mailto:[email protected] Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 11:40:36 -0400 Subject: DPS Mailing #01-36: Decadal Study news Greetings, DPS Members - +------------------CONTENTS:-----------------------------+ |1) PLANETARY DECADAL STUDY NEWS - UPDATE | |2) MESSAGE FROM THE NRC INNER PLANETS PANEL | |3) UPDATE FROM THE NRC: NEWS FROM THE SSE SURVEY | +--------------------------------------------------------+ 1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1 PLANETARY DECADAL STUDY NEWS - UPDATE All panels should focus on completing their white papers by the beginning of November and I would like to encourage ALL of them (and anyone else who is interested) to submit an abstract for the upcoming DPS meeting (Category: decadal survey; Deadline: September 24). The DPS Committee has relaxed the Speaker's rule for decadal abstracts: you may contribute a decadal abstract and also an abstract for your research area. Decadal abstracts will be for a special poster session. To facilitate ingestion of the white papers by the NRC Discipline Panels and Steering Group, we ask that each paper be preceded by a one to two page executive summary, a suggested outline for which will be posted on the planetary community decadal website at "Community Panels". Our community's support of the planetary decadal study (the Solar System Exploration Survey) being conducted by the NRC continues. New community decadal panels continue to form. You are invited to participate! Science Data Management Radioscience and the Deep Space Network (Lead: George Resch - JPL) Outer Planets (Lead: Gordon Bjoraker - NASA GFSC) Planetary Atmospheres (Lead: David Huestis - SRI) Lunar Exploration, Manned and Unmanned (Lead: Paul Spudis - LPI) Terrestrial Analogs to Mars (Lead: Tom Farr - JPL) Extraterrestrial Mineralogy (Lead: David Bish - LANL) Venus (Lead: David Crisp - JPL) Go to http://www.aas.org/~dps/decadal Click on Community Panels. Join! Upcoming NRC panel meetings: Large Satellites Panel, SEP 16-18 *NOTE CORRECTED DATE LASP, University of Colorado, Boulder CO Steering Group, SEP 19-21 Carnegie Institute, Washington DC The notice for these meetings at the above URL will be hyperlinked to their agendas when they are available. Updates and site locations for other NRC panel meetings have also been posted. NOTICE: The NRC Committee on the Origins and Evolution of Life has been asked to become the SSES panel on Astrobiology, chaired by Jonathon Lunine ([email protected]). See the UPDATE FROM THE NRC below. Mark V. Sykes, DPS Chair [email protected] 2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2 MESSAGE FROM THE NRC INNER PLANETS PANEL Dear Colleague, You may have received announcements from several groups involved with the current strategic planning process for Solar System Exploration. This note, however, is a appeal for input into formulation of plans specifically for the Inner Planets (and understanding the uniqueness of Earth). IMPORTANCE. The product of the NAS Decadal Survey for Solar System Exploration will be an assessment of the most important science questions for Solar System Exploration for the next decade (~2003-2013) and a recommended prioritization of missions to address those questions. The final report generated by this committee will be held up as the consensus of the planetary community, so your input is essential. Background information on the Survey can be found at the NAS website below. INNER PLANET SCOPE. Our panel is charged specifically with consideration of priorities for Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. Although our science scope includes all the terrestrial planets inside the orbit of Jupiter, specific priorities for Mars are being handled separately by COMPLEX (as a separate and established exploration program). The other panels are Giant Planets, Large outer Satellites, and Primitive Bodies. INPUT. Our panel is soliciting input from individual members or groups of the community through several venues: a) "white papers", b) several scheduled public meetings and open forums, and c) response to specific IP Panel queries. Your input can be in support of a specific mission, obtaining specific data or attaining an important goal, or a general recommendation for a class or style of exploration. To focus your thoughts, we would like your response to the following two questions. At a later date we will compile an integrated summary of the types of issues we are considering and will ask for a response before our final report. 1) What are the three most important discoveries in inner planets science in the last 3 decades? 2) What are the top three priorities for future investigations of the inner planets? (You may list more than three if you wish, but keep it brief and include reasons and references, if available.) Do not assume that others will provide ample input. We need YOUR input! Please send your thoughts on the above two questions (brief bullets are fine) as well as attached white paper inputs to [email protected], or you may provide input through the community web site listed below. Comments made in person via the open forums in Chicago (Oct. 3, 1:30pm @ Adler Planetarium) and New Orleans (during DPS) are most welcomed and are encouraged if at all possible. See the Planetary Community decadal web site for information on forming "community panels" whereby you may become part of a larger group backing a specific position. Please respond to the above questions as soon as possible. We have a real opportunity to make a case to expand exploration of the inner planets and raise the priority of inner planets science. We need your input NOW. We then plan to prepare and circulate a summary statement for response by mid-November. Best regards, Carle Pieters Chair, Inner Planets Panel Solar System Exploration Survey [email protected] Community website: <http://www.aas.org/~dps/decadal/> NAS website: <http://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/ssefrontpage.html> 3---------3---------3---------3---------3---------3---------3---------3 UPDATE FROM THE NRC: NEWS FROM THE SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION SURVEY Since the SSE Survey's Steering Group and Panels began their activities in July, there have been a number of developments of interest to the community. These include: 1. Steering Group member James Papike (University of New Mexico) has been replaced by Dimitri Papanastassiou (JPL/Caltech). Dr. Papanastassiou takes over Dr. Papikes's role as the Steering Group's point of contact for the sample-science community. 2. Inner Planets Panel member Larry Esposito (University of Colorado) has been replaced by Mark Bullock (Southwest Research Institute) 3. The NRC's Committee on the Origins and Evolution of Life (COEL), whose co-chairs are Jonathan Lunine (University of Arizona) and John Baross (University of Washington), has been formally asked to become the SSE Survey's Astrobiology Panel. COEL will work with Steering Group member Mitchell Sogin (Marine Biological Laboratory) to ensure that astrobiology is an integral part of the SSE Survey's final report. The next meeting of COEL will take place at NASA's Ames Research Center on 31 October-2 November. See COEL's website for membership and other details (http://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/origins1.html). 4. The Primitive Bodies Panel meeting previously scheduled to take place at the University of Maryland on 24-26 October will now be held at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. The dates are unchanged. 5. The National Research Council's Christine Mirzayan Internship Program offers a unique opportunity for a graduate students or postdoctoral fellow to play an important role in the activities of the Solar System Exploration Survey. Work with Survey members and staff and see how the decadal-survey report is assembled by working as an intern in the Washington offices of the NRC's Space Studies Board during the final phases of the report's drafting in the first quarter of 2002. See the Christine Mirzayan Internship Program website (www4.nationalacademies.org/pd/nrc-ip.nsf) for more details, including an on-line application form (to come). Contact the SSE Survey's Director, David H. Smith ([email protected]), for additional details. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Melissa McGrath, on behalf of the DPS Committee (submissions to Al Harris: [email protected])