Issue 17-20, May 13, 2017
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- IN MEMORIAM: NATHAN BRIDGES (1966-2017)
- DPS ELECTIONS 2017: CANDIDATE SLATE
- NOMINATIONS FOR THE 7TH PAOLO FARINELLA PRIZE NOW OPEN
- JWST EXPOSURE TIME CALCULATOR (ETC) WEBINAR FOR SOLAR SYSTEM SCIENCE
- AAS LABORATORY ASTROPHYSICS DIVISION (LAD) 2017 ELECTIONS OPEN
- LLOYD V. BERKNER SPACE POLICY INTERNSHIPS AUTUMN 2017
- SUMMER SCHOOL IN SOFTWARE SYSTEMS FOR ASTRONOMY
- NASA SMD SEEKS PROPOSAL REVIEWERS
- SOFIA CYCLE 6 CALL FOR PROPOSALS
- SBAG ANNOUNCEMENT: PSP WHITE PAPER NOW AVAILABLE
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IN MEMORIAM: NATHAN BRIDGES (1966-2017)
Nathan Bridges, a planetary research scientist at the Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), died on April 26. He was 50 years old.
Bridges, who joined APL’s Planetary Exploration (SRE) Group in 2009, was a
senior expert on the geology of Mars, remote sensing techniques, and the role
of wind-driven processes in planetary erosion and sedimentation on Earth, Mars,
and Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Among his many important findings, Bridges
discovered that wind is as important a geologic process on Mars as it is on Earth,
despite the much lower density of the Martian atmosphere.
He was an integral part of multiple Mars missions and instrument teams: he served
as a Co-Investigator on the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE)
instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a Co-Investigator on the Mars
Science Laboratory (Curiosity rover) ChemCam instrument, and a science team
member on two Mars-2020 rover instruments, SuperCam and the Mars Environmental
Dynamics Analyzer.
Bridges was also an associate research professor in the Department of Earth
and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, where he taught a class
and advised graduate students. Additionally, he took leadership roles in the
international planetary science community. For example, he served as editor
of the American Geophysical Union publication EOS, secretary of the AGU
Planetary Science Section, guest editor of several special issues of the journal
Icarus, and on numerous NASA panels and advisory committees.
Bridges developed research collaborations with colleagues from around the
world. His work included field studies at dune fields on Earth, experiments
in wind tunnels to simulate conditions on other planets, and analysis of data
from spacecraft observations.
He earned a B.A. in geology from the University of Colorado in 1989, an M.S.
in geology from Arizona State University in 1992, and a Ph.D. in geology
from the University of Massachusetts in 1997. He spent twelve years at
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, before joining APL.
Bridges is survived by his wife Karen, daughter Sarah, and son Matthew.
A tribute to Bridges from the Planetary Society, of which he was a member
since 1980, can be read here.
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DPS ELECTIONS 2017: CANDIDATE SLATE
The DPS Nominating Subcommittee has identified the following candidates
for the 2017 DPS elections for Vice Chair and Committee :
Vice-Chair (1 to be elected):
o Reggie Hudson, Goddard Space Flight Center
o Linda Spilker, Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
Committee (2 to be elected):
o Michele Bannister, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
o David Morrison, NASA Ames
o Migo Mueller, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
o Padma Yanamandra-Fisher, Space Science Institute
Additional candidates, supported by a petition of at least 20 DPS members,
may be nominated by May 24th. Please send any nominations to the
DPS Secretary, Anne Verbiscer, at [email protected].
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NOMINATIONS FOR THE 7TH PAOLO FARINELLA PRIZE NOW OPEN
To honor the memory and the outstanding figure of Paolo Farinella (1953-2000),
an extraordinary scientist and person, a prize has been established in recognition
of significant contributions given in the fields of interest of Paolo, which span
from planetary sciences to space geodesy, fundamental physics, science
popularization, security in space, weapons control and disarmament. The prize
has been proposed during the “International Workshop on Paolo Farinella, the
scientist and the man”, held in Pisa in 2010, and is supported by the following
Italian Institutions: University of Pisa, ASI, INAF, IFAC-CNR.
Previous recipients of the “Paolo Farinella Prize” were:
– 2011: William F. Bottke, for his contribution to the field of “Physics and
dynamics of small solar system bodies”
– 2012: John Chambers, for his contribution to the field of “Formation and
early evolution of the solar system “
– 2013: Patrick Michel, for his contribution to the field of ” Collisional
processes in the Solar System”
– 2014: David Vokrouhlicky, for his contribution to the field of “Non
gravitational forces in the Solar System”
– 2015: Nicolas Biver, for his contribution to the field of “Dynamics and
physics of comets”
– 2016: Kleomenis Tsiganis, for his contribution to the field of “Applications
of celestial mechanics to the natural bodies of our solar system”.
The seventh Paolo Farinella Prize is devoted to planetary sciences and
specifically to studies on the
“Physics and dynamics of the inner planets of the solar system and their
satellites”.
The award ceremony will be hosted by the European Planetary Science
Congress (EPSC) meeting in Riga, Latvia (17th to 22nd of September 2017).
The call and the nomination forms can be found at:
http://www.europlanet-eu.org/nominations-for-the-7th-paolo-farinella-prize-now-open/
For the 7 th “Paolo Farinella” Prize the terms and rules are as follows:
1. A competition is announced to award the “Paolo Farinella” Prize for the
year 2017. The prize consists of a plate, a certificate and the amount of
1500 ?. The winner is expected to give a Prize lecture at the EPSC awards
special session.
2. The winner will be selected on the basis of his/her overall research
results in the field of “Physics and dynamics of the inner planets of
the solar system and their satellites”.
3. Nominations must be sent by email not later than May 25th, 2017, to the
following addresses:
[email protected] and [email protected]
4. The nominations for the “Paolo Farinella” Prize can be made by any
researcher that works in the field of planetary sciences following the
indications in the attached form. Self nominations are cceptable. The
candidates should have international and interdisciplinary collaborations
and should be not older than 47 years, the age of Paolo when he passed
away, at the date of April 30th, 2017.
5. The winner of the prize will be selected before June 15th, 2017 by the
“Paolo Farinella” Prize Committee composed of outstanding scientists in
planetary sciences, with specific experience in the field.
6. The Prize Committee will consider all the nominations, but will be entitled
to autonomously consider other candidates in case the reported candidates do
not meet criteria 2. and 4.
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JWST EXPOSURE TIME CALCULATOR (ETC) WEBINAR
FOR SOLAR SYSTEM SCIENCE
ETC Webinar: Thursday, June 15, 12-1 PM EDT (US)
Webex info: Link: https://tinyurl.com/n662ezq
Meeting number: 640 002 474
Password: JWST2018
The General Observer (GO) Call for Proposals will be released on November 30, 2017,
with a submission due date of March 2, 2018. Get ahead of the game by joining
STScI’s John Stansberry and Bryan Holler for a hands-on demonstration of the
ETC in the context of Solar System observations. This webinar will also feature
an overview of Pandeia, the downloadable ETC engine written in Python, and a
request for community input on Pandeia tools and capabilities that would be useful
for planning observations.
Attendance information and a recording of the webinar will also be available on
the JWST events page at: jwst.stsci.edu/news-events/events.
Other useful links: JWST ETC web-interface: jwst.etc.stsci.edu
(Note that you must create a MyST log-in to save your workbooks in the ETC.)
Pandeia download page: ssb.stsci.edu/pandeia/engine/1.0/
JWST Documentation (JDOX) for Solar System targets will begin to be
published on May 19 at: jwst-docs.stsci.edu
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AAS LABORATORY ASTROPHYSICS DIVISION (LAD) 2017 ELECTIONS OPEN
Dear Colleagues,
Laboratory Astrophysics Division (LAD) Electrons are “OPEN”.
Please participate and elect one each of the candidates. If you are not yet a full
member of LAD (one of the Divisions of American Astronomical Society) ,
please do consider becoming a member and vote. It is important for Planetary
Sciences and Astrophysics to have a strong LAD. If you think laboratory data are
important, if you think future space instrumentation is important, you need to
support LAD.
To Vote (LAD): https://aas.org/vote
To Join LAD: https://lad.aas.org/
Regards, Murthy Gudipati
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LLOYD V. BERKNER SPACE POLICY INTERNSHIPS AUTUMN 2017
The goal of the Lloyd V. Berkner Space Policy Internship is to provide
promising undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to
work in the area of civil space research policy in the nation’s capital,
under the aegis of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering,
and Medicine’s Space Science Board.
The autumn program is open to undergraduate and graduate students.
The deadline for applications is 2 June. Candidate(s) selected will be
contacted no later than 7 July.
Additional information about the program, including the application
procedure, can be found at
http://sites.nationalacademies.org/SSB/SSB_052239.
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SUMMER SCHOOL IN SOFTWARE SYSTEMS FOR ASTRONOMY
Registration is now open for the 4th offering of Software Systems for Astronomy.
The course covers software design and implementation of telescope and instrument
control systems, observation planning tools, and software for analyzing and
archiving astronomical data. SSfA-4 will be offered as a two week intensive
course this summer, 24-Jul to 04-Aug, 2017, on the Big Island of Hawaii.
To register, visit the following web page and follow the instructions
(UHH students skip steps 1-4):
http://astro.uhh.hawaii.edu/Summer/Summer-2017/summer2017.php#Special_Summer_Note
The course number is ASTR394. For more information visit:
http://astro.uhh.hawaii.edu/Summer/Summer-2017/summer2017.php
or send email to [email protected]
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NASA SMD SEEKS PROPOSAL REVIEWERS
SMD is seeking subject matter experts to serve as mail-in and panel reviewers
for the following programs:
Fire Impacts on Regional Emissions and Chemistry (ROSES-2017 A.23)
AVIRIS-NG Flights in India (ROSES-2016 A.31)
Emerging Worlds (ROSES-2017 C.2)
Solar System Observations (ROSES-2017 C.6)
Planetary Data Archiving, Restoration, and Tools (ROSES-2017 C.7)
Cassini Data Analysis Program (ROSES-2017 C.10)
The New Frontiers Data Analysis Program (ROSES-2016 C.19)
OSIRIS REx Participating Scientists Program (ROSES-2017 C.22)
Exoplanet Research Program (ROSES-2017 E.3)
ROSES-2017 Heliophysics Programs
Either click on the titles above or start at this permanent link
https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/volunteer-review-panels
where the volunteer reviewer forms are always posted.
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SOFIA CYCLE 6 CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is pleased
to announce the release of its Cycle 6 Call for Proposals (CfP) on May 1, 2017.
The Call solicits proposals from the U.S., and international, astronomical
community for approximately 500 hours of SOFIA observations, and is issued
on behalf of NASA by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA).
The proposal deadline is June 30, 2017, and the Cycle 6 observing period will
be from February 2, 2018 to February 1, 2019. NASA expects approximately
$5M to be available for support of U.S. affiliated investigators.
Instruments offered for Cycle 6 observations are: (1) the EXES mid-IR
high-resolution spectrometer, (2) the FIFI-LS far-IR imaging spectrometer,
(3) the FORCAST mid-IR camera, including its grism spectrometer (4) the
FPI+ camera in science mode (5) the GREAT heterodyne spectrometer, and
(6) The HAWC+ far-IR imager and polarimeter. New in Cycle 6 is the
availability of the GREAT dual-array mode LFA/HFA, as well as two of
the bands in the new lower-frequency 4GREAT receiver.
Starting with the Cycle 6 Call for Proposals the proposal category “Thesis
Enabling Programs” is introduced, specifically aimed at supporting graduate
student research.
For further details, please see:
https://www.sofia.usra.edu/science/proposing-and-observing/proposal-calls/cycle-6
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SBAG ANNOUNCEMENT: PSP WHITE PAPER NOW AVAILABLE
This is a community announcement that the Participating Scientist White
Paper (entitled: The Value of Participating Scientist Programs to NASA’s
Planetary Science Division, by L. Prockter et al.) has been posted to the
SBAG website under the “Documents” page. To access the document,
please follow this link: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/sbag/documents/
Thanks,
Angela Stickle
SBAG Early-career secretary
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Send submissions to:
Anne Verbiscer, DPS Secretary ([email protected])
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