Markus Kissler-Patig
Director’s Message
A New Instrument Procurement Model for Gemini, and More!
It’s mid-2014 and the Gemini Observatory is now halfway through its transition phase to a
~25 percent reduction in contributions from our partner countries. The good news is that we
are on track to run the Observatory sustainably on a significantly lower operations budget.
Accomplishing this continues to require hard work and savings across the Observatory, as
well as some reduced services to our users. However, we are confident that Gemini will remain as attractive, if not more so in the future, thanks to innovative ideas in operations and
instrumentation.
One of the latest areas of significant progress is in instrumentation. A working group — including Gemini members, the National Science Foundation, Gemini’s Science and Technology Advisory Committee (STAC), the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy’s
Oversight Committee, and the Gemini Board — defined a new instrument procurement
model. The Board endorsed it during their recent meeting in May.
In a nutshell: Adding instruments to Gemini’s suite will now be easier and more flexible.
The still valid classical avenue for instrument development consists of the Observatory requesting proposals for a facility-class instrument and fully funding it. We added, two years
ago, the “visiting instrument path” (available here) for fast, uncomplicated (but limited) access to the telescope.
These strategies are now complemented by several others. Partner and non-partner countries alike can now deliver facility-class instruments as in-kind contributions to the Observatory in return for telescope time. These instruments must be approved by the STAC, but this
new plan allows individual groups or communities to deliver their priority instrument to the
Observatory, rather than to rely on a consensus selection across Gemini’s large user base.
July 2014
GeminiFocus
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