Collaboration with Japanese Project is Extended

On March 23, 1998, the NRAO renewed its Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NOAJ) regarding collaboration between the MMA and LMSA projects.

The NRAO and Nobeyama Radio Observatory (NRO), a facility within the NOAJ, began discussions on ways the observatories might cooperate in the construction of a large millimeter-wave synthesis radio telescope over ten years ago. Other projects kept those discussions on the back burner for NRAO, the Very Long Baseline Array and the Green Bank Telescope; for NRO, the Subaru Project. In 1995, an MOA between the observatories established a framework for cooperation in site studies. Data obtained by both groups on Mauna Kea and at sites in Chile were to be shared, and the work itself done jointly when appropriate. A joint effort was conducted in configuration studies, with Mark Holdaway joining the NRO group for an extended visit.

The 1998 extension of this MOA continues the site study cooperation, recognizes the importance of sharing developments in technology, pledges cooperation in adherence to safety procedures on the site in Chile, and begins a series of three-way conversations on modes of cooperation between the LMSA and the merger of the MMA and LSA that is now being discussed by the NRAO and ESO.

Funding has been provided by the NSF International Division and by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to hold a series of workshops. Two have already been held, the first in Tokyo, March 16-19, 1997, "Millimeter and Submillimeter Astronomy at 10 Milli-Arcseconds Resolution." The second a small technical workshop on identifying compatibility issues, held in the Subaru Project offices in Hilo, Hawaii, December 9-10, 1997, "LSA/LMSA/MMA Technical Collaboration". As the title indicates, this workshop included participants from the European LSA project. The third and final workshop is to be held in conjunction with the URSI General Assembly in Montreal, August 1999, and will also include LSA participants.