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Aspen Program Announcement #2

WFMOS Questions

Question: Should prospective WFMOS teams open a direct dialog with Subaru to answer Subaru-specific questions or should questions be routed through Gemini?

Answer: Though Subaru and Gemini are working closely on a variety of WFMOS matters, a single point of contact should be used to make sure that answers to RFP questions submitted are distributed to everyone through these “Aspen Program Announcements” on Gemini’s web page. Per the Announcement of Opportunity, that single point of contact should be Gemini’s Contract Manager, Andy Flach. He will route the questions to the appropriate people and coordinate a reply.

Question: What constraints will Subaru place on the fraction of the instrument they are funding, e.g., must some WFMOS components be built in Japan if they are funded by Subaru?

Per "Aspen Program Announcement 1", Gemini Partner shares do not apply to the 50% of the WFMOS costs that Subaru is expected to cover. For initial planning purposes WFMOS teams should be aware of the following Subaru constraints though –

  • Subaru plans to fund the wide field corrector for WFMOS since a large fraction of the opto-mechancial assembly for this corrector is expected to be used for HyperSuprime as well. We expect that the use of the same corrector for both instruments will result in substantial cost savings compared to building 2 separate correctors for these instruments.
  • Modifications will have to be made to the Subaru Observatory to make it WFMOS compatible. These facility-level modifications will also be funded from Subaru’s portion of the WFMOS budget.
  • Beyond the wide field corrector and facility modifications, there are no preexisting restrictions on Subaru funded components of WFMOS and direct contracts from Subaru to WFMOS component builders world-wide are possible.
Question: Are there any restrictions from Gemini or Subaru on where the overall WFMOS project leadership should be established?

Answer: As long as proposals abide by the Gemini Partner share cost constraints outlined in the WFMOS Announcement of Opportunity, Aspen Program Announcement #1, and the top-level Subaru constraints summarized above, there are no restrictions on where the central WFMOS project leadership is located.



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