— ALMA Board Statement on Early Science —

“At its meeting on November 16th-18th 2010, the ALMA Board noted the tremendous recent progress in construction and commissioning of the array and recorded its thanks to the ALMA and regional Executive staff and contractors for their many contributions. Eight of the 66 antennas have already been deployed at the 5000-m elevation site. The accompanying test images illustrate the potential of the full array for unprecedented scientific discovery in the cold Universe.

In preparation for the commencement of Early Science, with a subset of the ALMA array capabilities, the Board received reports and recommendations from a number of comprehensive reviews of the ALMA project. The Board enthusiastically endorses the conclusions of the reviews, and of the Director, that ALMA is on track to begin Early Science observations late in 2011, as planned. While many challenges remain, it is already clear that ALMA “works”.

It is anticipated that the ALMA Director will issue a Call for Proposals for Early Science in the first quarter of 2011. That announcement will provide more details of the expected timeline and capabilities to be offered.”

The ALMA Board
18 November 2010