Regular readers of this column will be aware that the approved development programme of the JCMT is extremely ambitious: over the next 2.5 years, the entire suite of instrumentation will be replaced! Management of this process of change, while at the same time maintaining an operational facility, is a very significant challenge.

The first step in this process, and major event of 2004 (currently scheduled for May), will be the arrival of ACSIS. ACSIS is the new multichannel spectrometer backend being developed for the JCMT by the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in Canada. It will be commissioned on the telescope in June/July in conjunction with the deployment of a new software suite called the Observatory Control System (OCS), which has been under development at the JAC for some time. The OCS will replace many old software systems at the JCMT and will, among other things, bring heterodyne observing fully under the control of the OMP for the first time. ACSIS will of course replace the DAS, which will be phased out in later in 2004 after long and venerable service.

The other major instrument developments in the programme are HARP-B and SCUBA-2. The former is progressing well and should arrive at the JCMT in early 2005. The latter continues to make excellent technical progress, with delivery scheduled for early 2006, although funding for the full project is not yet in place.

At its meeting of November 2003, the Board reaffirmed its commitment to the eSMA project. This exciting development will enable the JCMT to link with the SMA and the CSO to perform submillimetre interferometry at 230 GHz (using RxA) and 345 GHz (using HARP-B). An ad hoc panel studied this project last year at my request, and concluded that the eSMA will be competitive against other competing facilities (IRAM, CARMA, ALMA) until ALMA comes on line in 2007. Plans for the technical work required for linking with the other two observatories are currently being drawn up.

In parallel with these technical developments, most of the community will by now be aware that the JCMT Board has been considering its strategy for the implementation of large-scale surveys in the era beyond 2006, primarily with HARP-B and SCUBA-2. Open meetings have been held in the UK and in Canada, and some very useful preliminary conclusions have emerged. I will shortly be issuing a message to the user communities to focus their deliberations in advance of the next Board meeting in May.

Returning to the present, I am pleased to report to users of the JCMT that the performance of the facility continues to improve. Our efforts over the last 18 months to reduce the fault rate through a number of measures, including the adoption of a more rigorous approach to the identification, analysis, prioritisation and repair of faults as they occur, have brought the baseline fault rate of the JCMT down to 2-4%. This is a noteworthy achievement, the credit for which belongs to the support staff of the facility.

Finally, it is my pleasure to report the arrival of one new face and one familiar one. Harold Butner arrived at the JAC in November 2003 as a support astronomer, replacing Robin Phillips. Harold is an accomplished submillimetre astronomer with many years of experience as a support scientist at the SMTO; I am confident that he will be an asset to the JCMT. The familiar face belongs to Jeff Cox, who has returned to the JCMT as a part-time TSS to cover a shortfall of effort. I welcome them both.

Professor Gary Davis
Director JCMT
12 February 2004

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