Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 11:53:13 -0600
Subject: DPS Mailing #05-06: Message from the Chair, Corrected Version...
+------------------CONTENTS:------------------------------+
1) MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR, CORRECTED VERSION
2) MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY
3) MEETINGS OF POSSIBLE INTEREST TO DPS MEMBERS
+----------------------------------------------------------+
Dear Colleagues,
The following replaces yesterday's (2/7) version of the "Message
from the Chair." The only change is in the second sentence.
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MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR, CORRECTED VERSION
Dear Colleagues:
Last week saw another ominous development for planetary science. On
Wednesday, NASA announced its selections from the latest round of
Discovery proposals. From 18 proposals, no stand-alone flight
missions were selected, an unprecedented occurrence.
The DPS is stunned by this decision. Discovery proposals require a
tremendous amount of unfunded work by Principal Investigators (PIs),
their Co-Investigator teams, NASA centers, other research centers
and laboratories, and their industry partners.
Are we to believe that none of the flight missions proposed merited
going to "Phase A," which is not selection for flight, but selection
for further detailed study to determine suitability for flight?
The Discovery Program is one of NASA's most innovative and
cost-effective programs. It is a major and in our judgment
irreplaceable part of planetary exploration. Incredible ideas are
conceived, and if all goes well, brought to fruition. Missions are
flown, such as Pathfinder, NEAR, Lunar Prospector, Stardust,
Genesis, Messenger, and Deep Impact, that frankly never would have
had little chance of being flown under the old way of doing business.
While the Discovery proposal PIs have yet to be debriefed on the
details of each evaluation, we do know that some submitted proposals
have heritage from earlier rounds and have in past Discovery proposal
cycles simultaneously received the highest possible scientific ranking
and the lowest possible risk ranking.
Last week, NASA also announced that the next Discovery AO would be
released soon, and officials have told us that both the cost cap
would be raised and the existing budget profile restrictions would
be relaxed. These are welcome developments, but the effect of last
week's non-selection will likely adversely affect the applicant
pool regardless of the scope of the program in the future.
As we noted above, qualified teams and their industrial partners
have invested their own resources, countless man-hours and (all
together) millions of dollars. But in the face of such seemingly
arbitrary actions by the Agency, they cannot be expected to continue
doing so. And as a result, America's space program is the loser.
In effect, the non-selection of potential mission candidates for
study means that a Discovery mission has been cancelled, and the
Discovery selection process has failed. We call upon NASA to
conduct an open selection-process failure analysis, just as it
would for a flight mission loss.
The paradigm of PI-led missions like Discovery represents American
enterprise, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship at its best. The
Discovery Program, and the nascent New Frontiers Program, and the
smaller scale Explorer programs, all PI-led, must not be allowed
to falter. The DPS strongly urges NASA to reaffirm its support
for the Discovery and other PI-led programs by making mission
selections in response to NASA Aos, and to work with Congress
to ensure the funding of these missions.
Finally, we note that last week's decision takes place against
the background of profound change in NASA's directions and
priorities, more details of which are expected in the FY06
Federal Budget to be released Monday, February 7th. The AAS and
DPS will be closely analyzing the implications of the budget for
NASA and the programs within it.
In the meantime, letters, phone calls, and faxes to NASA and the
press in support of the Discovery and other PI-led programs are
critically important. These could stress 1) your disappointment
in the recent non-selection and 2) your support for Discovery and
other PI-led programs; request that 3) NASA openly investigate
the causes of this non-selection; and most important, that
4) NASA recommit itself to making competitive selections in
these programs.
We ask you, however, to also prepare for a much larger effort
that we may be calling upon you to undertake, which transcends
our serious concerns for individual programs.
On behalf of the DPS Committee,
Bill McKinnon
DPS Chair
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MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY
Dear Colleagues,
In Mailing #05-02, I asked that announcements about upcoming meetings
of other societies be kept brief. Several people have submitted
information for inclusion since then. Most tried to follow the
guidelines; some did not. Some vital information was omitted from
some of the announcements, such as date and location of the meeting.
Others included long paragraphs of description. Some web links that
were submitted did not work.
I ask that any future submissions be sent at least a month before
you need them to appear, that you check to be sure any contact email
addresses or websites are correct and active, and that the listings
follow this sample format:
SAMPLE:
AAS Division of Dynamical Astronomy Meeting
April 10-14 in Santa Barbara, details at http://dda.harvard.edu/ .
Abstract deadline: 10 March, 2005.
Following these guidelines will ensure that your announcement
appears the way you prepared it, and in a timely way. Submissions
which do not follow these guidelines may not appear in the DPS e-news.
Thank you.
Linda French Emmons
DPS Secretary
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MEETINGS OF POSSIBLE INTEREST TO DPS MEMBERS
1) AAS Division of Dynamical Astronomy Meeting
April 10-14 in Santa Barbara, details at http://dda.harvard.edu/ .
Abstract deadline: 10 March, 2005.
2) International Association of Meteorology and Atmosphere
Sciences (IAMAS) 2005 Scientific Assembly
Beijing, China
August 2- August 11, 2005.
http://www.iamas2005.com/
Planetary Atmospheres Symposia:
I1: Planetary Atmospheres and their Evolution (ICPAE)
- essentially terrestrial planets
I2: Aeronomy of Planetary Atmospheres: Comparative Planetology (ICPAE)
- essentially giant planets systems and Cassini-Huygens
Abstract deadline: 1 March 2005
3) Late Sessions Added at AGU
contact schenk at lpi.usra.edu for further information
Spring AGU Special Session P07
One year on Mars :MER Results
Spring AGU Special Session P08
Cassini at Saturn
Spring AGU Special Session P09
Huygens at Titan
Spring AGU Special Session P10
Cassini/Huygens at Saturn and Titan (General results)
Abstract deadline: Feb. 10.
4) Education and Public Outreach Conference
Building Community: The Emerging EPO Profession
Tucson, Arizona
September 14-16, 2005
Proposals received before March 1 will receive the highest
priority for consideration.
Submit online at http://astrosociety.org/events/meeting.html
5) Pacifichem 2005
Symposium 47: Astrochemistry - From Laboratory Studies to Astronomical
Observations
Honolulu, Hawai'i
December 15-20, 2005
Abstracts for contributed oral (15 min) and poster presentations
can be submitted via http://www.pacifichem.org/c_abstracts/ .
Please note the April 13, 2005, deadline.
Linda French Emmons, DPS Secretary
send submissions to lfrench at iwu.edu
Submissions should be in text format (no attachments, please).