NSF Facility Plan
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To Index Page 11 To Index Page CONTENTS Introduction 5 Chapter 1: Research Objectives and Opportunities at the Frontiers 7 of Science and Engineering Mesoscale 1 – 8 From Millimeters to Hundreds of Kilometers Mesoscale 2 – 10 Thousands of Kilometers Microscale 1 – 11 Micrometers to Nanometers Microscale 2 – 14 Subatomic Macroscale 1 – 15 Millions of Kilometers to Thousands of Light Years Macroscale 2 – 16 Millions to Billions of Light Years Multiscale or Scale-Independent Objectives 17 Chapter 2: Major Research Equipment And Facilities 18 Construction Projects (MREFC) I. Status Reports on Facilities under Construction with MREFC Account Funding and 20 MREFC New Starts in the FY 2006 Congressional Budget Request FIRST PRIORITY: 20 Ongoing Projects in FY 2006 Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) 20 EarthScope 22 High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research 23 (HIAPER) IceCube Neutrino Observatory 24 National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) 26 NEES: The George E. Brown Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation 29 Rare Symmetry Violating Processes (RSVP) 31 Scientific Ocean Drilling Vessel (SODV) 32 South Pole Station Modernization Project (SPSM) 33 Terascale Computing Systems (TCS) 34 SECOND PRIORITY: 35 New Starts in FY 2007 and FY 2008 Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) 35 Alaska Region Research Vessel (ARRV) 37 Advanced LIGO (AdvLIGO) 39 2 To Index Page II. Status Report on National Science Board Approved New Starts 42 III. Readiness Stage Projects and Projects Recommended for Advancement to 42 Readiness Stage IV. Projects under Exploration 42 Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) 43 Collaborative Large-scale Engineering Analysis Network for 44 Environmental Research (CLEANER) Coherent X-Ray Light Source 45 Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) 46 Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA) Phase II 47 Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Earth Observing System (GEOS) 48 Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) 49 Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) 50 Petascale Earth System Collaboratory 51 South Pole Future Communication Needs 52 Square Kilometer Array (SKA) 54 Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) 55 V. Glossary of Acronyms 56 VI. References 58 VII. Image Credits 60 3 To Index Page 4 To Index Page introduction Successful exploration – whether in with wholly unanticipated metabolic uncharted wilderness or at the frontiers of systems. Sensitive measurements of knowledge – demands commitment, vision, ancient light made at the South Pole daring and ingenuity. But those qualities confirmed the structure of the cosmos alone are not always sufficient. Progress 13.7 billion years ago. And the astonishing also requires the right kind of equipment. revelation that the universe is expanding at an Often new territory is accessible only accelerating rate – apparently propelled by a with new tools; and sometimes even a mysterious entity called “dark energy” – arose seemingly unstoppable rush of discovery directly from NSF’s optical telescope resources. must halt to await novel means of seeing, These and similar advances have altered the manipulating and analyzing natural course of scientific history. The Gregorian dome high above the Arecibo dish in Puerto Rico. phenomena. Identifying and funding the kind of tools that That is why the National Science Foundation will truly transform research in science and (NSF)1 supports not only research and education, engineering is an essential part of the NSF’s but also the physical implements that make mission. As in all NSF endeavors, inquiry both possible. Our investments range from begins with the research communities, which modest laboratory instruments and information alert program staff to the most promising technology (IT) resources to the sorts of world- and exciting topics, and the most important class projects that make up a special category equipment needed to explore them. NSF of NSF funding designated as Major Research then assists the communities in refining Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC). their insights, forming a consensus and focusing on paramount objectives and During the past half-century, unique tools their corresponding hardware requirements. provided by NSF have enabled scores of At that point, if a project clearly offers unprecedented discoveries and remarkable revolutionary potential, it may qualify for innovations. To cite only a very few: further consideration in a rigorous and The first observations of extrasolar planets deliberative process designed to select only the best of the best as candidates for Strong magnetic fields twist and turn and the first evidence for gravitational on the Sun, building up tremendous waves came from our radio telescope substantial program funds or MREFC support. amounts of energy that can be at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The Nobel Prize- released explosively in what is called a flare, pictured here. winning investigation of ion channels in This process of identification and selection biological cell membranes used the special is, and must be, continuously repeated. X-ray capabilities of an NSF accelerator at Despite the stunning pace of research Cornell University. NSF’s solar observatories progress in the 21st century, the future revealed the first evidence of seismic success of entire fields depends critically activity in the Sun and detected sunspots upon development of new and powerful on the far side of our star – weeks before tools, some of which are described below. they rotated into position to affect space Such projects are increasingly large weather near Earth. and complex, with highly sophisticated IT components, including distributed Seafloor sediment cores retrieved by NSF’s sensor networks and vast data-storage drilling ships have transformed our and transmission capabilities. Costs of understanding of ancient climate and construction now typically extend to tens oceanography, and data recovered from or hundreds of millions of dollars, with ultra-deep submersibles have revealed millions more required for decades of unexpected rift activity in the Earth’s operation and maintenance. crust and exotic “vent communities” A re-entry cone, used to re-enter an So great is the potential effect of these existing drill hole on the ocean floor, starts its journey to the seafloor from the deck of the drillship JOIDES Resolution. 1 A glossary of acronyms is included in the Appendices. 5 To Index Page expenses that in 1995 Congress created a special, the Director, in their joint report Setting Priorities separate MREFC account to support the acquisition, for Large Research Facility Projects Supported construction and commissioning of major research by the National Science Foundation, define the facilities and equipment. It is intended to prevent process used by the NSF for developing, reviewing, such periodic expenditures from disrupting the approving and prioritizing large-scale research budgets of NSF directorates and threatening NSF’s facility projects. traditional support of “core” research programs, which are funded from the $4 billion Research and The first chapter of this Facility Plan provides an Related Activities (R&RA) account. Typically the overview of those objectives and opportunities, and threshold for MREFC projects is 10 percent of the their intellectual context, as of 2005. The contents annual budget of the proposing directorate or office. derive from workshops, advisory committees, National Research Council (NRC) reports, the But cost is by no means the sole criterion. expertise of visiting and permanent scientific staff Each MREFC candidate project must represent an and unsolicited proposals from the community. outstanding opportunity to enable research and Many NSF directorates also conduct internal innovation, as well as education and broader impacts. priority setting and strategic planning activities that Each should offer the possibility of transformative endeavor to locate the leading edge of research, knowledge and the potential to shift existing anticipate where it might be in the future, and paradigms in scientific understanding, engineering determine the most valuable areas of discovery processes and/or infrastructure technology. and innovation. Moreover, each must serve an urgent contemporary research need that will persist through the often The second chapter describes MREFC facilities lengthy process of planning and development. already in operation or under construction and suggests some of the promising candidates As in any sort of exploration, the horizon keeps moving. identified by the nation’s research communities. Every year new opportunities will arise and new priorities Taken as a whole, the Facility Plan constitutes a will assert themselves. As a result, no roster of potential conceptual snapshot of the science and engineering projects is ever final. Responsible stewardship of community’s views in 2005. It is the first iteration public funds demands that all candidate efforts be of a product that will be revised and updated evaluated and reevaluated constantly in the context regularly as needed. of the latest, most pressing research goals and the most profoundly important unanswered questions. To that end, the National Science Board (NSB) and The Degree Angular Scale Interferometer (DASI), shown here, operates from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is designed to measure temperature and polarization anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation over a large range of scales with high sensitivity. 6 To