Authorizing Board of Regents of Smithsonian Institution to Carry Out Construction and Related Activities in Support of Veritas on Kitt Peak

AUTHORIZING BOARD OF REGENTS OF SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION TO CARRY OUT CONSTRUCTION AND RELATED ACTIVITIES IN SUPPORT OF VERITAS ON KITT PEAK -- (House of Representatives - September 29, 2004)

Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5105) to authorize the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to carry out construction and related activities in support of the collaborative Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) project on Kitt Peak near Tucson, Arizona.

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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, as ranking minority member of the House Administration Committee, which has primary jurisdiction over the Smithsonian Institution, I urge passage of H.R. 5105, a bill to authorize $1 million for the Smithsonian for site development and construction in support of the VERITAS project, an international astrophysical research consortium in which the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory SAO plays a principal role.

VERITAS the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System will be located on Kitt Peak near Tucson, Arizona.

The control building will house computers, electronics and other support required by astronomers to run the telescopes and cameras conducting the VERITAS observations and research, as well as a kitchen, storage space and meeting space for working astronomers. VERITAS is expected to come online in October 2006.

The funds authorized by this bill were contained in the President's budget request and are included in the FY 2005 Interior Department Appropriations bill, which funds the Smithsonian. A nearly identical bill, S. 2362, passed the Senate on June 14 by voice vote and was referred to our committee.

VERITAS is part of the continuing revolution in the science of astronomy. New discoveries, techniques and devices have dramatically reshaped our view of the universe, as well as the mechanics of studying it. Different types of phenomenon, and radiation from different portions of the spectrum are studied in unique ways, and astronomy has become increasingly specialized to facilitate such research.

VERITAS is intended to study gamma radiation from some of the most exotic, high energy sources in space, such as supernovas, black holes, quasars and pulsars. Gamma radiation is very difficult to detect from the Earth's surface and VERITAS will employ new scientific techniques to do so.

VERITAS is a collaboration of seven institutions in the U.S., including the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, along with three institutions in Canada, the U.K. and Ireland, to build an array of four 40-foot diameter reflector which will give stereoscopic images of gamma rays.

It represents the next generation of telescopes studying gamma radiation, which the Smithsonian has done since 1968 at the Whipple Observatory. The Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation each will provide 40 percent of the costs of equipment and construction, with the Smithsonian and overseas collaborators supplying the rest. The total cost of VERITAS would be about $17 million, and this authorization bill is necessary to allow the Smithsonian to use $1 million in Federal funds to complete its financial contribution to the project.

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory SAO, a bureau of the Smithsonian, is the world's premier facility in the exploration of astrophysical phenomena from Earth to the edge of the known universe, employing more than 300 scientists. It was funded in Washington, D.C. in 1890 initially to focus on studying the Sun. In 1955 it relocated to Cambridge, Massachusetts to join with the Harvard College Observatory and in 1973 an umbrella entity, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, was created.

Mr. Speaker, we can look forward to the significant advances which VERITAS will bring to our understanding of some of the most fascinating objects, and most powerful and mysterious forces, in the universe, and I urge approval of the bill.

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