Development Timelines for New Facilities

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) operates a system of complementary centimeter-wavelength radio telescopes—the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT), the Very Large Array (VLA), the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA)—plus the Central Development Laboratory (CDL). At the same time, the NRAO is building Phase I of the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA), essentially replacing the VLA by a new facility which has 10 times the sensitivity and 1000 times the spectral capability. Also, the NRAO is responsible for the North American part of the current construction and eventual operation of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), an international facility that will be 100 times more powerful than the present facilities at millimeter (mm) and submillimeter (submm) wavelengths. Both the EVLA and ALMA will be fully operational in 2012.

Soon after 2011, these NRAO telescopes will join current and future major facilities at other wavelengths, such as the Hubble, Chandra and Spitzer Space Telescopes, the Keck, Magellan and Gemini Telescopes, the VLT, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the Constellation X, the Gamma-ray Large Aperture Space Telescope (GLAST) and the next generation ground-based optical/IR telescopes. The suite of NRAO facilities will form the “radio cornerstone” of this system of leading astronomical facilities in addressing the fundamental scientific questions of today and the unexpected ones of tomorrow.