Newsletter 19-31

Issue 19-31, July 26, 2019

 

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  1. EPSC-DPS 2019 MEETING MENTOR-MENTEE PROGRAM
  2. NEW COMETARY INSIGHTS FROM THE CLOSE APPROACH OF 46P/WIRTANEN:  A SYMPOSIUM IN CELEBRATION OF MIKE A’HEARN
  3. OPAG UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
  4. STUDENT OPPORTUNITY: SHOEMAKER IMPACT CRATERING AWARD
  5. CELEBRATING THE WOMEN OF APOLLO
  6. EPSC-DPS 2019 DPS DEPENDENT CARE GRANTS
  7. CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: 2019 AGU FALL MEETING
  8. JOBS, POSITIONS, OPPORTUNITIES

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EPSC-DPS 2019 MEETING MENTOR-MENTEE PROGRAM

 

Sign Up Deadline: 31 August 2019

 

The EuroPlanet Early Career (EPEC) network is introducing a mentor-mentee

program for this EPSC-DPS 2019 meeting in Geneva. The program is designed

to support the novice conference attendees, students, and early career scientists

by enabling one-to-one meetings with an experienced researcher to help them

navigate the conference. The registered mentees will be able to meet their respective

mentors during the ice breaker event on Sept 15, 2019. 

 

Details to sign-up to the program: Mentees, if this is your first international conference,

your first oral presentation, first EPSC, or you are looking for guidance during the

EPSC-DPS 2019, sign up here:  http://eepurl.com/gxD-wf . We will put you in contact

with a suitable mentor, who would be beneficiary to your experience during the conference. 

 

Mentors, if you are a postdoc, researcher, or a senior scientist who has been in numerous
international conferences and are willing to show early careers how to navigate through

various sessions and network within an international community, please sign up here:
http://eepurl.com/gxD-wf .

 

You will be requested to set up at least one meeting with your mentee during the

conference week. 

 

The deadline to sign-up to the mentor-mentee program is 31st August, 2019. 

 

If you have any queries, please contact us at [email protected] 

 

Looking forward to meeting you in Geneva, EPEC-EPSC working group

 

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NEW COMETARY INSIGHTS FROM THE CLOSE APPROACH OF 46P/WIRTANEN:  A SYMPOSIUM IN CELEBRATION OF MIKE A’HEARN

 

This is a final reminder that registration for the meeting (August 6-8, 2019 on the

University of Maryland campus) will end on July 30, 2019.

 

We are still accepting abstracts for poster presentations, regarding comet Wirtanen,

other comets, big picture views, or memories of Mike.

 

For more information about the meeting and a link to the registration site, go to 

http://wirtanen.astro.umd.edu/symposium/index.shtml

 

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OUTER PLANETS ASSESSMENT GROUP (OPAG) UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

Early Career Participant Support Available for OPAG Meeting August 19-21, 2019

Deadline: August 1, 2019

 

NASA’s OPAG will provide travel grants for a limited number of interested Early

Career participants to attend the OPAG meeting August 20-21 in Boulder, Colorado. 

OPAG plays a key role in sculpting the planetary science community’s input into

NASA activities for outer planets science and exploration. Thus it is critical for

Early Career scientists to attend these meetings both to learn how NASA and

Planetary Science programs operate and to represent the community that will

work on OPAG-relevant projects in the coming decade. In addition to the OPAG

meeting, Early Career travel awardees can also choose to participate in the OPAG

Subsurface Needs for Ocean Worlds Meeting (SNOW) to be held on August 19

prior to OPAG. Selected individuals will present a poster at the meeting on a topic

of their choosing. Interested graduate students, postdocs, and other Early Career

scientists (within 5 years of PhD/MS/BS) should submit a one-page letter of

interest and a CV to [email protected] by August 1, 2019. Recipients 

will be notified by August 5 and will receive support for hotel and transportation

costs. For more information, email Morgan Cable at the address above.

 

OPAG Meeting Hotel And Registration Link

 

The next OPAG Meeting will be held August 20–21, 2019, in Boulder, CO. The

day prior, August 19, will be the Ocean World Access Working Group Workshop.

The meeting will be held at the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric

and Space Physics (LASP), Space Science Building, Room W120 (SPSC) on East

Campus, 3665 Discovery Drive, Boulder, Colorado, 80303. Directions to SPSC

can be found at http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/about/address-directions/spsc/.

 

NEW:  Information about logistics and registration is now available at:

 

            http://www.cvent.com/d/tyqscj

 

The Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG) will be devoting the bulk of the

August meeting to discussions and preparation for the next Decadal Survey.

Community members are encouraged to attend and add their voice to this

diverse discussion. During the meeting we will arrange panel discussions on

various topics. Please contact Carrie Chavez ([email protected]) by August 15

if you would like to lead one of these panel discussions. By the end of the meeting

we expect to produce a list of three key recommendations to develop and eventually

deliver to the Decadal Survey committee for consideration.

 

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STUDENT OPPORTUNITY: SHOEMAKER IMPACT CRATERING AWARD

 

Applications for the GSA Planetary Geology Division’s Eugene M. Shoemaker

Impact Cratering Award are due August 19, 2019.

 

The Eugene M. Shoemaker Impact Cratering Award is for undergraduate or

graduate students, of any nationality, working in any country, in the disciplines

of geology, geophysics, geochemistry, astronomy, or biology. The award,

which will include $3000, is to be applied for the study of impact craters, either

on Earth or on the other solid bodies in the solar system. Areas of study may

include but shall not necessarily be limited to impact cratering processes; the

bodies (asteroidal or cometary) that make the impacts; or the geological, chemical,

or biological results of impact cratering. Details about the award as well as an

application form for interested students can be found at

 

https://www.lpi.usra.edu/science/kring/Awards/Shoemaker_Award/

 

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CELEBRATING THE WOMEN OF APOLLO

 

Splashdown! July 24th marked the 50th anniversary of the return of Apollo 11

astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, after a historic

mission that saw Neil and Buzz on the lunar surface for about 2.5 hours. In mid-

1969, there were about 100 women, including 16 engineers, serving in top positions

at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. But thousands of other women around

the country also supported the Apollo program, before, during, and after 1969.

Many of them have recently been interviewed as part of the 50th anniversary, and

their stories have appeared in various news outlets. For easy reference, we list

many here. If you find even more (and we hope you do!), please let us know in

the comments section. As we go forward to the Moon with Artemis, including

the first women landing on the lunar surface by 2024 and onward to Mars, women

around the world will continue to leave indelible marks on the Moon and throughout

the solar system.

Read more at

 

https://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2019/07/celebrating-women-of-apollo.html

 

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EPSC-DPS 2019 DPS DEPENDENT CARE GRANTS

 

The DPS Susan Niebur Professional Development Fund provides financial assistance

to qualifying members of the DPS in order to facilitate their meeting attendance by

offsetting dependent care costs (such as child care, elder care, spousal care, etc) at

the meeting location, or at home, during the DPS conference week. For 2019, the

DPS Professional Development Subcommittee will accept applications for dependent

care subsidies to assist an eligible DPS member to attend the Joint EPSC-DPS Meeting

in Geneva, Switzerland (September 2019). The deadline for applications is 12 August 2019. 

Please access the grant application form at development#grants .

 

Mark Gurwell, DPS Professional Development Subcommittee member

 

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CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: 2019 AGU FALL MEETING

 

  1. SESSION ED026 – ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR EVERYONE THROUGH SCIENCE FESTIVALS

 

Anyone interested in sharing their experiences participating in science festivals as 

a means of engaging audiences is encouraged to submit an abstract to the 2019 AGU 

Fall Meeting session Engagement Opportunities for Everyone through Science Festivals.

 

Increasing numbers of think pieces and news articles position scientists as experts yet 

still leave people questioning the science. Now, more than ever, it is crucial for scientists 

to be present in conversations around scientific subjects. Enter: science festivals. This 

session will illustrate the power of engaging public audiences with science festivals through 

descriptions of ongoing events, discussions of evaluation methods and results, and connecting 

scientists with resources and experts to help them join current festivals, or start their own. 

For scientists already engaging with public audiences, this session will provide next-steps 

for communicating their science. This session will focus on what science festivals are, why 

engagement is important for scientists, and how scientists can connect with this living resource. 

Abstracts from education/communication professionals and scientists are welcome. Topics of 

interest may include science communication at live events, scientists’ engagement and outreach 

activities, and evaluation.

 

https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm19/prelim.cgi/Session/82194

 

2019 Fall AGU abstract submission deadline is July 31, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Don’t forget: 

submitting an education abstract won’t count against your first author science abstract submissions! 

At AGU, one first author education abstract is allowable in addition to a science abstract.

 

Questions? Contact Andy Shaner.

 

  1. SESSION P003 : ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES, PARTICLES, AND CHEMISTRY

 

We are pleased to invite you to submit an abstract to a cross-disciplinary session

on Atmospheric Processes, Particles, and Chemistry (P003) at the AGU 2019 Fall

Meeting in San Francisco, CA (December 9-13, 2019).

 

The goal of this session is to stimulate communication across disciplines and spark

new scientific collaborations between the Earth and Planetary communities (lab,

theory, model, observations). With this in mind, we encourage presenters who have

already made these types of connections, as well as others who have a technique to

offer or a problem in search of a new perspective to submit their abstracts.  (Please

Note: you can find our session by selecting Planetary Science or Cross-listed/Atmospheric Science.)

 

Abstract submission deadline: 31 July 2019, 11:59 pm EDT

 

P003 – Atmospheric Processes, Particles, and Chemistry

 

Many of the chemical and microphysical processes occurring in planetary atmospheres

have direct similarities to those studied in the Earth’s atmosphere. The aim of this session 

is to bring together atmospheric expertise from the Earth and planetary communities

to share knowledge and techniques across traditional boundaries. 

We encourage submissions from all areas of atmospheric studies, including but

not limited to experimental and/or theoretical studies of gas phase composition, chemistry,

dynamics, and particle (aerosols and clouds) formation and evolution.

We encourage reports of existing cross-disciplinary efforts as well as abstracts

describing techniques that could be applied to other bodies, and submissions

describing a gap in knowledge that could be addressed collaboratively. We intend

to use the “short talk” format to maximize information exchange and encourage participants

to initiate conversations that could lead to future collaborations and

new research investigations.

 

Conveners: Laura Iraci (NASA Ames), Ella Sciamma-O’Brien (NASA Ames), 

Alexandria Johnson (Brown University), and Erika Barth (Southwest Research

  •  

 

  1. SESSION P005: CARBON ACROSS THE SOLAR SYSTEM

    We invite abstracts for the following session at the 2019 AGU Fall
    Meeting in San Francisco, CA, December 9-13, 2019.

    Recent results ranging from the Kuiper Belt, the Pluto system, the
    Saturn system, other locations beyond ~5 AU, all the way to Mercury in
    the inner Solar System, and nearly all points in between, raise
    questions about the state of carbon in the Solar System: how do
    carbonaceous compounds become weathered in response to thermal
    processes and irradiation? How do we recognize carbon compounds and
    their various weathering products? The syntheses of these results
    improve our scientific understanding of the role of carbon in the Solar
    System, how it evolves and how to recognize it. The carbonaceous
    near-Earth asteroids 162173 Ryugu and 101955 Bennu are now being
    visited and sampled; the analyses of these samples will provide context
    for the presence of carbon. In this session, abstracts covering
    observational, laboratory and modeling work related to carbon and
    carbonaceous species on Solar System bodies are welcome.

    The deadline for abstract submissions is Wednesday, 31 July, 23:59 EDT

    Conveners: Faith Vilas (PSI, [email protected]), Amanda R. Hendrix (PSI),
    Yvonne J. Pendleton (NASA ARC)

 

  1. SESSION P013: FINDING, EXPLORING AND CHARACTERIZING TERRESTRIAL
    EXOPLANETS: THE NEXT FRONTIER

    We are pleased to invite you to submit an abstract for the following
    session at the 2019 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, CA, December
    9-13, 2019.

    This session is a discussion of the potential of new and future
    facilities and modeling efforts designed to detect, image and
    characterize Earth-size and super-Earth terrestrial exoplanets,
    studying their formation, evolution and also the existence of possible
    biospheres. Topics to be covered in this session include instrument
    requirements and technologies to detect these exoplanets; strategies
    for target selection and prioritization; signs of exoplanet
    habitability and global biosignatures that can be sought with upcoming
    instrumentation; impacts of planetary system properties; and future
    ground-based and space telescope architectures.

    For more information, visit:

    https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm19/prelim.cgi/Session/75474

    The submission deadline is Wednesday, July 31, 2019.

    Conveners:
    Franck Marchis (SETI Institute)
    Ramses Ramirez (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
    Douglas A. Caldwell (SETI Institute)

 

  1. SESSION P021: JUPITER’S ATMOSPHERE THROUGH THE EYES OF JUNO

 

Session ID#: 83117

 

Session Description:

NASA’s Juno mission operates a spacecraft in 53-day polar orbits around

Jupiter, with a goal of understanding Jupiter’s origin and evolution.  As the

largest and most massive planet in our solar system, Jupiter offers unique

insight in the history of our solar system and how planetary systems in

general form and evolve.  One objective of the Juno mission is to establish

the structure, composition and dynamics of the deep atmosphere and its

relationship with the upper atmosphere.  Juno has provided new observations

of the global atmospheric structure and composition, storm and lightning

distribution and cloud morphology and dynamics.  This session welcomes

presentations involving all results obtained by and in support of the Juno

mission, including not only results of Juno and Earth-based supporting

atmospheric observations but also theoretical modeling of atmospheric

structure, composition and dynamics, and comparisons with the atmosphere

of Saturn.

 

  • :

Shannon Brown, JPL;  

Fachreddin Tabataba-Vakili, JPL

 

Link to submissions: https://www2.agu.org/Fall-Meeting/Pages/Submit-an-abstract

 

Deadline: Wednesday, 31 July at 23:59 EDT

 

Index Terms:

5704 Atmospheres [PLANETARY SCIENCES: FLUID PLANETS]

5739 Meteorology [PLANETARY SCIENCES: FLUID PLANETS]

5754 Polar regions [PLANETARY SCIENCES: FLUID PLANETS]

6220 Jupiter [PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS]

 

  1. SESSION P030: PLANETARY RINGS, METEOROID AND DUST POPULATIONS AND EFFECTS

 

Session Description:

 

New theoretical and observational studies of planetary rings, meteoroids,

and dust. These collections of small particles are sensitive to a wide variety

of dynamical phenomena, and so can provide information about the sources,

sinks and transport of material. Rings can also encode detailed information

about their dynamical environments such as their host planet’s gravitational

field, while meteoroids and dust interact with larger bodies through surface

impacts and atmospheric ablation and therefore contribute to surface weathering

or airless bodies and metal deposition in planetary atmospheres. Subjects to be

covered include: the structure, dynamics and composition of rings; characterization

of dust populations along with their effects on asteroids and spacecraft; dust

chemistry; hypervelocity impacts of dust and meteoroids; the interaction of

planetary rings with ionospheres, magnetospheres and interplanetary dust;

and the origin and evolution of the rings. Recent observations of the dust

environment around small bodies will be highlighted.

 

  •  

Nicolas Lee, Sean Hsu, Matthew Hedman, Sigrid Close

  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

 

  1. SESSION P038: THE NEW MARS UNDERGROUND 2.0

 

After last year’s highly successful “The New Mars Underground” Session, we

look forward to seeing again many abstracts focusing on the Martian subsurface:

its properties, processes and prospects for life, ancient and modern – across

science, enabling technologies and mission concepts.

 

Summary: The Martian crustal subsurface encompasses a wide range of

environments at depths from ~centimeters to kilometers. These environments

are relatively unexplored but are of enormous interest for planetary science.

Recent results, e.g., methane fluctuations, radar data that are consistent with

liquid subsurface water, and ongoing debates on RSL, all point to dynamic

subsurface environments. We invite contributions that address the nature and

diversity of Mars crustal subsurface environments (modeling, experiments,

observations) or develop the tools/missions for exploring them (sounding,

access, in situ analysis). We are particularly interested in contributions that

advance our understanding of how the subsurface changes with geographic

location and depth, in respect to: volatiles such as brines, ices, clathrates,

salts, methane and oxidants, the potential for extant life and the preservation

of signs of extinct life, the redox potential of past and present environments,

and the technologies/mission concepts that enable such subsurface exploration.

 

Please direct question to the conveners: Vlada Stamenkovic (JPL, 

[email protected]), Nina Lanza (Los Alamos),

Jack Mustard (Brown), Kris Zacny (Honeybee).

 

Submit here: Abstract submission deadline is coming soon: 31 July 2019,

11:59 pm EDT

https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm19/prelim.cgi/Session/83347

 

  1. SESSION P039: THE URANUS AND NEPTUNE SYSTEMS, AND THEIR RELATION TO OTHER PLANETS 

    https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm19/prelim.cgi/Session/81002 

    Uranus and Neptune systems are high-priority targets for near-future exploration 

by orbiter and/or flyby missions that may accompany in-situ probes and landers.

We aim to hold a highly interdisciplinary session that advances the state of the

art in our understanding of all aspects of ice-giant systems: the magnetospheres,

satellites, rings, atmospheres, and interiors of Uranus and Neptune; their

formation and evolution; and their relation to other planets in and beyond

our solar system. Our session especially welcomes presentations that advance

our understanding of the Ice Giant systems in preparation for future remote

sensing and in situ explorations. We solicit presentations on observations,

modeling, theory and laboratory work, as well as concepts for missions and

instruments relevant for future exploration of the Ice Giant Systems.

Convenors: Kunio Sayanagi, Krista Soderlund, Zibi Turtle, Xin Cao

 

  1. SESSION P040: TITAN: THE EXOTIC AND ENIGMATIC MOON

 

Saturn’s giant moon Titan is one of the most mysterious, and yet strangely

familiar, realms in the solar system. Possessing a dense atmosphere enriched

in organic compounds, its active photochemistry works to produce a panoply

of molecules of increasing size and complexity, running the gamut from

ethane to haze particles. This session solicits presentations on all aspects

of Titan research, including on-going Cassini dataset analysis, Earth-based

observations, modeling, laboratory investigations, and comparison with other

  •  

Conveners: Conor Nixon (NASA GSFC), Alex Hayes (Cornell University),

Kathleen Mandt (Johns Hopkins APL)

 

Submissions welcome until: 31 July 2019 23:59 EDT/03:59 +1 GMT. At:

  •  

 

J)     SESSION P041: ULTRAVIOLET OBSERVING OF SOLAR SYSTEM TARGETS 

 

We are pleased to invite abstract submissions for this session at the 2019 AGU

Fall Meeting in San Francisco, CA, December 9-13, 2019.  Ultraviolet

spectroscopy and imaging have a decades-long history as valuable techniques

for studying atmospheres, aurorae, plumes, and surface composition and volatiles

on asteroids, comet nuclei and moons. While there continue to be opportunities

for UV remote sensing from Earth orbit and in future robotic missions, the

infrastructure for UV instrumentation is at a crossroads. Existing orbital facilities

are nearing the end of their useful lives and there continue to be many phenomena

that cannot be effectively studied with existing, high-heritage instrument designs.  
Exciting advances in UV-optimized technologies promise new capabilities that

can be incorporated into the next generation of robotic probes, flexible SmallSat

missions, and large aperture space-based observatories. This session welcomes

abstracts covering UV science results, as well as reports on progress toward

developing new technologies such as UV detector technologies, high performance
coatings, and novel sensor designs. 

 

Deadline for abstract submissions: Wednesday, 31 July, 23:59 EDT 

 

Conveners Shouleh Nikzad (JPL), Amanda Hendrix (PSI), Walt Harris (Univ. Arizona)

 

  1. SESSION SH04: SPACE WEATHER EVENTS AT SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES AND BEYOND

 

We would like to invite you to submit an abstract and participate in the

2019 Fall AGU cross-disciplinary session, “SH024: Space weather events

at solar system bodies and beyond”. The abstract submission is currently

open until 31 July 2019 23:59 EDT/03:59 +1 GMT.

Please visit this page to submit directly to this session:

https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm19/prelim.cgi/Session/82766

Session description:

The characteristics of how different solar system bodies respond to the 

active solar conditions can be used as an analog for space weather conditions

experienced by planets at other stellar systems. The availability of both

interplanetary spacecraft observations and advanced modeling techniques

allow us to better understand the space weather responses by planets and

their satellites within our solar system. In particular, the heliospheric

influences on various bodies can be different, depending on the plasma

environment of the planet (e.g., airless or tenuous atmosphere, with or

without a magnetosphere).

This session will cover a range of interrelated topics, including the 

propagation and evolution of ICMEs and SEPs in the heliosphere, the

space weather responses by planets, moons, and asteroids, and the

expected space weather conditions at exoplanets, particularly those

within habitable zones of their stellar systems. We welcome both

observational and modeling studies on the heliosphere and exoplanetary

  1. Conveners:
    Réka Winslow (University of New Hampshire)
    Jingnan Guo (University of Science and Technology of China)
    Christina O. Lee (Space Sciences Laboratory, UC Berkeley)

 

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JOBS, POSITIONS, OPPORTUNITIES

 

A) SPICE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER

     Jet Propulsion Laboratory

     Pasadena, California

 

NASA’s Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF), located at

the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is seeking a skilled,

dedicated and highly motivated professional to help develop the “SPICE 2.0”

Toolkit, a re-implementation of the existing SPICE 1.0 Toolkit family using

the C++11 language with a multithreaded and object-oriented architecture.

 

SPICE is the de facto worldwide standard for computing observation geometry

used by scientists and engineers working on solar system exploration missions.

The SPICE system and NAIF functions are described within the NAIF website:

https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov.

 

The job involves original design, thoughtful implementation, excellent code

documentation and provision of thorough testing facilities, all in keeping with

existing NAIF standards and practices. The applicant must have demonstrable

C++11 programming experience as well as skills in the areas of mathematics

and space dynamics. He or she must be willing to quickly learn SPICE technology

and capabilities in order to apply this knowledge to the SPICE 2.0 development

effort.

 

Applicants should have a degree in Engineering or Applied Mathematics, and

have several years of practical, related experience. This job is not in the domain

of computer science, but a strong aptitude for practical computer programming

is required. Practical knowledge of the Linux and OSX operating systems and

of additional languages such as Fortran 77, C, IDL, Matlab, Python and Java

Native Interface would be helpful. U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status

is required.

 

Persons interested in learning more about this offering should access this URL:

https://jpl.jobs/jobs/2019-10884-SPICE-System-Development-Engineer

 

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Send submissions to: 

Anne Verbiscer, DPS Secretary ([email protected]

 

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