemini is commissioned.

                         Instrumentation

             Joint KPNO/CTIO Instrumentation Projects

During the joint KPNO and CTIO Users' Committee meeting, several
ongoing and future instrumentation projects were described that are
being carried out in collaborations between the KPNO and CTIO staffs.
The goal of the joint instrumentation effort is to undertake major
instrumentation programs that would not be possible at the individual
observatories.  The CTIO Users' Committee commends the cooperative
spirit evident in the programs.  This approach is particularly
important given the expectation of a severely constrained budget in the
future.  At the same time we wish to emphasize the importance of the
individual instrument efforts being undertaken by the ETS group in La
Serena.

                  ARCON Controllers and 4-m Imaging
                            Performance

At present most of the CTIO instrumentation effort is committed to the
production of ARCON controllers and to progress on the imaging
performance at the 4-m telescope.  These projects appear to be
proceeding expeditiously.  We were pleased to see timelines on these
projects, and look forward to seeing real improvements in the image
quality at the 4-m next year.
                                                                                                     Implementation of New CCDs

The Committee is concerned about the rate at which new CCD chips,
already received by CTIO, are being implemented on the Tololo
telescopes and urges CTIO to have the new chips available as soon as
possible.  NOAO has distinguished itself in providing top-quality CCDs
on its telescopes and it is critical that this advantage be maintained
at Tololo.  While in general the Committee fully endorses the concept
of completing one instrumentation project before starting another one,
enough manpower needs to be reserved for commissioning of the new CCDs
on a parallel track to the major instrumentation projects underway.

                        IR Instrumentation

Given the progress made with both the ARCON and 4-m imaging upgrade
projects, the Committee is pleased that a full-scale effort is now
being made in the area of IR instrumentation.  The Committee endorses
both the short-term and long-term plans put forward at the meeting.
Specifically, the short-term plan, already well underway, is to (1)
commission a NICMOS 256 x 256 HgCdTe imager by mid-1994 and (2) upgrade
the IRS with a 256 x 256 InSb array using the KPNO WILDFIRE control
electronics by late-1994.  Completion of these projects will allow
Tololo to catch up to the existing technology at other observatories.
In the meanwhile, CTIO users will continue to have access to OSIRIS for
the first nine months of 1994 through a joint arrangement with Ohio
State University.  The long-term plan involves a major joint IR
instrumentation project between KPNO/CTIO/USNO and SBRC to develop 1024
x 1024 InSb arrays.  This collaboration is an important example of
joint cooperation in instrumentation between KPNO and CTIO and is fully
endorsed by the Committee.

The joint IR instrumentation is predicated on an f/15 image scale at
the 4-m telescopes (so that IR instruments can be duplicated and/or
shared with f/15 foci at the KPNO 4-m and Gemini telescopes), and so a
new f/15 secondary for the CTIO 4-m is required.  Last year the
Committee recommended that funds for this secondary be provided by
NOAO, rather than coming exclusively from the CTIO budget.  We are very
pleased to learn that NOAO will indeed fund the f/15 secondary.

                        Smart Controllers

CTIO is in immediate need of replacing many of its aging Camac
controllers for spectrographs, filter wheels, etc.  In so doing, it is
taking the lead at NOAO in implementing a new generation of smart
controllers.  It clearly would be highly desirable for NOAO and Gemini
to standardize on this smart controller technology as soon as possible,
to allow for a compatible set of controllers at NOAO and Gemini sites
in the future.  The Committee commends CTIO for its efforts in the area
of smart controller development and hopes that discussions (and
agreement) on a standard for NOAO and Gemini will soon take place.
                                                                                                     Multi-fiber Spectroscopy

The Committee recommends that CTIO explore the feasibility of
duplicating the KPNO Hydra multi-fiber positioner.  Given the
popularity and success of both Hydra and Argus, it would be very
productive for the science conducted at Tololo to have an instrument
with the expanded number of fibers offered by Hydra.  If feasible, such
a project would be another example of the joint KPNO/CTIO
collaborative instrumentation projects that are strongly endorsed above
by this Committee.  We emphasize, however, that given the limited
manpower available, any effort of this kind should not detract from the
IR instrumentation efforts.
                                                                                                        Small Telescopes

As previously mentioned, an important goal is to have operation of the
smaller telescopes so efficient that their impact on mountain
operations will be minimal - especially during the commissioning of
Gemini South.  The new large telescopes coming on line will not be able
to replace the small telescopes, which historically have been a vital
component to the user community. With these upgrades they will continue
to complement the science carried out by the large telescopes. In
particular, the Committee encourages CTIO to convert the smaller
telescopes to the new telescope control system, VxWorks, in order to be
consistent with the 4-m, 1.5-m and Gemini.
                                                                                                         TAC Procedures

The Committee is pleased by the modifications to the proposal review
procedures that have been instituted since last year.  However,
especially now that the external referee system has been abolished, it
is particularly important that automatic feedback be given by the TAC
for failed proposals.  The Committee feels that lack of feedback for
failed proposals is an important source of user dissatisfaction.
Moreover, the Committee reiterates its recommendation from last year
that membership on the TAC be sufficiently broad to cover all fields.

                        Other Procedures

Both Malcolm Smith and Mark Phillips gave detailed responses to the
recommendations made in the Committee's report from last year.  The
Committee is very pleased with the careful response of CTIO to these
recommendations, and particularly acknowledges the leadership during
the last year of former Director Bob Williams and Interim Director Mark
Phillips.  We urge that the "Response to Last Year's Users' Committee
Report" remain an agenda item for future meetings.

Given the present climate of uncertainty surrounding the long-term
mission of NOAO, the CTIO Committee recommends that a joint executive
session of both KPNO and CTIO Users' Committees be held during the 1994
meeting.

                     Remote/Service Observing

Remote observing is not yet possible because of the NASA satellite
bandwidth (no T1 line is yet available).  The main obstacle to service
observing lies in the manpower needed to carry it out.  It may be
possible to establish cooperation between Universities and CTIO in a
mutually beneficial program of training graduate students as service
observers.  Such an arrangement, if pursued, should be undertaken with
an eye toward promoting the efficiency of operation that is needed to
maximize productivity under tight budget constraints and for giving
graduate students valuable experiences that they would not ordinarily
obtain at their home institutions.

                         Data Archiving

Data archiving in the long term will become an increasingly important
issue, especially in times of tighter funding.  The Committee
encourages CTIO to investigate potential cooperation with existing
facilities which have developed expertise for maintenance of publicly
accessible archives.  Such a collaboration might substantially reduce
the imposing manpower and financial requirements for setting up a
long-term public archive of CTIO data.  As a first step, however, the
Committee encourages CTIO to implement the "save the bits" procedures
presently in place at KPNO.  For the future, the Committee believes
that in principle public access to archival ground-based optical/IR
data obtained at the national observatories should be similar to that
established for the space-based observatories.

               Miscellaneous Observer Support Issues

1) It is very inconvenient to have the library so far away from the summit.
   CTIO is encouraged to find space for a library in the new building
   currently under construction on the summit.

2) There should be a public workstation or a terminal for the astronomers
   who are not currently observing but are at the summit. While observers
   are encouraged to spend only a minimum number of nights on the mountain,
   some observers arrive at the mountain early due to restricted travel
   possibilities on weekends.  Moreover, graduate students and other new
   observers may need to arrive early to watch their telescope and
   instrument in operation before going on the telescope themselves.  In
   addition, observers occasionally have a night or two between runs.  A
   good place for this workstation would be in the new library on the
   second floor of the new building.

3) Under the current travel policy, thesis students are switched from full
   to partial support if their advisors accompany them.  This policy
   imposes a heavy financial penalty on thesis advisors who wish to assist
   their students in an initial observing run.  CTIO is urged to change
   this policy so that the thesis student still receives full travel
   support if accompanied by his/her advisor.

4) There is a definite need for good quality DAT drives at the summit for
   the increasing number of observers with DATs at their home institutions.

                          Safety Issues

The Committee applauds the efforts by CTIO to maintain high safety
standards, and is very pleased with its response to a minor accident
that occurred last April.  However, given that an accident did occur,
we feel that it would be wise to conduct an external safety inspection
at CTIO.

                          Light Pollution

The Committee is concerned (and has heard from several users) about the
growing number of lights visible from the summit at CTIO.  The light
pollution, which arises not only from La Serena/Coquimbo but from
smaller nearby towns as well, will increase with the economic growth of
the region.  Light pollution must be addressed in order for CTIO to
remain competitive, and as we know from our experiences in the US, an
early and concerted effort is essential for light containment to be
effective.  We therefore support in the strongest terms the efforts of
the CTIO Director to address this problem.
                                                                                                       CTIO Users' Committee:

Jay Frogel, Ohio State University
    frogel@galileo.mps.ohio-state.edu,
Suzanne Hawley, Michigan State University
    slh@pillan.pa.msu.edu,
Jose Maza, Universidad de Chile
    jmaza@das.uchile.cl,
Karen Meech, University of Hawaii
    meech@pavo.ifa.hawaii.edu,
Marc Postman, Space Telescope Science Institute
    postman@stsci.edu,
Jim Rose (Chair), University of North Carolina
    jim@wrath.physics.unc.edu,
George Wallerstein, University of Washington
    wall@astro.phys.washington.edu

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