Newswise Today the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a cooperative agreement to the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Observatory Corporation to explore a potential partnership between the organizations.

The award is a milestone for the TMT project, initiating a broad dialog between TMT, the NSF and the United States' astronomical community. The partnership-planning award also paves the way for the NSF to confer with TMT's international partners.

"The NSF award is a key development in our vision for TMT," said Henry Yang, Chancellor of the University of California - Santa Barbara, and Chair of the TMT Collaborative Board. "The full promise of this revolutionary telescope will be realizable with the engagement of the national astronomical community."

The NSF award allocates $250,000 per year for five years to partnership-planning activities that include scientific workshops and participation by U.S. scientists in the TMT Science Advisory Committee and the TMT Collaborative Board. The five-year program of engagement and planning will deliver a plan that addresses science, education and public outreach, instrumentation, and operation of the facility from the perspective of the U.S. astronomy community. This plan will be developed and refined in a series of joint meetings bringing together all U.S. and international stakeholders.

The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Tucson, AZ will play an important role in carrying out the activities of the cooperative agreement. NOAO will establish a U.S. TMT liaison activity within its System Community Development group and NOAO astronomer Todd Boroson has been selected as the U.S. TMT Liaison Scientist.

"With this award by the NSF, an important process has begun of engaging the astronomical community in the ongoing design and development of TMT," said Boroson. "Astronomers nationwide have a great opportunity to offer their expertise in advancing the TMT project."

The TMT partnership plans to initiate construction in 2014. At present, the NSF does not commit to helping fund the construction costs of TMT; however TMT planning allows the entry of the NSF later in the construction period. TMTs development plan calls for it to provide valuable research opportunities and discoveries for 50 years.

As the partnership planning moves ahead as a result of the NSF award, international partner organizations and their governments will soon be able to consult more closely on TMT's development.

"We are delighted by the dialog the NSF partnership-planning award enables. This elevates the dialog to the national and international levels," said Ed Stone, David Morrisroe Professor of Physics at Caltech, and Vice-Chair of the TMT Collaborative Board.

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Engaging the U.S. Astronomy Community - NSF Awards Partnership-Planning Grant to TMT