Subject: [DPS Members] DPS Mailing #07-18: NASA R&A Website, PEN, DPS registration... September 19th 2007 +----------------------------CONTENTS--------------------------------+ 1) New NASA web site for research and analysis program news 2) Reminder: Planetary exploration newsletter (PEN) 3) DPS meeting online pre-registration deadline: Sept. 28 4) NASA IRTF observing proposal deadline 5) NASA balloon town hall meeting at DPS 6) Dawn; Request for post-launch images of the spacecraft 7) Wikipedia: A clarification 8) Upcoming meetings +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ 1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1 NEW NASA WEB SITE FOR RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS PROGRAM NEWS NASA's Science Mission Directorate has a new website for research and analysis news at http://www.science.hq.nasa.gov/research/sara.html. It contains information on the proposal and financial process improvements underway, a list of program officers with email and phone numbers, and statistics on programs. You can submit questions and complaints (and compliments) to SARA (the Senior Advisor for Research and Analysis) and you will get a reply. You can sign up to receive news on SMD's R&A programs at the website. The NSPIRES mailing list will only be used this once to announce the site; after that it will continue to be used for announcing solicitations like ROSES and Aos. So please visit the site and sign up at to get future updates. Thanks, Yvonne Pendleton 2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2 REMINDER: PLANETARY EXPLORATION NEWSLETTER (PEN) A reminder that you can receive the latest planetary exploration news from NASA, as well as information about upcoming meetings and other news of general interest to community, by subscribing to the PEN, the Planetary Exploration Newsletter. PEN is published approximately weekly. PEN subscribers have been getting time sensitive information from HQ almost a week prior to its being announced through NSPIRES. To subscribe, go to http://planetarynews.org/pen_subscribe.html PEN Web site: http://planetarynews.org 3---------3---------3---------3---------3---------3---------3---------3 DPS MEETING ONLINE PRE-REGISTRATION DEADLINE: SEPT. 28 A reminder that online pre-registration for the Orlando DPS meeting, which will be held from October 7-12 2007, closes at 10pm EDT on September 28th, at 10pm EDT. Meeting website: http://physics.ucf.edu/DPS07/ 4---------4---------4---------4---------4---------4---------4---------4 NASA INFRARED TELESCOPE FACILITY: OBSERVING PROPOSAL DEADLINE Due date for the February 1 to July 31, 2008 semester is Monday, October 1, 2007. See http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/observing/applicationForms.php. Available instruments include: (1) SpeX, a 1-5 micron cross-dispersed medium-resolution spectrograph (up to R=2,500); (2) CSHELL, a 1-5 micron high-resolution spectrograph (up to R=30,000); (3) MIRSI, a 5 to 25 micron camera and low-resolution spectrometer (R=100 to 200), (4) NSFCAM2, a 2048 2048 pixel, 1-5 micron camera with a 0.04 arcsec/pixel scale and a circular variable filter; and (5) PI-instruments including a low-resolution 3-14 micron spectrograph and high-resolution spectrographs for 8-25 microns. Information on available instruments can be found at: http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/Facility/. 5---------5---------5---------5---------5---------5---------5---------5 NASA BALLOON TOWN HALL MEETING AT DPS There will be a NASA Balloon Town Hall at the Orlando DPS meeting, on Thursday night, Oct 11, from 5:30 - 6:30. Balloon platforms offer excellent opportunities for scientific exploration, including astrophysical and planetary observations from above 99% of the atmosphere. Balloon flights enable PIs to be qualified to propose for PI-led SMEX proposals. Balloons are also serving as vehicles to test and qualify instruments for spacecraft. Flying at near space altitudes of up to 40 km, balloon flights can range from a few hours to several weeks in duration. NASA's Balloon Program is setting new heights in support of the Science Mission Directorate. Come to the town hall meeting to hear about the latest Balloon Program capabilities for offering low-cost Access to Space. Hear about the record breaking Long Duration Balloon missions and the status of the Ultra-Long Duration Balloon development project, as well as exploration technology efforts. Come hear how balloons give science a lift!" David L. Pierce NASA Balloon Program Office Goddard Space Flight Center Wallops Island, VA 6---------6---------6---------6---------6---------6---------6---------6 DAWN: REQUEST FOR POST-LAUNCH IMAGES OF THE SPACECRAFT NASA is preparing to launch Dawn between September 26 and October 15 on an ambitious mission to orbit both 4 Vesta and 1 Ceres, the two most massive asteroids. The Dawn project invites all readers with telescope time during the first week or two after launch to try to image the spacecraft. Other spacecraft have been seen at ranges of several million kilometers. (See an example at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/98/ds1palomar.html.) The project believes such views can be quite inspiring to the public. If Dawn launches at its first opportunity, it should be near RA = 6h 20m and dec = 28.5 deg within a day of launch. Launches at later times or on subsequent days may shift this a few degrees. Up-to-date coordinates will be available in JPL's HORIZONS system. Go to http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi and change the target body to "Dawn". UCLA Professor Christopher T. Russell is the PI for this ninth mission in NASA's Discovery Program. Instruments were contributed by DLR/MPS and ASI/INAF and delivered by LANL. JPL manages the project, and Orbital Sciences Corporation built the spacecraft. More information is available at http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov. Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions or if you obtain some images of Dawn's early light. 7---------7---------7---------7---------7---------7---------7---------7 WIKIPEDIA: A CLARIFICATION Regarding the item about Wikipedia in the last DPS newsletter, note that the DPS does not endorse Wikipedia as a preferred source of information on the Web. We simply encourage members to correct any errors that they find in Wikipedia, given its popularity. 8---------8---------8---------8---------8---------8---------8---------8 UPCOMING MEETINGS 1) Astrophysics 2020: Large Space Missions Beyond the Next Decade, November 13-15 2007, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland. http://www.stsci.edu/institute/conference/astro2020 The goal of this workshop is to begin envisioning the astrophysics that could be accomplished from space in the 2020 era and beyond. Astrophysics in the 2020's will build upon the results obtained by JWST, ALMA, LSST, GMT, TMT, and other remarkable facilities now being planned for the coming decade. Contributed talks and posters are welcome but the number of slots is limited. If you are interested in giving a talk or poster, please register as soon as possible or contact Marc Postman <[email protected]>. 2) SOFIA's 2020 Vision: Scientific and Technological Opportunities 6-8 December 2007, Caltech, Pasadena, California Updated web site and deadline information: http://www.sofia-vision.caltech.edu/ Abstract submission deadline, travel grant request deadline, and deadline for registration for visit to see SOFIA at Dryden, are all September 30. 3) IAU Symposium 251: Organic Matter in Space, Hong Kong, China February 18-22, 2008 http://www.hku.hk/science/iau251 In this symposium, we intend to bring together observational astronomers, laboratory spectroscopists, and solar system scientists to share their expertise in order to come up with new ideas for the solution to the many unsolved mysteries associated with the origin, evolution, and distribution of organic matter in space. 4) 2008 Astrobiology Science Conference, April 15-17 in Santa Clara, California, USA http://abscicon.seti.org The 2008 AbSciCon will be hosted by the SETI Institute. Abstracts are welcome from across the spectrum of astrobiology-related research, particularly as they relate to the major scientific themes "The Astrophysical and Planetary Context for Life," "The Origin and Evolution of Life," and "The Search for Life in our Solar System and Beyond." The revised deadline for submission of abstracts is December 3rd, 2007. Questions regarding submission of abstracts can be addressed to [email protected] . +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ Send submissions to: John Spencer, DPS Secretary ([email protected])