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The Gemini Instrumentation Program - The US View (1Sep94)
(from USGP, NOAO Newsletter No. 39, 1 September 1994)

The last Gemini Newsletter (June 1994) contained an article detailing the
development of the instrumentation program for the Gemini telescopes. The
complement of "first light" instruments has been designed to satisfy the
scientific desires of the astronomical communities of the Gemini partner
countries and exploit the unique capabilities of the Gemini telescopes. Along
with the list of instruments, the Gemini Project, in collaboration with the
Gemini Science Committee, developed an allocation plan, in which the monetary
value of each country's allocation is roughly proportional to its
participation in the project. This plan, for the instruments themselves and
the allocations to the countries, was approved by the Gemini Board in May and
is as follows:

Chile:              CCD Electronics

United States:      Near-IR Imager
                    Near-IR Spectrograph
                    8-30 um Imager
                    Optical Detectors/
                    Acquisition Cameras
                    IR Arrays/Controllers

Canada:             MOS (X2) (collaboration)
                    CFHT Fiber Feed

United Kingdom:     MOS (X2) (collaboration)
                    HROS

Although there are certainly astronomers in the US who are interested in each
of the instruments, I believe that this is a particularly propitious
allocation for the US. First, the emphasis of Gemini in the US has been
predominantly in the IR, where Gemini is aimed at providing unique
capabilities in areas of spatial resolution and low emissivity. Second,
state-of-the-art detectors, in both ranges of the IR represented as well as
in the optical, come almost exclusively from US vendors. Most of the
communications received by the US Gemini Program (USGP) that expressed
interest in participating in the instrumentation program mentioned
specifically the infrared instruments.

So, who will build these instruments (and how will those decisions be made)?
The goal of the USGP is to maximize the participation of the community, while
ensuring that the instruments provided for the Gemini telescopes are of the
highest quality and greatest capability. All this while requiring them to be
built for a fixed price - which has been estimated by the project as
amounting to about 65% of the cost to build the instruments they want!

Some of the US-allocated instruments already have constraints on them. The
Near-IR Imager will be built by the University of Hawaii, and a design study
is now underway. The Optical Detectors/ Acquisition Cameras were directed by the
Gemini Board to an international consortium organized by the USGP. This
consortium is encouraged to involve the international communities in
procurement of CCDs through collaborative foundry runs. This effort will be
started in the next few months and information about participation will be
widely circulated. In the case of the IR detectors and controllers, it was
deemed appropriate to delay the initiation of the procurement so that
requirements could be factored in by the groups building the instruments in
which these detectors and controllers would be used.

That leaves the Near-IR Spectrograph and the Mid-IR Imager. The builders of
those two instruments will be chosen through competitions, organized, through
the request of the NSF, by the USGP. There are more details on this process
in the accompanying article on recent activities of the USGP. A similar
procurement process will be carried out for the Mid-IR imager. The
announcement of opportunity for this latter procurement will probably be
released around the beginning of 1995.

Todd Boroson

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