Issue 16-04, January 31, 2016
+—————————————CONTENTS————————————-+
- OPAG WEBEX CONNECTION INFORMATION
- SPICE TRAINING CLASS
- NASA PLANETARY SCIENCE DIVISION FACILITIES RFI
- CALL FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE LUVOIR STDT
- UPCOMING MEETINGS
+——————————————————————————————–+
1———1———1———1———1———1———1———1———1———1
OPAG MEETING: WEBEX CONNECTION INFORMATION
Dear Colleagues,
Please participate in the OPAG meeting using this webex info:
Every day, from Monday, February 1, 2016, to Tuesday, February 2, 2016
7:00 am | Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00) | 12 hrs 50 mins
Join WebEx meeting
Meeting number: 998 595 936
Meeting password:
W@lc0m3!
Meeting Link:
https://nasa.webex.com/nasa/j.php?MTID=me88b4e92d185143b73352a580b94ef38
Join by phone
Conference Number: 866-844-9416
Participant Passcode: 7864394
2———2———2———2———2———2———2———2———2———2
SPICE TRAINING CLASS
NASA’s Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility announces a SPICE
training class will be held April 12-14, 2016, at a hotel near Pasadena California.
Details about the class and the registration form are available here:
http://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/WS2016_announcement.html.
The class is designed for professionals working in the field of solar system
research. It will consist of a combination of lectures, based on SPICE tutorials,
and on student-executed programming lessons (“open book” style) available in
each of the four programming languages supported by NAIF (Fortran 77, C,
IDL and Matlab).
There is no charge for the class, but advance registration is required. The 60
seats available will be allocated only upon NAIF receiving a completed
registration form. Allocation will be done on a first come — first served basis.
3———3———3———3———3———3———3———3———3———3
NASA PLANETARY SCIENCE DIVISION FACILITIES RFI
NASA Request for Information Assessing the Planetary Science Community’s
Use of the Planetary Science Division Facilities
Dear Colleague:
NASA’s Planetary Science Division is releasing this Request for Information
(RFI) to solicit feedback regarding Planetary Science Division Facilities.
Responses to this RFI are due as a PDF submitted via email by April 30, 2016,
see below for details.
Background:
The Planetary Science Division (PSD) is interested in maximizing the scientific
productivity of its Facilities Program. To assess its Facilities Program, PSD
initiated a review of its existing funded facilities, organized a special session at
the upcoming Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in Houston,
Texas, and is now soliciting comments from the planetary science community
through this RFI.
In its review of existing facilities, PSD was focused on assessing how the
currently funded facilities are working, how they serve the science needs of the
broader planetary community, identifying the impact and productivity of each
funded facility, and determine best practices and lessons learned for further
development of a Facilities Program.
The LPSC special session solicited abstracts from any person or group who
feel that they have a facility that has a substantial user base outside the in-house
users and clearly advances the broader field. The organizers did not want to
overprescribe who should or should not submit an abstract, but relied on
members of the community to use their judgment as to whether their facility
fits these criteria. Through this, PSD sought to help the present facilities, as
well as ones not currently funded by PSD gain more visibility within the
community, but specifically with members who may not know about them
or their capabilities. PSD will also use this special session as part of the
definition of potential future additions to the Facilities Program.
Requested Information:
This RFI solicits community feedback on any or all of the following questions:
1. 1. Do you use any existing planetary science facility that serves the broader community?
If so, please describe to what extent. How did you find out about it? Please briefly
describe your experiences in using that facility.
2. 2. In your opinion, what capabilities are missing or unavailable in the implementation
of your research activities that could be supported through the Facilities Program? Are
you aware of existing facilities that could meet your needs if they were made available
to the community?
3. 3. Do you currently manage, or plan to develop, a facility that could serve the broader
community? Describe the facility and what needs it would fill.
This is a Request for Information (RFI) only and does not constitute a
commitment, implied or otherwise, that NASA will take procurement
action in this matter. The information gathered will be used by NASA
to make decisions regarding the development of the Planetary Science
Division’s Facilities Program.
Responses to This RFI:
Input should be in a PDF file format, attached to an E-mail and sent to Doris
Daou at [email protected] with subject line: REPONSE to Facilities RFI.
· Input should not exceed two pages.
· Margins: 1 inch on all sides, with a standard page size of 8.5 × 11 inches.
· A 12-point or larger font having, on average, no more than 15 characters per inch
(e.g., Times New Roman and Arial). Proposers may not adjust the character spacing
or otherwise condense a font from its default appearance.
· Line spacing: Font and line spacing settings should produce text that contains no
more than 5.5 lines per inch. Proposers may not adjust line spacing settings for a
selected font below single-spaced.
Inputs received in response to this RFI will be considered by NASA, which
will establish a PSD internal team to create a strategic plan for the Facilities
Program. PSD will assess the needs of the community for existing facilities
through past use, define an implementation approach to answer future needs
from the Facilities Program, and provide programmatic direction for the
Facilities Program.
Point of Contact: Doris Daou, [email protected]
4———4———4———4———4———4———4———4———4———4
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE LUVOIR STDT
Dear colleagues,
NASA recently identified 4 large astrophysical mission concepts to be
studied in preparation of the Astro 2020 Decadal Survey, including the
Large UV / Optical / IR Surveyor (LUVOIR).
LUVOIR is envisaged as a large, multi-purpose general observatory with
capabilities to revolutionize many areas of astrophysics and discover and
characterize a wide range of exoplanets — including potentially habitable
ones. LUVOIR could also provide valuable Solar System remote sensing
observations.
With this huge range of science to be considered, broad expertise will be
needed to ensure that the most compelling mission is designed. We would
like to invite you to apply for participation in the LUVOIR Science and
Technology Definition Team (STDT). Assisted by our study office at GSFC,
the STDT will be tasked with providing science goals, observation requirements,
and key mission parameters to guide the definition and design of the LUVOIR
concept.
Please download the following PDF call for STDT nominations to get started.
Also, further details about the STDT charter can be found here:
http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/2020-decadal-survey-planning/.
Note that the applications deadline is Monday February 1, 2016.
We encourage self-nominations and nominations from early-career
scientists.
Please feel free to email me or call me with any questions.
Thank you and best wishes,
Aki Roberge (LUVOIR Study Scientist), on behalf of the LUVOIR Study Office
5———5———5———5———5———5———5———5———5———5
UPCOMING MEETINGS
A) COMETARY SCIENCE AFTER ROSETTA: FUTURE DIRECTIONS
London, June 16-17, 2016
At this meeting, we shall review the current status of the field of cometary
science following the keenly anticipated results of Rosetta, with the aim to
engender focused, collaborative studies of these fascinating objects. The
programme will include solicited presentations and talks and posters given
by the attendees.
For an outline of the meeting, and to register your interest, please visit:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/mssl/planetary-science/comets-after-rosetta
This meeting will immediately follow the Royal Society Discussion
Meeting: Cometary science after Rosetta, also to be held in London,
on June 14-15:
https://royalsociety.org/events/2016/06/cometary-science/
Organizers: Geraint Jones (University College London, UK),
Matt Taylor (European Space Agency, NL), Alan Fitzsimmons
(Queen’s University Belfast, UK), Matthew Knight (University of
Maryland, USA)
———————————+
Send submissions to:
Anne Verbiscer, DPS Secretary ([email protected])
To unsubscribe visit http://aas.org/unsubscribe or email [email protected].
To change your address email [email protected].
—
Anne J. Verbiscer
Research Associate Professor
Department of Astronomy
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4325