Dr. Rita Colwell, director of the U.S. National Science Foundation
(NSF), and Dr. Catherine Cesarsky, director general of the European
Southern Observatory (ESO), today (February 25, 2003) signed a historic
agreement jointly to construct and operate ALMA, the Atacama Large
Millimeter Array, the world’s largest and most powerful radio telescope
operating at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths.

“With this agreement, we usher in a new age of research in astronomy,”
said Dr. Colwell. “By working together in this truly global
partnership, the international astronomy community will be able to
ensure the research capabilities needed to meet the long-term demands of
our scientific enterprise, and that we will be able to study and
understand our universe in ways that have previously been beyond our
vision.”

Dr. Cesarsky also commented, “This agreement signifies the start of a
great project of contemporary astronomy and astrophysics. Representing
Europe, and in collaboration with many laboratories and institutes on
this continent, we together look forward towards wonderful research
projects. With ALMA we may learn how the earliest galaxies in the
Universe really looked like, to mention but one of the many eagerly
awaited opportunities with this marvelous facility.”

When complete in 2011, ALMA will be an array of 64, 12-meter radio
antennas that will work together as one telescope to study millimeter
and sub-millimeter wavelength light from space. These wavelengths of
the electromagnetic spectrum, which cross the critical boundary between
infrared and microwave radiation, hold the key to understanding such
processes as planet and star formation, the formation of early galaxies
and galaxy clusters, and the detection of organic and other molecules in
space.

The ALMA partners will construct the telescope at an altitude of 16,500
feet in the Atacama Desert in the Chilean Andes. This unique site is
perhaps the best location on Earth to study millimeter and
sub-millimeter light because these wavelengths are absorbed by moisture
in the atmosphere. “Astronomers will have a pristine view of that
portion of the electromagnetic spectrum from the ALMA site,” said Colwell.

ALMA is a joint project between Europe and North America. In Europe,
ESO is leading on behalf of its ten member countries and Spain. In North
America, the NSF executes the project through the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is operated under cooperative
agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI). The National Research
Council of Canada will partner with the NSF in the North American endeavor.

“The NRAO is very pleased to have the leading role in this project on
behalf of the North American partners,” said Dr. Fred K.Y. Lo, director
of the NRAO in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“ALMA will be one of astronomy’s premier tools for studying the
universe,” said Nobel Laureate Riccardo Giacconi, president of AUI.
“The entire astronomical community is anxious to have the unprecedented
power and resolution that ALMA will provide.”

The President of the ESO Council, Professor Piet van der Kruit, agrees:
“ALMA heralds a breakthrough in sub-millimeter and millimeter astronomy,
allowing some of the most penetrating studies of the Universe ever made.
It is safe to predict that there will be exciting scientific surprises
when ALMA enters into operation.”

By signing this agreement, ESO and the NSF give the green light for the
joint construction of the ALMA telescope, which will cost approximately
$552 million U.S. (in FY 2000 dollars). To oversee the construction and
management of ALMA, a joint ALMA Board has been established by the
partners. The board met for the first time on February 24-25, 2003, and
witnessed the signing at the NSF headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

Dr. Joseph Bordogna, deputy director of the NSF, represented Dr. Colwell
at the actual ceremony.

Chile, the host country for ALMA, has shown its support for the
telescope by issuing a Presidential decree granting AUI permission to
work on the ALMA project, and by signing an agreement between ESO and
the government of the Republic of Chile. These actions by the government
of Chile were necessary formal steps to secure the telescope site in
that country.

ESO is an intergovernmental, European organization for astronomical
research. It has ten member countries. ESO operates astronomical
observatories in Chile and has its headquarters in Garching, near
Munich, Germany.

The NRAO is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated
under a cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

Editors: The following images are available for download over the Internet.