David Murphy (david.w.murphy@jpl.nasa) 31-Oct-06/1-Nov-02

1. David Murphy (david.w.murphy@jpl.nasa.gov)31-Oct-06/1-Nov-02 Agenda + U.S. VSOP-2 Support Plans

2. Agenda - 31 Oct • 8:30- 9:00 Arrive at JPL Visitors center, get coffee • 9:00- 9:15 Welcome and Introduction - Murphy • 9:15- 9:45 VSOP-2 Mission Update - Hirax • 9:45-10:00 European plans for VSOP-2 support - Gurvits • 10:00-10:15 U.S. plans for VSOP-2 support - Murphy • 10:15-11:30 Tracking Station Requirements - Murata/Kono • overall requirements: number and distribution tracking stations • individual tracking station requirements • 11:30-12:00 ISAS VSOP-2 tracking station - Murata/Kono • 12:00-1:00 *** Lunch *** • 01:00-1:30 Potential Spanish VSOP-2 tracking - Lopez Fernandez • station • 1:30-2:00 Potential NRAO Green Bank tracking station - Langston • 02:00-2:30 Potential JPL tracking stations - D'Addario/Jones • 02:30-3:30 VSOP tracking stations lessons learned -Ulvestad/D'Addario/Langston/Smith • 3:30-4:30 Tracking station design discussion - All • can we generate a common design? • share components? • place uplink on small nearby antenna?

3. Agenda - 1 Nov • 8:30-9:00 Arrive at JPL Visitors center, get coffee • 9:00-10:00 Tracking station input and output products - Murata/Kono • in: schedule file • in: frequency predicts • out: time-correction file • out: telemetry data file • out: VLBI data • 10:00-10:30 Correlator interface issues - Ulvestad • 10:30-12:00 Future plans - All • Possible scenarios for sharing international tracking of VSOP-2 • A plan for convergence to a tracking plan (actions and schedules) • Future interactions/meetings of this group • 12:00-1:00 *** Lunch *** • 1:00-4:00 Future plans continued /More discussions on tracking station design -All • 4:00-4:30 Summary

4. U.S. VSOP-2 Support Plans • Identify a source of funding in current challenging NASA environment where priorities are being re-directed towards ‘Apollo on steroids’ shuttle replacement vehicle • Very different situation from when NASA decided to support VSOP • In general NASA has open competitions for science missions • Need to find a suitable competition and win selection! • Only game in town appears to be 35 M$ Midex Mission of Opportunity (MoO) • Our good cards: • VSOP-2 is already approved in Japan • ARISE decadal report legacy • Our bad cards: • Relatively small U.S. VLBI community • Currently little support available to prepare proposal

5. Rough VSOP-2 Midex MoO Timeline • Sept ‘06 VSOP-2 presentation at JPL to try and get • internal JPL concept study funds • Nov ‘06 JPL decides on concept studies to support • Nov ‘06 - Mar ‘07 Undertake concept study • Mar ‘07 JPL concept study review • Mar ‘07 Draft Midex Proposal released • Apr ‘07-Jan ‘08 Prepare VSOP-2 Midex MoO • Jan ‘08 Submit VSOP-2 Midex MoO • Jan ‘08+ NASA Midex Selection

6. Possible Uses of 35 M$ MoO Funding • Use of NRAO’s VLBA • Use of NRAO’s VLBA correlator • NRAO Green Bank tracking station • 1 or more JPL tracking stations (locations TBD) • On-board JPL GPS receiver + GPS analysis support • U.S. science support (funding for U.S. PIs, experiment planning software) • JPL project office • Other - TBD

7. Concept Study • What trades will be performed in a concept study? • Determine best of use limited MoO resources • Determine best distribution of responsibilities between U.S., Japanese, European and other international partners • What are the top three technical issues that would be addressed? • Design, number, and locations of tracking stations • GPS/phase-referencing study • What correlator and VLBA upgrades need to be undertaken to support VSOP-2 • What are the top three programmatic issues that would be addressed? • Sharing of mission responsibilities with Japanese and U.S./international partners • ITAR/TAA/MOU issues • Formation and operation of U.S. MoO team • What support would you need from outside JPL • NRAO + university support