Newsletter 14-12

Issue 14-12, May 15, 2014

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1) MESSAGE FROM THE DPS FRS CHAIR
2) JOBS/POSITIONS OPPORTUNITIES
3) UPCOMING MEETINGS
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MESSAGE FROM THE DPS FEDERAL RELATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE (FRS) CHAIR:
UPDATE ON FRS ACTIVITY AND STAY TUNED FOR CALL TO ACTION IN LATE MAY

Support in Congress is generally going strong, as reflected in the House FY 15 Appropriations Bill for Commerce, Justice, and Science. The House bill raises NASA’s top line to $17.9B SMD’s top line to $5.2B. In the report language Congress makes significant improvements over the President’s FY15 budget request for planetary science, including raising the planetary science budget to $1.45B. For the details, the report can be downloaded at: appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hrpt-113-hr-fy2015-cjs.pdf (the planetary-relevant language begins on page 67).

This week the FRS and other DPS members visited Congressional offices to express support for those provisions and broaden our base of support. We met with both House and Senate offices and identified new allies for planetary science. DPS committee members will conduct more visits in early June.

The House bill will likely come up for a vote in the full House near the end of May, the Senate is about to start work on its version bill and is expected to consider it in committee later in late May. If all goes well (let’s be cautiously optimistic!) there could be a conference to reconcile the two in late summer. At the most opportune times — probably late May — we will be issuing calls to action asking DPS members to call and write Congress to support the planetary provisions. So stay tuned.

–Makenzie Lystrup, FRS Chair (dps.frschair.aas.org)

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JOBS/POSITIONS OPPORTUNITIES

For all Job opportunities, please visit jobs
and also consider posting a job by filling out the jobs submission form at:
node/add/job

You can send any comments, questions, or suggestions to the DPS Jobs Czar at:  [email protected]

A) ROSETTA/MIDAS POSTDOC POSITION

A three year postdoctoral position is available at the Space Research
Institute of the Austrian Academy of Science, Graz, Austria, within
the frame of the ASAP10 project “The MIDAS AFM – modelling and
calibration of a cometary atomic force microscope”.

The successful applicant will join the core MIDAS team which is
responsible for planning and executing operations of the instrument.
As well as participating in the ongoing science planning for MIDAS,
the candidate would combine numerical modelling and analysis of
scientific data and telemetry to better understand the instrument
behavior with respect to temperature, vibration and other factors.
The Flight Spare and Qualification Model instruments are available
for ground based testing and analysis. Calibration and data
archiving activities will become important in the latter half of the
project and it is expected that as operations become more routine,
time would be available for scientific analysis of the data.

The appointment should start in June 2014 and runs for 36 months;
the application deadline is 16th May 2014. Both of these can be
(slightly!) flexible, so please get in touch if you are interested.
Interested candidates should send their application including a
short CV to the project leader Dr. Mark Bentley
([email protected]).

Further details:

http://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/service/personal/
ASAP10_MIDAS_PostDoc.pdf.pdf

[Edited for length from the PEN.]

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UPCOMING MEETINGS 

A) 48TH ESLAB SYMPOSIUM: NEW INSIGHTS INTO VOLCANISM ACROSS THE SOLAR SYSTEM
17-20 June, ESTEC

The preliminary program is now published on the website, see http://congrexprojects.com/2014-events/48-ESLAB/programme. The detailed program with individual contributions will follows shortly, and will be announced on the website.
Registration is still open, and will be until the start of the meeting. In addition, “Late Abstracts – Poster Only” submission is still possible until May 16th. The poster session will be on Thursday 19th, June.
The symposium will focus on volcanism in the Solar System. Of particular interest, but not limited to, will be new insights obtained over the last years from international space missions to planets, Moons and cryo-volcanism. The format will be made up of plenary sessions on topics related to volcanism in the Solar System, with contributed oral and poster presentations.
Sebastien Besse on behalf of the SOC

B) NASA EXPLORATION SCIENCE FORUM 2014
July 21-23, 2014
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

The Solar System Exploration Research Institute (SSERVI) is pleased to announce the 1st annual NASA Exploration Science Forum (ESF), to be held July 21-23, 2014 at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA.  This year’s Forum will feature scientific discussions related to several exploration targets of interest: the Moon, near-Earth asteroids and the moons of Mars. There are no registration fees to attend the conference, but registration is required. Non-US citizens MUST register by May 26, 2014 to allow time to process the visit. To learn more about the conference and register, please go to:
http://sservi.nasa.gov/NESF2014/

Questions can be directed to:
Yvonne Pendleton, Director of SSERVI ([email protected])
Dana Hurley, SOC Co-Chair ([email protected])
Nancy Chabot, SOC Co-Chair ([email protected] )

The abstract submission deadline has passed, but the following topics relevant to the Moon, near-Earth Asteroids, and Phobos/Deimos will be covered at this meeting:

Volatiles – formation, destruction, location, form
Dust/Regolith – origin and evolution
Exosphere/Plasma Interactions,
Radiation Environment – space weathering and human health
Geology,
Geophysics,
Robotic Missions,
Sample Return
ISRU
Astro/Heliophysics
Public Outreach

The ESF will contain a special session to engage the exploration and science communities in an important discussion of objectives and benefits of the different Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) destinations – the Moon, Near Earth Asteroids, the moons of Mars. As many of the ESF topics are of relevance to the International Space Exploration Coordination Group’s (ISECG) Global Exploration Roadmap (GER), NASA, together with other space agency representatives from ISECG, will leverage the participating Forum scientists present and conduct a separate session on the GER on July 24, immediately following the Exploration Science Forum.  This session seeks to discuss topics of interest that increase the synergies between human and robotic missions to increase the return for each community.  All ESF participants are welcome to attend, but they must be registered.  Forum and GER logistics, schedule and registration info may be found at http://sservi.nasa.gov/NESF2014/

C) WORKSHOP ON THE STUDY OF THE ICE GIANT PLANETS
July 28-30 at APL in Laurel, MD

Abstract submission and registration are now open for the Workshop on the Study of the Ice Giant Planets July 28-30 at APL in Laurel, MD.  The abstracts deadline is May 15 and early registration runs through June 27.  For more information, please see: 
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/icegiants2014/icegiants20141st.shtml

D) PLANETARY RINGS WORKSHOP
13-15 August, 2014  
Boulder, CO

The Cassini Rings Working Group will host a Planetary Rings Workshop  13-15 August, 2014 in Boulder, CO at the CU’s Laboratory for Atmospheric  and Space Physics (CU-LASP).  The workshop will be open to all interested parties and any observational or theoretical research on the properties, dynamics, origin or evolution of any planetary ring system is appropriate. This meeting will highlight the latest Cassini results. We plan on predominantly oral talks, but posters will be considered. Ample time will be allowed for discussion. Previous workshops were held in Ithaca  (2011), Paris (2008) and Whitefish, MT (2006).  The first announcement is posted at LASP’s event website http://lasp.colorado.edu/cassini/PlanetaryRingsWorkshopAug2014.html . Registration will be by credit card through Eventbrite. Details will  follow in 2nd announcement and will be posted on the above meeting site. (Please email Laura Bloom (address below) if you would like to be placed on our mailing list and receive a direct email invitation once registration opens.)  Planned program includes an opening reception Tuesday evening, a workshop dinner on Wednesday, and working lunch on Friday. The meeting will end Friday evening. Estimated costs are $100 for the workshop and $30 for the dinner.

E) WORKSHOP ON VOLATILES IN THE MARTIAN INTERIOR

November 3–5, 2014,
Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), Houston TX 77058.

Since the Workshop on Water in Planetary Basalts in 2007, there has been extensive research conducted on volatiles (H2O, CO2, O2, S, Cl, F, and noble gases) in the martian interior and martian basalts. This new workshop will gather together researchers working on volatiles in the martian interior to discuss the latest developments in the field, where data are lacking, and which observations, instruments, or experiments are needed to make progress on understanding the origin, roles, and evolution of volatiles in the interior of Mars. Reports on data from meteorites, remote sensing, laboratory experimental investigations, in situ surface investigations, astrobiological implications, and geophysical/geochemical modeling are all applicable for inclusion in this workshop.
The first announcement is now available on the conference website:

http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/volatiles2014/

F) 2ND INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON INSTRUMENTATION FOR PLANETARY MISSIONS
November 4-7, 2014
Greenbelt, Maryland (near Washington DC)

Call for Papers
Submission Deadline: July 28, 2014

The objective of the International Workshop on Instrumentation for Planetary Mission is to have a broad canvas of instrumentation and technology available to ‘Decadal Survey’ missions and those further out. It is also meant to be a forum of collaboration, exchange and discussions where science questions, and the technology needed to address them, are discussed.
The website for the workshop has been updated. Included on the website is the call for papers, registration information and form, plus lodging information.
To view the current information, visit the workshop website:
http://ssed.gsfc.nasa.gov/IPM/

G) 11TH EUROPEAN SPACE WEATHER WEEK
17-21 November 2014
Liege, Belgium

** The abstract submission deadline is 1 June 2014. **

We warmly invite abstract submissions to our session “PLANETARY SPACE WEATHER” (http://www.stce.be/esww11/program/03.php).

Please find bellow a full description of this session along with the contact details of all three conveners. The ESWW11 meeting details can be found in the conference website:http://www.stce.be/esww11/ where the necessary guide and links to submitting abstracts can also be found.

** Conveners contact details **
Christina Plainaki (INAF-IAPS, Rome, Italy; [email protected])
Iannis Dandouras (IRAP, Toulouse, France; [email protected])
Maria Andriopoulou (Space Science Institute, Austrian Academy of Science, Graz, Austria; [email protected])

H) IUGG 2015
22 June-5 July 2015
Prague, Czech Republic

www.iugg2015prague.com.

Abstract Submission
Call for abstracts will be open during summer 2014.

Deadline for abstract submission is January 31, 2015.

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Send submissions to:
Athena Coustenis, DPS Secretary ([email protected])

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