Issue 20-38, August 14, 2020
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- AAS DIVISION FOR PLANETARY SCIENCES 2020 PRIZES
- DPS 2020 DEPENDENT CARE GRANTS
- DPS EDUCATION AND OUTREACH GRANTS – FINAL DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL AUGUST 15TH
- NASA PLANETARY SCIENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (PAC) MEETING AUGUST 17-18
- SOFIA CYCLE 9 CALLS FOR PROPOSALS AND WEBINAR
- CALL FOR PAPERS TO A FOCUS ISSUE IN THE PLANETARY SCIENCE JOURNAL DEDICATED TO PAPERS HIGHLIGHTING LANDED LUNAR MISSION CONCEPTS AND HIGH-PRIORITY LANDING SITES
- ANNOUNCING THE EXOPLANET SOLAR SYSTEM (EXOSS) TUTORIAL TALK SERIES
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AAS DIVISION FOR PLANETARY SCIENCES 2020 PRIZES
The DPS is pleased to announce its 2020 prize winners.
Gerard P. Kuiper Prize – Wing-Huen Ip
The DPS awards the 2020 Gerard P. Kuiper Prize for outstanding contributions to the
field of planetary science to Professor Wing-Huen Ip (Institute of Astronomy, National
Central University, Taiwan) for his contributions to advancements in comet plasma physics,
solar-system dynamics, and magnetospheric interactions with atmospheres and solid surfaces.
One example of his seminal contributions includes his paper in Nature that presented a
model for the formation of magnetism-free cavities at Comet Halley; three decades later,
the same phenomenon was seen on 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko by Rosetta. Wing was
the founding president for the Asia-Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) and is known
as one of the three fathers of the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan. He has also
participated as a co-investigator on numerous planetary missions and has exerted a strong
influence on planetary science through international collaborations and training and inspiring
young scientists.
Harold C. Urey Prize – Rebekah Dawson
The 2020 Harold C. Urey Prize for outstanding achievement in planetary research by an
early career scientist goes to Dr. Rebekah Dawson (Pennsylvania State University) in
recognition of her groundbreaking research on planetary dynamics, the formation of
planetary systems, and the characterization of exoplanets on close-in orbits. In one of her
early works on understanding radial-velocity data for multi-planet systems, she re-analyzed
archival data for planet 55 Cancri e and discovered previous misinterpretations; in doing
so, she paved a path for future observations to correctly characterize both this exoplanet
and others. Rebekah exemplifies scientific leadership in her organization of prominent
conferences and her involvement in planning future NASA missions such as the Large
Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Telescope (LUVOIR).
Harold Masursky Award – Heidi B. Hammel
The 2020 Harold Masursky Award for meritorious service to planetary science goes to
Dr. Heidi B. Hammel (Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy) for her
extensive and impactful service, over nearly 30 years, on a diverse set of advisory boards,
editorial boards, panels, committees, task forces, and councils for professional organizations.
Heidi has a unique reputation as an advocate for the entire planetary science community,
often ensuring that observatories — including the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope —
and other facilities consider the full range of research opportunities pertinent to planetary
science. As a tireless proponent for exploration of the distant ice giants, both via Earth-based
astronomy and future interplanetary missions, Heidi provides a passionate voice for a broad
swathe of observers and theorists studying the outer solar system.
Carl Sagan Medal – Ray Jayawardhana
The DPS awards the 2020 Carl Sagan Medal to Dr. Ray Jayawardhana (Cornell University)
for outstanding contributions to the dissemination of planetary science research to the
general public. Ray (aka RayJay) has published four popular books to widespread acclaim,
one of which was the basis for an hourlong CBC TV documentary. His most recent book,
Child of the Universe, is aimed at kids and builds on the legacy of Carl Sagan by revealing
our deep and enduring links with the cosmos. Over three decades, Ray has written frequently
for many prestigious and widely read publications such as the New York Times, the Wall
Street Journal, The Economist, and Science. While reaching out to the general public,
Ray has remained a highly published and cited scientist and has been honored repeatedly
for his research accomplishments.
Jonathan Eberhart Planetary Science Journalism Award – Christopher Crockett
The 2020 Jonathan Eberhart Planetary Science Journalism Award for distinguished
popular writing goes to freelance writer Dr. Christopher Crockett. His winning article,
“How the Moon Landings Changed Our View of the Solar System,” was published
in Knowable magazine on July 16, 2019, during the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11
mission. Chris describes how the lunar samples returned by the Apollo astronauts
continue to transform our understanding of the evolution of the solar system. He
describes how the samples led to theories that include a period of planetary migration
and heavy bombardment on the Moon, and how recent studies cast doubt on these
theories. The article emphasizes the need for future lunar exploration and sample
return to answer outstanding questions about the solar system.
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DPS 2020 DEPENDENT CARE GRANTS
The DPS Susan Niebur Professional Development Fund provides financial assistance to
qualifying members of the DPS in order to facilitate their meeting participation by offsetting
dependent care costs (such as child care, elder care, spousal care, etc) at the meeting location,
or at home, during the DPS conference week. This includes dependent care expenses needed
to allow attendance and participation in the 2020 virtual DPS meeting. The DPS Professional
Development Subcommittee will accept applications for dependent care subsidies to assist an
eligible DPS member to participate in the 2020 DPS Meeting. The initial submission deadline
is Monday, September 14, 2020. The review of submissions will begin Tuesday September 15;
however, further requests will be accepted and reviewed, funding and eligibility permitting.
Please access the grant application form at https://dps.aas.org/development#grants .
Mark Gurwell, DPS Professional Development Subcommittee member
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DPS EDUCATION AND OUTREACH GRANTS – FINAL DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL AUGUST 15TH
The DPS Committee is offering small grants (average amounts of $200 to $500) to
support DPS members to engage in local and virtual education and public engagement
activities. These grants are intended to support DPS member efforts to engage other
members, students, teachers, and the public and can be used for materials, consumables,
equipment but not for salary or travel to DPS meetings. Proposals are being accepted
for programs that will occur by June 1, 2021. We encourage creative solutions for
engagement efforts that also conform to social-distancing requirements. If you have a
question about what is an acceptable cost, please contact the DPS Education and Outreach
Officer, Sanlyn Buxner, buxner@psi.edu. Proposals should be emailed to buxner@psi.edu
and you will receive an email confirmation.
Applications will be accepted until August 15, 2020. All proposals will be reviewed by
members of the DPS education committee and the executive committee. Complete
directions, including a scoring rubric, can be found at
https://dps.aas.org/education/education-outreach-grants/application
Please address any questions to buxner@psi.edu.
Sanlyn Buxner (Education and Public Outreach Officer) and
Brian Jackson (Deputy Education and Public Outreach Officer)
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NASA PLANETARY SCIENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (PAC) MEETING AUGUST 17-18
NASA’s Planetary Science Advisory Committee (PAC) will hold a virtual meeting
on Monday, August 17, 2020, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM EDT and Tuesday, August 18, 2020,
10:00 AM to 6:00 PM EDT. The agenda and connection information can be found here.
The meeting will be available telephonically and by WebEx.
To participate in this meeting by telephone on all days:
USA toll free conference call number 1-800-779-9966
OR toll conference call number 1-517-645-6359,
Passcode 5255996.
The WebEx link is https://nasaenterprise.webex.com/;
Meeting number is 901 917 366
Password (case sensitive) on both days: PAC@Aug17+18
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SOFIA CYCLE 9 CALLS FOR PROPOSALS AND WEBINAR
SOFIA Cycle 9 Calls for Proposals Released
The Proposal Calls for SOFIA Cycle 9 observations have been released with a
deadline of September 4, 2020, 21:00 PDT (September 5, 2020, 4:00 UTC). Detailed
information about the Cycle 9 calls can be found on our website.
Two Calls for Proposals are offered:
· A Call for regular programs, for which approximately 500 hours of observations
will be offered and funding up to $4M is expected to be available for eligible proposers
· A Call for the SOFIA Legacy Program, which enables programs producing a rich
archival dataset of significant scientific value to the astronomical community. Up to four
legacy proposals will be accepted, with each allocated up to ~200 hours of observing time
(~200 hours of observations per cycle in total). Funding is expected to be available at the
level of $2M per year.
All six instruments -- EXES, FIFI-LS, FORCAST, FPI+, GREAT, and HAWC+ --
will be available during the Cycle (July 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022). SOFIA plans
to offer three Southern deployments: two long deployments (July-September 2021 and
2022) offering GREAT and HAWC+, and a short deployment in March 2022 offering
FIFI-LS.
Proposals are to be submitted through the USPOT tool. The Help Desk is open to answer
any question and inquiry from the community: sofia_help@sofia.usra.edu.
Proposal Preparation Webinar: August 18, 8am-10:30am Pacific Time
On Tuesday August 18, 8am-10:30 am Pacific Time, a proposal Preparation Webinar
will be held on Webex. This webinar is intended to provide practical information to both
experienced and prospective SOFIA users on how to best design a scientifically and
technically strong SOFIA proposal for Cycle 9.
For each SOFIA instrument, science staff members will present realistic science examples
and demonstrate how to determine the necessary signal to noise, choose the observing
strategy, determine the observing time estimation with SITE and design the corresponding
Astronomy Observation Request with USPOT. A general presentation will introduce the
main science cases addressed by SOFIA, and the general capabilities of the instrument
suite, as well as the specific features offered during Cycle 9, including the Dual Anonymous Review
framework. There will be ample time for questions.
Please connect through this Webex link. The preliminary agenda and more connection
information are available here. Slides from the webinar and associated video tutorials for
the 2019 Proposal Tool webinar are available here.
New for SOFIA in Cycle 9
· Starting with Cycle 9, the observatory is adopting a policy of "two year" proposals:
accepted regular proposals with priority 2 and 3 will stay active in Cycle 9 and Cycle 10.
Priority 1 regular proposals and Legacy Proposals will continue to remain active until
completed.
· For Cycle 9, the observatory is implementing dual-anonymous review. Proposers
should now upload two distinct pdfs in their proposals, and not identify themselves in the
main body pdf file.
· The proprietary data period for Cycle 9 regular programs is six months rather than
twelve.
· For Cycle 9, legacy proposals are invited to participate in a two-step process whereby
pilot Cycle 9 observations will be performed prior to the decision on committing to a full
legacy program.
· “Survey” proposals, which propose to observe a small subset of a large number of
targets, are encouraged. “Such projects must specify and justify the minimum number of
targets necessary to complete the scientific objectives. The observatory plans to award up
to 100 hours for survey programs.
· Additional standard modes are offered: the new honeycomb OTF mapping mode for
GREAT and the new total power mode on FIFI-LS.
· The 63 microns (Band B) for HAWC and the new FIFI-LS on-the-fly mapping mode
is offered as shared risk.
· The two polarizations of the GREAT Low Frequency Array can now be set to two
different frequencies to allow for simultaneous observations of two different lines.
· Cycle 9 is potentially the last cycle in which FORCAST will be offered, depending
on funding and proposal pressure.
· Up to 20 hours will be reserved for programs supporting JWST Early Release Science.
· A joint proposal agreement with the Green Bank Observatory is now in place for Cycle 9.
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CALL FOR PAPERS TO A FOCUS ISSUE IN THE PLANETARY SCIENCE JOURNAL DEDICATED TO
PAPERS HIGHLIGHTING LANDED LUNAR MISSION CONCEPTS AND HIGH-PRIORITY LANDING SITES
*New extended due date for submissions: November 1, 2020.
Journal: Planetary Science Journal
Contact: Please direct questions to the Special Issue Coordinators: Barbara Cohen
(Barbara.A.Cohen@nasa.gov) and Maria Banks (maria.e.banks@nasa.gov).
Submission Instructions: Authors should submit their paper through the normal Planetary
Science Journal submission site (https://journals.aas.org/planetary-science-journal). When
submitting, please indicate the special issue: "Lunar Mission Concepts and High-Priority
Landing Sites” in the comments section.
Description of focus for the special issue:
In the last several years, the lunar community has submitted multiple detailed mission
proposals for amazing science we'd like to at the Moon, via Discovery, New Frontiers,
CLPS, and most recently, Planetary Mission Concepts for the Decadal Survey. We also
continue to collect high-quality lunar data via the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
and partner assets, illuminating new places where such missions could be safely and
productively deployed.
This special issue will be dedicated to papers highlighting lunar mission concepts, lunar
data analysis, and high-priority landing sites. A successful paper should bring together
elements of lunar data analysis (e.g. geology, site selection, new analyses, etc.), along
with a lunar mission or instrument/payload concept (science, instrumentation, mission
design, etc). Surface mission concepts should contain both a science justification for a
robotic (or human-assisted) mission, along with a detailed analysis of one or more candidate
landing sites to show the existence of a safe and interesting potential site for the mission
(e.g. geologic setting, slopes, hazards, rock abundance, maturity, etc.). Orbital mission
concepts should include new or updated lunar data analysis or interpretation that supports
the mission concept along with its science justification. Mission concepts need not be
highly mature, but should clearly describe the science case.
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ANNOUNCING THE EXOPLANET SOLAR SYSTEM (EXOSS) TUTORIAL TALK SERIES
We would like to invite the planetary science community to join a new ExoPAG
Science Interest Group (SIG3) effort to enhance interactions between the Exoplanet
and Solar System communities. We have established a monthly Tutorial Talk aimed
at introducing field newcomers to important topics or methods in planetary and
exoplanetary science. The talks will include a 30 minute tutorial from an expert
to introduce the topic, followed by a 30 minute group discussion of a recent paper
in which the topic/method features. Each talk will be recorded and made available
online to create a database for community engagement. Talks will meet the first
Thursday of the month at 11 AM PDT/ 2 PM EDT.
The first ExoSS Tutorial Talk was on August 6th at 11am PDT. The topic was
Volatile Solubilities in Rocks, by Laura Schaefer (Stanford), with a discussion of
Kite et al. (2020) Atmosphere Origins for Exoplanet Sub-Neptunes. The recording
for this talk can be found here.
All are welcome, so feel free to share this announcement and the link to the recording
of the first tutorial. Also feel free to suggest topics you'd like to hear future tutorials on.
Vikki Meadows, Mark Marley and Laura Schaefer are currently collecting suggestions
for future tutorials.
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Send submissions to:
Anne Verbiscer, DPS Secretary (dpssec@aas.org)
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