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TABLE 5‐3 Detailed AST Non‐facilities budgets, in Millions of FY 2010 Dollars. NSF’s ATI program fluctuated by only
about 15% in FY2010 dollars over the decade 1999‐2008.
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
R&E 34.21 42.19 44.77 57.68 62.04 61.02 60.60 61.92 63.91 64.53
AAG 24.09 26.11 27.73 35.36 38.11 35.23 35.55 41.80 43.61 43.03
ESP 6.19 6.05 6.20 6.55 6.25 6.15 5.81 5.94 5.70 6.87
AAPF 0.00 0.00 0.73 1.44 1.69 1.78 1.79 1.63 1.58 1.41
ESM 0.13 0.26 0.20 0.13 0.21 0.30 0.22 0.22 0.21 0.19
STC 0.88 8.21 2.10 4.84 4.71 4.51 4.44 4.30 4.21 3.39
Projects 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.89 0.47 1.32 4.01 1.30 1.49 2.59
Initiatives 2.11 1.25 7.08 7.69 9.92 11.13 7.97 5.68 5.79 5.31
Panels/IPAs 0.81 0.32 0.72 0.77 0.68 0.60 0.80 1.05 1.32 1.74
Inst/Tech 8.92 9.36 10.23 16.29 22.36 22.42 23.79 21.63 31.57 30.01
ATI 7.99 8.22 8.01 9.75 12.18 10.79 10.51 8.44 10.28 9.22
CIP 0.00 0.00 0.61 4.81 8.17 9.11 4.66 5.23 6.85 4.09
Tech/MSP 0.93 1.14 1.61 1.73 2.01 2.52 8.62 7.96 14.43 16.70
Total 43.13 51.55 55.00 73.97 84.41 83.44 84.38 83.55 95.48 94.54
NOTES: R&E=Research & Education programs; AAG=Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Grants; ESP=Education &
Special Programs; AAPF=Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellows; ESM=Electromagnetic Spectrum
Management; STC=Science & Technology Centers; Projects=Special Projects; Initiatives=AST funding to NSF or MPSwide
programs; Panels/IPAs=Review panels and Intergovernmental Personnel Act appointments;
Inst/Tech=Instrumentation & Technology Development programs; ATI=Advanced Technologies & Instrumentation;
CIP=Community Instrumentation Programs (TSIP, AODP, PREST); Tech/MSP=Technology development and mid‐scale
projects. SOURCE: NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences.
should address the need for mid-size infrastructure, as have the AST Senior Review 16 , several AAAC
Annual Reports 17 , and multiple Committees of Visitors to the AST, PHY, and DMR Divisions of MPS
between 2003-2009. All of these reports stated that NSF needs a better mechanism to fund projects with
costs falling in between the top of the MRI funding bracket ($4M - $6M varying over the decade) and the
bottom of the MREFC funding bracket (~$135M).
Since at least FY2007, mid-scale instrumentation has been identified as a priority of the MPS
Directorate. In FY2009 and FY2010 Mid-Scale was called out as a priority for AST with increases
resulting in expenditures of $32M in FY2010. Beyond spending on GSMT, LSST, and SKA design and
development, the projects funded include: SDSS-II and -III, VERITAS, the Murchison Widefield Array,
the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, POLARBeaR, and QUIET. Some of these were co-funded by NSF-
PHY.
In Chapter 7, the committee recommends the establishment of a formally competed mid-scale
instrumentation and facilities line within AST with additional funding beyond that currently being
expended. The program would be focused specifically on the construction costs of instruments and
facilities that fall between the top of the MRI and the bottom of the MREFC funding ranges. This survey
received twenty-nine proposals that would be eligible for such a competition, many of which were highly
16 "From the Ground Up: Balancing the NSF Astronomy Program," Report of the NSF Division of
Astronomical Sciences Senior Review Committee (2006)
17 Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee Annual Reports 2007 and 2008
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