July 24, 2001

       E-mail:  etzel@sciences.sdsu.edu
       Web site:  http://mintaka.sdsu.edu
	
								
Research Subcommittee
Committee on Science
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington DC

Dear Committee Members,
 
HPWREN has brought increased flexibility to the existing research
and educational programs at San Diego State University's (SDSU)
Mount Laguna Observatory (MLO).  Hundreds of electronic images,
each 8 Mbytes in size, are now routinely transmitted to the SDSU
campus, to our partners at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign,
and in increasing numbers to astronomers at other sister institutions
within the California State University (CSU) system.  New potentials
are now being realized or planned for the three moderate sized
research telescopes (0.4- to 1.0-meter apertures) at MLO, and a
consensus is now building between SDSU and other CSU astronomers
to build a much larger 3.0 meter class telescope to operate in a
completely Robotic mode over Internet2 via HPWREN.

Within a month of becoming operational, HPWREN allowed SDSU faculty
while at the telescope at MLO to transmit images to campus, process
them with on-campus computers through remote windows at MLO, design
a web page, and then display the web-based images in a freshman
introductory astronomy class the next morning.  SDSU Assistant
Professor William Welsh has submitted a proposal to NSF for the
study of "Flickering and Accretion Power" in astrophysical objects
such as exotic binary star systems and quasars.  A strong educational
component of this project revolves about retrofitting MLO's 30-year
old 0.4-meter telescope with a modern computer controlled tracking
system and electronic camera for specific use in an unattended
remote observing mode by undergraduate students over Internet2.
The web interface will be very attractive to a broad cross section
of potential science majors who may have previously not considered
careers in science or technology.  The students will participate
in a regimented observing program on carefully selected objects
with a scientific goal in mind, but will also be allowed to devote
a fraction of the telescope time to creative projects of their own
design.  Participation by faculty and students at Southwestern and
Palomar Community Colleges is planned.  These latter efforts will
hopefully increase the exposure of under-represented students to
science and encourage students to transfer to SDSU for a 4-year
degree program.

SDSU's front-line 1.0-meter telescope currently has the widest
range of sophisticated auxiliary instrumentation.  This 1966 vintage
telescope does not lend itself to unattended remote observing;
however, pilot "service observing" programs are now under way in
which an SDSU astronomer obtains data at MLO and then transmits
them over Internet2 via HPWREN to collaborators at other CSU
institutions.  SDSU has the only Astronomy Department in the
23-campus CSU system and the only major observatory at a remote
site for quality night time viewing.  However, there are astronomers
at eleven other CSU campuses, and several have used MLO.  There is
a growing desire to build a 3.0-meter class fully Robotic telescope
at MLO, for a cost of about $10M in mostly private funding, to
service the entire CSU system over Internet2.  HPWREN makes this
a possibility.  Individual CSU astronomers would submit observing
proposals for automated queued observing that would be prioritized
and executed in an efficient manner.  The telescope design would
allow for up to seven different computer selectable instrument
packages - this telescope would be a large Internet appliance.
High profile "mission projects" would include: 1) the search for
extrasolar earth-like planets via gravitational microlensing, 2)
the rapid optical identification and spectral measurement of
gamma-ray burst objects, and 3) the rapid spectral classification
of extragalactic supernovae.  These projects would operate under
an even larger global network of Robotic telescopes, mostly of
2.0-meter aperture, already under construction.  The Liverpool John
Moores University Telescope is complete and is soon to be shipped
to La Palma in the Canary Islands.  The private UK Faulkes Foundation
funded two additional telescopes nearing completion for placement
in Siding Spring, Australia and on Maui, Hawaii.  Other proposals
are pending by Irish astronomers for a telescope in Chile, and by
the Scots for South Africa.  SDSU's MLO would occupy a critical
geographical location in this global network by filling the large
longitude gap between La Palma and Maui.

Sincerely,							




Paul B. Etzel
Chair, Department of Astronomy
Director, Mount Laguna Observatory
San Diego State University


Cc:	Thomas R. Scott, Dean
	College of Sciences, SDSU