| Denise Stephens presented an overview of the report completed by the Future of ARCSAT working Group (FAWG). The charge for this group was to identify current use cases for ARCSAT, assess its current capabilities, and explore future options for making it more useful for the ARC user community. The FAWG conducted an ARC-wide survey, for which they received 61 responses. The survey results indicated that there is still a strong demand for an 0.5m telescope for teaching, training, and scientific uses, but nearly half of the respondents said that ARCSAT in its current form would not meet their future needs. The FAWG examined telescope needs first, followed by cameras, user interface, and possible observing modes. The overarching concern is the reliability of the current ARCSAT, noting that it is one critical failure away from being unusable. The FAWG provided a suite of recommendations with different cost points, which the 3.5m leadership team will evaluate in preparation for making a recommendation to the ARC Board. Nancy expressed appreciation for the time and effort that the FAWG members put into this task. She will post the final version of the FAWG report after receiving it. | Denise Stephens presented an overview of the report completed by the Future of ARCSAT Working Group (FAWG), which she chaired. The charge for this group was to identify current use cases for ARCSAT, assess its current capabilities, and explore future options for making it more useful for the ARC user community. The FAWG conducted an ARC-wide survey, for which they received 61 responses. The survey results indicated that there is still a strong demand for an 0.5m telescope for teaching, training, and scientific uses, but nearly half of the respondents said that ARCSAT in its current form would not meet their future needs. The FAWG examined telescope needs first, followed by cameras, user interface, and possible observing modes. The overarching concern is the reliability of the current ARCSAT, noting that it is one critical failure away from being unusable. The FAWG provided a suite of recommendations with different cost points, which the 3.5m leadership team will evaluate in preparation for making a recommendation to the ARC Board. Nancy expressed appreciation for the time and effort that the FAWG members put into this task. She will post the final version of the FAWG report after receiving it. |
