FEAST Focus #24, November 2007, p. 11
With compelling evidence now growing that the world’s best astronomical observing sites for optical/infrared astronomy are located on the high plateau of Australia’s Antarctic Territory, a race is underway to establish the first major observing facilities there. The European Union has recently funded a network of 20 leading research institutes to coordinate the development of enabling technologies and astronomical programs in Antarctica, with a view to constructing a so called “Great Observatory”. Australia’s participation in this network ensures continued technology exchange and builds Australia’s knowledge base in robotics, harsh environment engineering and computational fluid dynamics, while creating important new astronomical opportunities.
ARENA is a European networking activity aimed at fostering optical and infrared astronomy in Antarctica, and primarily at Dome C Concordia on the Antarctic Plateau (and in the Australian Antarctic Territory). It has been funded by the European Commission for a period of 3 years as a Coordination Action of the Research Infrastructures Programme. It involves 21 research laboratories, institutes and industrial partners in 7 European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and UK) and Australia. The project started in January 2006 with a budget of 1.3million euros (AU$2.2million).
Coordination
Astronomers are seriously considering Antarctica as a possible site for the construction of a new large observatory mainly dedicated to infrared and very high angular resolution observations to investigate extra-solar planets, the formation and evolution of planets, stars and galaxies, and cosmology. Two member states, Italy (Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide - PNRA) and France (Institut Polaire Français - Paul Emile Victor - IPEV), have recently completed the year round operating of the station Concordia at Dome C, in the heart of Antarctica. The present programme is aimed to structure, reinforce and network several European laboratories and operators involved or willing to be involved in Antarctic astronomical investigations with the final objective to set up state of the art large instruments and focal plane equipment in the coming decade. The network consists of 4 activities,
- NA2 concerns the site qualification,
- NA3 aims to identify the technical constraints on the design of large astronomical instruments for polar environment emphasizing robotization,
- NA4 will foster collaborations between the operators of Concordia and their users to add value to Concordia,
- NA5 will focus on the selection of appropriate key scientific programs, implemented in synergy with other ground based observatories and space missions. The funds granted by the EC will contribute to the on-going site qualification, and will help structuring the still dispersed and scarce teams of European astronomers through organizing specialized workshops putting operators, users and industrial partners in close contact, and annual large international Conferences. The networks will deliver a detailed report on the site qualification over a period of 5 years, industrial reports and studies addressing the problems of building large instruments at Dome C, a book of carefully selected scientific key-programmes, and recommendations on the timeline of instrumental developments.
The first conference held in October by the consortium defined the roadmap of mid term IR/optical instruments developments at Concordia. While the construction of the station has be funded entirely by only two member states, interest in its future development as an astronomical observatory is strong at a European level, from countries such as the UK, Germany, Belgium and Spain.
Working together
Prof JW Storey (UNSW) was one of the key actors at the origin of ARENA, with Nicolas Epchtein (CNRS, Université de Nice, France). A series of 13 meetings and workshops, fully funded by the EU, will be held over the next two years. The team at UNSW was recently awarded an ARC international Linkage to fund Australia’s participation in this process. ARENA will lay out the European roadmap for the astronomical development of the Concordia Station, which opened in 2005. Participation in ARENA and the recent discovery that the world’s best optical/infrared sites lie within the Australian Antarctic Territory creates a remarkable opportunity for Australia.
Future options include early deployment of the Australian-led PILOT (the Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope) 2.4 metre telescope, together with interferometer prototypes, followed by major telescopes of unparalleled capability. Once funding approvals and international agreements are in place, PILOT could be operational within 3 - 4 years (with construction starting in 2008). Although an operational life of at least ten years is planned, the successful commissioning of PILOT will remove many of the remaining uncertainties that must be resolved before very ambitious projects can be set in motion. These include a large (8-metre class) clear-aperture optical infrared telescope, GMTA (a 25 metre diameter ELT), interferometers with multiple 2-metre apertures distributed over a kilometre or more, and even large sub-mm single dish telescopes such as ASO.
Acknowledgement John Storey
