NSF Director Dr. France A. Córdova mentions LSST in her remarks to the IAU29th General Assembly, August 3, 2015:
"The top recommendation of the 2010 National Academy of Sciences decadal survey of astronomy was the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope--LSST--which is now under construction on Cerro Pachón in Chile. Just a few months ago, I participated in the exciting "first stone ceremony" to launch LSST construction, with the President of Chile, as shown in the bottom right photo. LSST will be a wide-field "survey" telescope that photographs the entire available sky every few nights. Advanced computers will gather and analyze the millions of gigabytes of data LSST will generate each year. The photo at the top right comes from a pilot project called the Deep Lens Survey, which uses imaging from NSF's four-meter telescopes to suggest what half a degree of sky will look like when LSST is in operation, projected to begin in 2022. An innovative Citizen Science program will involve people of all ages in LSST discoveries, making discovery opportunities available to K-12 students as easily as to the professional astronomer. This is just one example of NSF's commitment to engaging the public in the thrill of discovery and increasing public understanding of scientific research."
