T.S. Bastian
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA 22903,
USA
FASR is an initiative to build a radioheliograph to perform ultrawideband imaging spectroscopy. Beginning last year, funds were made available for design and development, as well as operations planning. Progress has been made on both project definition and project organization. In particular, the FASR Reference Instrument has been defined, which will serve as the cost basis for the proposal for construction. The construction project will be managed by the NRAO and will be implemented in partnership with a consortium of university-based groups that include NJIT, the Univ. of Michigan, Caltech, the Univ. of California at Berkeley, and the Univ. of Maryland. It is expected that the proposal for construction will be prepared and submitted in early 2008. I will review these developments and discuss prospects for broad community participation.