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7
Realizing the Opportunities
The preceding chapters of this report present a compelling science program (Chapter 2) and
outline the relationship of the federal program to the larger astronomy and astrophysics enterprise
(Chapters 3 and 4). They also discuss workforce development and other core activities, the changes in the
base program that are prerequisites for substantial new initiatives, and the need to keep existing facilities
in balance with the development of new ones (Chapters 5 and 6). This chapter describes the committee’s
recommended program. After outlining the process followed in carrying out the Astro2010 survey, this
chapter discusses how addressing the three major objectives of the recommended science program
requires a particular suite of activities. Next, it argues that this same suite addresses the larger science
program outlined in Chapter 2. The recommended activities are then described in more detail as elements
of the integrated program for the decade recommended to the three agencies that commissioned this
report.
PROCESS
Prioritization Criteria
The approach taken by this survey has been to develop a logical program for the decade 2012-
2021 that is firmly aimed at realizing identified science priorities and opportunities, especially the key
science objectives established below. The recommended program is rooted in the existing research
enterprise and is based in part on the availability of new technology that will inspire and enable
astronomy and astrophysics in the decade to come. Furthermore, in the development of its
recommendations the committee considered the challenges and constraints of the current federal budget
environment along with its own independent and critical evaluation of proposed activities. The need for
balance across the program was carefully considered.
The committee adopted four major criteria as the basis for prioritization of activities:
• Maximizing the scientific contribution and return identified by the survey process (see Chapter
2);
• Building on the current astronomy and astrophysics enterprise (see Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6);
• Balancing activities that can be completed in the 2012-2021 decade against making investments
for the next decade; and
• Optimizing the science return under highly constrained budget guidelines by assessing activity
readiness, technical risk, schedule risk, cost risk, and opportunities for collaboration.
Program Prioritization
The science case developed by the committee in Chapter 2 served as a principal component of the
evaluation of proposed activities that was undertaken by this survey. It was drawn from the questions and
discovery areas identified by the five Science Frontiers Panels (SFPs) appointed by the National Research
Council (NRC) to assist the committee, namely:
• Cosmology and Fundamental Physics.
• The Galactic Neighborhood,
• Galaxies Across Cosmic Time, and
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