Issue 15-02, January 13, 2015
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1) PLANETARY SURFACE PROCESSES FIELD SCHOOL
2) AAS/CSWA WORKPLACE CLIMATE SURVEY
3) AAAS MASS MEDIA SCIENCE & ENGINEERING FELLOWS PROGRAM
4) CASTALIA CALL FOR SUPPORT
5) PSS SPECIAL ISSUE
6) SUMMER SCIENCE PROGRAM
7) HST 2020 VISION WHITE PAPER – CHANGE IN DEADLINE
8) UPCOMING MEETINGS
9) JOBS/POSITIONS OPPORTUNITIES
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2015 PLANETARY SURFACE PROCESSES FIELD SCHOOL MAY 12-22
Offered through the Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration (CPSX), the Department of Earth Sciences, and the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario & NSERC CREATE Technologies and Techniques in Earth and Space Exploration, the principal objective of this course is to provide participants with an interdisciplinary field studies experience with an emphasis on planetary surface processes. Emphasis will be placed on volcanism, impact cratering, tectonics and fluvial and Aeolian erosion. More details available at:
http://cpsx.uwo.ca/study/study-1/graduate-courses/2015-planetary-science-fieldschool
Deposit is due January 15, 2015.
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AAS/CSWA WORKPLACE CLIMATE SURVEY
The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA) is conducting a survey on Workplace Climate. The CSWA wants to learn if members of the astronomical and/or planetary communities encounter negative language, or experience verbal or physical altercations on the basis of gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability status, or race and ethnicity. The survey is designed to request information during the respondent’s current position and previous position (if the respondent has changed positions within the last five years). This information is requested in order to understand if astronomers and planetary scientists encounter varying workplace climates at different stages of their career.
Please help us in our pursuit to better understand how workplace climate impacts the members of the astronomical community. Go to
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CSWA_Workplace_Climate_Survey
to complete a confidential survey. We appreciate your input and welcome participation from all members of the astronomical and planetary scientist community over the age of 18.
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AAAS MASS MEDIA SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FELLOWS PROGRAM
This 10-week summer program places science, engineering, and mathematics students at media organizations nationwide. Fellows use their academic training as they research, write, and report today’s headlines, sharpening their abilities to communicate complex scientific issues to the public.http://www.aaas.org/program/aaas-mass-media-science-engineering-fellows-program
The AAAS is also recruiting Spanish Language Fellows for 2015:
http://www.aaas.org/massmedia/spanish
Application Deadline January 15, 2015.
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CASTALIA CALL FOR SUPPORT
Castalia: A mission to a Main Belt Comet
Main Belt Comets (MBCs) constitute a newly identified class of solar system objects. They have stable, asteroid-like orbits and some exhibit a recurrent comet-like appearance. It is believed that they survived the age of the solar system in a dormant state and that their current ice sublimation-driven activity only began recently. Buried water ice is the only volatile expected to survive under an insulating surface. Excavation by an impact can expose the ice and trigger the start of MBC activity.
A proposal for a mission named Castalia will be submitted to the European Space Agency by January 15th, for consideration as an M4 mission candidate for its Cosmic Vision programme. The specific science goals of the Castalia mission are to:
1. Characterize a new Solar System family, the MBCs, by in-situ investigation
2. Understand the physics of activity on MBCs
3. Directly sample water in the asteroid belt and test if MBCs are a viable source for Earth’s water
4. Use the observed structure of an MBC as a tracer of planetary system formation and evolution.
These goals can be achieved by a multi-instrumented spacecraft designed to rendezvous with and orbit an MBC for a time interval of some months, sampling the gas and dust released during the active phase. These observations will be particularly important in light of recent results from the Rosetta mission to Comet 67P.
MBC 133P/Elst-Pizarro is the primary target for Castalia. A design study has been carried out in partnership between the science team, DLR and OHB System.
The members of Castalia’s international team of proposers would welcome indications of support for the mission. We ask everyone who wishes to express their support to please do so at the following webpage:
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PSS SPECIAL ISSUE
CALL FOR PAPERS : PLANETARY SPACE SCIENCE SPECIAL ISSUE ON OUTER PLANET SYSTEMS XI
TITLE OF SPECIAL ISSUE: “Atmospheres, Magnetospheres and Surfaces of the outer planets, their satellites and ring systems: Part XI”
Following up on our previous 10 special issues for PSS on this subject, we invite colleagues who have recently given a presentation concerning outer planets and their systems at one of the 2014 Planetary meetings (EGU, EPSC, AOGS, COSPAR, etc) to submit a paper in a new special issue of Planetary and Space Science on the subject of the sessions regarding the Atmospheres, Magnetospheres and Surfaces of the outer planets, their satellites and ring systems.
All papers presented in these meetings (solicited, contributed oral and posters) and concerning results on the outer planets and their systems, as well as laboratory or modelling work for the analysis of such data, are welcome to an article in this PSS issue.
This special issue will also include solicited reviews on the progress in the research concerning outer planets systems in the past years (likely themes could include the giant planets, the icy moons, the rings, etc)… This issue can cover also some of the contributions related to the 10th anniversary of the Cassini-Huygens mission.
AS A FIRST STEP WE ASK FOR AN INDICATION OF INTEREST FROM POTENTIAL AUTHORS SO AS TO KNOW HOW MANY PAPERS MIGHT BE EXPECTED, PREFERABLY BY 15 FEBRUARY 2015 OR BEFORE.
The usual refereeing process is applied for publication in PSS. The deadline for submission of the manuscripts for this issue will be end of April 2015. We do not have a specific page limitation. Submitted manuscripts should be written in good, grammatical English. Care should be taken to ensure that the wording is matter of fact and not superfluous. The text should be long enough to deal with the subject in a scientific manner, and this varies depending on the subject being handled. Authors are invited to submit their paper in the appropriate PSS electronic format to one of the guest editors (see hereafter). For further instructions see the Journal’s web site guidelines for the authors.
The Conveners/Editors
– Athena Coustenis ([email protected])
– Sushil Atreya ([email protected])
– Julie Castillo ([email protected])
– Ingo Müller-Wodarg ([email protected])
– Linda Spilker ([email protected])
– Giovanni Strazzulla ([email protected])
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SUMMER SCIENCE PROGRAM
No ordinary summer job … the Summer Science Program is a unique and unusually rewarding opportunity to teach and mentor some of the most promising young scientists in the world. SSP seeks faculty to lead research teams of extraordinarily gifted high school students (rising seniors) in near-earth asteroid observations and orbit determinations.
On each of two campuses – Univ. of Colorado Boulder and New Mexico Tech in Socorro – two faculty teach the physics, vector calculus, and observational astronomy required to perform near-earth asteroid orbit determination from first principles and their own observations. The pace is faster than typical college courses. Four Teaching Assistants tutor, mentor, and supervise students outside of the classroom. A Site Director provides residential and logistical support.
All faculty receive salary, housing, meals, and travel reimbursement.
The Summer Science Program is an equal opportunity employer. We value a diverse faculty and encourage all qualified individuals to apply. (Non-US citizens must have legal permission to work in the US; we cannot sponsor employment visas.) All positions are open until filled.
Faculty are on campus (almost) continuously for 44 days and 43 nights. Dates are:
• Socorro, NM: Tuesday June 16 through Thursday, July 30, 2015
• Boulder, CO: Tuesday June 23 through Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015
http://www.summerscience.org/contactus/jobs.php
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HST 2020 VISION WHITE PAPERS – CHANGE IN DEADLINE
Dear Colleagues,
STScI has issued a call to the community for white papers describing initiatives that will enhance significantly Hubble’s scientific legacy from the next 5 years of observations.
The initial deadline for white paper submission was given a February 20th, 2015. NASA’s Discovery Program deadline is February 16th 2015. To accommodate our colleagues in planetary science, we are moving the white paper deadline to March 4th 2015. All submissions prior to that deadline will receive full consideration.
Further details are given here, http://www.stsci.edu/hst/
Neill Reid & Ken Sembach, STScI
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UPCOMING MEETINGS
A) EUROPEAN PLANETARY SCIENCE CONGRESS (EPSC) 2015
The 10th European Planetary Science Congress will take place at La Cité des Congrès, Nantes, France, from 27 September – 02 October 2015. We thank you for making the last EPSC meeting in Cascais, Portugal, a great success with 591 participants from 27 countries. In order to ensure a high scientific and technical quality of the next congress, we ask you to send any comments or feedback concerning the last meeting to Manuel Grande ([email protected]) or another member of the EPSC Executive Board. As with the previous highly successful EPSC meetings, EPSC2015 provides an attractive platform to exchange and present results, develop new ideas and to network the planetary science community in Europe. A forum you might say! It will have a distinctively interactive style, with a mix of talks, workshops and posters, intended to provide a stimulating environment for the community to meet.. The modern congress centre is very close to the centre of Nantes, an attractive city, the historical capital of Brittany, on the west coast of France, about 2 hours by high speed train from Paris. The success of EPSC is founded on the excellence of its sessions and conveners. So we encourage you to make session or workshop proposals on the conference website before 29 January 2015:
Manuel Grande and Maria Teresa Capria, Scientific Organizing Committee Chairs
Mario Ebel, Copernicus Meetings
B) WORKSHOP ON PLANETARY PROTECTION KNOWLEDGE GAPS FOR HUMAN EXTRATERRESTRIAL MISSIONS
March 24-26, 2015
NASA Ames Research Center, CA
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/ppw2015/
Abstract deadline January 22, 2015
C) 26th IUGG GENERAL ASSEMBLY
June 22-July 2, 2015
Prague, Czech Republic
http://www.iugg2015prague.com/
Abstract deadline January 31, 2015
Please consider submitting an abstract to the IAMAS/ICPAE-related symposia, as follows:
– M08 Comparative Planetary Atmospheres within and beyond the Solar System
Convener: Feng Tian (Beijing, China) Co-conveners: Sanjay Limaye (Madison, USA), Leigh Fletcher (Oxford, U.K.), Darrell Strobel (Baltimore, USA), Athena Coustenis (Paris, France)
Topics include all aspects and characteristics of atmospheres from terrestrial worlds to giant planets; the evolutionary paths of various atmospheres, especially exoplanets thought to be habitable. Planetary origins both in our solar system and in exoplanetary systems will also be featured. Contributions should focus on the comparative aspect of these research topics, and broader relevance to atmospheric sciences.
– M09 Solar System Exploration of Atmospheres with Ground-Based and Space-Based Platforms
Convener: Sanjay Limaye (Madison, USA) Co-conveners: Ralf Greve (Tokyo, Japan), Leigh Fletcher (Oxford, U.K.), Darrell Strobel (Baltimore, USA)
Topics include recent contributions from missions and space-based observatories including, but not limited to, atmospheric composition and chemistry; density and thermal structure; dynamics and energetics; clouds, aerosols and haze. Themes include climate and seasonal variations, surface atmosphere interactions, “hydrological” cycles, atmospheric escape and evolution.
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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) NRAO POSTDOC AT GREENBANK, WEST VIRGINIA
https://cw.na1.hgncloud.com/nrao/loadJobPostingDetails.do?jobPostingID=100901&source=jobList
Application deadline: 15 February 2015