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NVO remains in a state of very constrained activity as we wait for NSF to release the promised funding for the VAO. Progress is being made in resolving legal issues concerning the relationship between the agency and the VAO, LLC, the new organization founded by AUI and AURA to manage the VAO. However, given that all previous expectations of progress have not been met, we are reluctant to predict when VAO will really get going.
On the other hand, NASA's initial contribution to VAO is now funded, and in the absence of an overall project plan (which cannot be completed until the NSF funding is in place), we are engaged in core maintenance and support activities such as registry curation and service testing and validation.
US VO staff continue to hold weekly technical telecons on a best-effort basis.
We have recruited a VAO Science Council, but that body will not convene until we have resolved the NSF funding issues.
We have also established a VAO Board of Directors, which met by telecon in July and will meet again by telecon later in November. Dr. Jay Gallagher (U. Wisconsin, and editor of the Astronomical Journal) is the chair of the VAO Board.
BobHanisch, 4 Nov 2009 |