Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) through the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) will manage the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2026. The research community will be provided cutting-edge capabilities of micro-arcsecond astrometry, the highest resolution imaging telescope at any wavelength. The VLBA will operate with state-of-the art instrumentation, advanced data processing, and broad user support, enabling the entire astronomy community to address key problems in astronomy and astrophysics.
INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The opportunities for astronomy and astrophysics research have never been richer. The VLBA will complement the next generation of large ground based optical telescopes and space-based facilities covering the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Together they comprise a comprehensive suite of powerful tools to probe and decipher the full range of outstanding problems, from the origin of planets, stars, quasars and galaxies, to the structure of the Universe and the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Observations with VLBA will shed new light on exoplanets, and planetary and stellar formation and evolution. Microarcsecond astrometry is making possible a new class of precision measurements of the parallax of pre-main sequence stars, recoil motions of stars in response to exoplanets, the structure of the Galaxy and the dynamics of the Local Group of galaxies. Multi-epoch high resolution images will lead to a better understanding of relativistic jets from micro-quasars and supermassive black holes found in Active Galactic Nuclei, along with the nature of gamma-ray bursts seen by the GLAST satellite. Observations will provide the angular-diameter distance determination of galaxies in the Hubble flow, leading to a more accurate determination of the Hubble Constant, higher precision determination of cosmological constants, and better constraints on the equation of state of dark energy.
BROADER IMPACT: NRAO facilities are used by more than one thousand scientists each year and are available to all scientists based on the intellectual merits of the proposed studies, independent of institutional or national affiliation. NRAO will provide end-to-end user support at its science centers, enabling easy access to its telescope and their data by the entire astronomical community. Calibrated images will be made available in archives accessible to both the broad research community and the public. Astronomy is an important element in meeting national goals related to diversity, science and technology education, and increased U.S. competitiveness. NRAO is attracting an increasingly diverse staff. Through the undergraduate Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) and co-op programs, resident graduate fellowships and external student grants, Green Bank and Socorro summer schools, and competitive postdoctoral Jansky Fellowships, it continues to help train the next generation of scientists. The Green Bank Science Center, the VLA Visitors Center, US-Chile teacher/student exchange programs, and teacher and K-12 education programs, further serve to create a science-literate public.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
