August 2 and 3, 2010 ReSTAR: The Origins of KOSMOS David Sprayberry

2 References 2006 NSF AST Senior Review Report, report.pdf report.pdf 2007 NOAO ReSTAR Committee Report, STAR_final_14jan08.pdf STAR_final_14jan08.pdf

3 Long, Long Ago… Nov 2006: NSF Senior Review report out Relevant recommendations: –NOAO should enlarge efforts to renew infrastructure and instruments at 4-m’s –NOAO should partner with other institutions to do this –NSF should give NOAO additional money to support this

4 Enter ReSTAR NOAO commissioned an effort to: –Survey forefront science for 4-m class scopes –Identify most critical community needs –Recommend a program for meeting them Carried out by committee from community –Included much community outreach Consultation with NSF throughout

5 ReSTAR Report Lots of science: Solar System to Cosmology Identified need for additional open-access time on 4-m-class Identified need for modern instruments: –Wide-field imagers (already done or underway) –Moderate R, high throughput spectrographs –High R, efficient spectrographs

6 ReSTAR Policy Goals Meet these needs as quickly and cheaply as possible (NSF resources limited) –Don’t reinvent wheels –Partner with other institutions to leverage recent experience

7 Implementation Proposal NOAO submitted unsolicited proposal to NSF –$12.3M over three years –Enhance infrastructure related to science –Enlarge 4-m-class nights available (Hale, DCT) –Build 4 spectrographs –Study involvement in time-domain network –Etc Proposal listed pre-selected partners…

8 Post-Proposal Proposal submitted Nov 2008 Written reviews to NSF Reverse site visit in May 2009 NOAO notified of initial decision late July 2009 –$3M for one year only; future years not assured –Revised proposal requested to fit

9 First Year Program Stick to things that could be completed from the first year’s funding NOAO solicited community input Recommendations: –Hale time –One adaptation of OSMOS, for Kitt Peak Mayall –Improvements to readout speed, efficiency of existing instruments

10 And off we go… First year funding received late Aug 2009 Began design adaptation study with OSU in September Negotiated and executed design phase contract in parallel with start of study Elected to have separate contracts for design and build phases

11 Postscript: COSMOS NOAO recently learned that more funding will be available for Year 2 of ReSTAR COSMOS is first priority for use of additional funds (and there should be enough…) OSU and NOAO planning to build both KOSMOS and COSMOS, programmed to minimize total cost and schedule (more later)