Issue 24-05, April 8, 2024
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- DPS 56TH MEETING – OCT 6-10 IN BOISE, IDAHO AND ONLINE
- CALL FOR DPS PRIZE NOMINATIONS
- ICE GIANT SYSTEMS SEMINAR SERIES
- PLANETARY SCIENCE INSTITUTE CEO POSITION
- NASA SMALL BODIES ASSESSMENT GROUP EARLY CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
- NEOWISE 2024 DATA RELEASE AVAILABLE MARCH 21, 2024
- MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE
- NASA PLANETARY SCIENCE DIVISION STATUS UPDATE ON EFFORTS IN RESPONSE TO THE PLANETARY DATA ECOSYSTEM INDEPENDENT REVIEW BOARD (PDE IRB) FINAL REPORT
- CURRENT TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR ICARUS AND THE PLANETARY SCIENCE JOURNAL
- JOBS, POSITIONS, AND OPPORTUNITIES
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DPS 56TH MEETING – OCT 6-10 IN BOISE, IDAHO AND ONLINE
Join us in the glorious Pacific Northwest for DPS 56. To be held both virtually and in person 6–10 October 2024 in Boise, Idaho, USA, this meeting will include options for remote participation and presentation. #DPS2024 promises to provide a lively environment, a jam-packed scientific schedule, and the chance to reconnect once again with colleagues and friends.
Registration and abstract submission will open soon. More can be found at the link below: https://dps.aas.org/meetings/current/
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CALL FOR DPS PRIZE NOMINATIONS
Deadline: April 15, 2024
Every year the DPS recognizes exceptional achievement in our field. Please consider nominating a respected colleague for one of the annual DPS prizes.
The DPS sponsors six prizes:
The Gerard P. Kuiper Prize [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/kuiper] recognizes and honors outstanding contributors to the field of planetary science.
The Claudia J. Alexander Prize [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/alexander] recognizes excellence and achievements by a mid-career scientist.
The Harold C. Urey Prize [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/urey] recognizes and encourages outstanding achievements in planetary research by an early-career scientist.
The Harold Masursky Award [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/masursky] recognizes and honors individuals who have rendered outstanding service to planetary science and exploration through – but not limited to – engineering, managerial, programmatic, editorial, or public service activities.
The Carl Sagan Medal [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/sagan] recognizes and honors outstanding communication by an active planetary scientist to the general public.
The Jonathan Eberhart Planetary Sciences Journalism Award [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/eberhart] recognizes and stimulates distinguished popular writing on planetary sciences.
DPS members and the planetary science community-at-large are encouraged to submit nominations for DPS prizes.
A complete nomination submitted by the deadline will be considered by the DPS Prize subcommittee for 3 years (i.e. for this year’s award, next year’s award, and the year after that), or for the duration of a candidate’s eligibility, whichever is less. Please fill out the nomination form [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/nomination-form], and it will be submitted to the prize subcommittee. The Eberhart Award has different rules and procedures than the other DPS Prizes, please see its page [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/eberhart-nomination-form] for more information.
Scroll to the bottom of https://dps.aas.org/prizes for rules and procedures.
Questions: Email [email protected]
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ICE GIANT SYSTEMS SEMINAR SERIES
Date/Time: April 9th, 11am ET
Speaker: Dr. Henrik Melin (University of Leicester)
Topic: The ever-changing ionosphere of Uranus
The Ice Giant Systems Seminar Series showcases recent developments in scientific topics covering all aspects of the ice giant systems, including atmospheres, satellites, rings, magnetic fields, interior structures, and science related to formation and evolution.
To access the virtual seminar, view the seminar schedule, and “Stay Informed”, visit the series website here: https://neptuneodyssey.jhuapl.edu/Events/
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PLANETARY SCIENCE INSTITUTE CEO POSITION
After more than 20 years, Mark Sykes will be stepping down as CEO and Director of the Planetary Science Institute at the end of 2025. Over that time, PSI has witnessed profound growth, from 18 PhDs and 32 total employees in 2003, to 134 PhDs and 186 employees in 35 states, the District of Columbia, and numerous international locations today. The reach of science conducted by PSI today covers all traditional areas of planetary science and is carving inroads into new areas of study enabled by the discovery of thousands of new worlds around other stars in our galaxy, and by the increasingly granular information being returned in the exploration of worlds in our own Solar System, including Earth. PSI scientists are committed to sharing the resultant knowledge with the public at large to promote science education and science literacy. They engage the public in the process of science and are ambassadors to communities where science is often viewed skeptically. By the breadth and quality of its science staff, PSI is one of the pre-eminent planetary research institutes in the world. The new CEO is expected to provide visionary scientific leadership and facilitate a new era of scientific accomplishment by the Institute.
PSI is a very interconnected community of scientists, educators, and Institute staff. We help each other to be successful in our professional and even personal endeavors. We celebrate each other’s accomplishments and support each other in adversity. The CEO, by example and action, helps to foster this Institutional culture. The Institute has a broadly horizontal organizational structure, in which the CEO engages all staff without bureaucratic barriers. The CEO is a strong advocate on behalf of our scientists and other employees to secure and sustain external funding. The CEO supports the ambitions of our employees.
We have a very dedicated and accomplished administrative staff with whom the CEO works every day. As a deeply experienced scientist, the CEO can anticipate and assess the impacts to scientists of contemplated administrative actions and policies in real time. All PSI employees are given voice to the decision-making process on critical-path policies and procedures, including in choosing the next CEO.
We are committed and look forward to a smooth transition. To ensure continuity, the future CEO will be initially hired as Deputy CEO, to work with Mark for up to 6 months to acclimatize to the dynamic environment of the job, understand the workflows across all departments, learn our regulatory environment, and build connections and confidence across the entire Institute. Everyone looks forward to engaging and supporting the new CEO as that person takes the Institute into a vibrant future.
If you are interested in this position, please see the posting at:
https://www.psi.edu/about/jobs/
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NASA SMALL BODIES ASSESSMENT GROUP EARLY CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
The upcoming NASA Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG) Meeting #31 will be held Jul. 11 – 12, 2024 virtually. There will be multiple opportunities at this meeting specifically for the early career small body community to participate, including invited early career speakers and lightning talks.
Applications for invited talks and lightning talks are due via email by COB (5 pm Eastern Time) April 19, 2024. Applications will be evaluated based on relevance to the purposes of SBAG, how the applicant plans to contribute to the meeting, and the extent to which the opportunity will advance the applicant’s career. Interested early-career researchers should submit a cover letter and a two-page Curriculum Vitae (CV) to SBAG Early Career Secretary Darryl Seligman ([email protected]) and the SBAG Chair Lori Feaga ([email protected]).
Please refer to the meeting webpage here for further details regarding the application requirements: https://www.lpi.usra.edu/sbag/meetings/
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NEOWISE 2024 DATA RELEASE AVAILABLE MARCH 21, 2024
The Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) and IPAC at the California Institute of Technology announce the NEOWISE 2024 Data Release.
The 2024 Data Release includes data acquired during the tenth year of the NEOWISE Reactivation mission (Mainzer et al. 2014, ApJ, 792, 30), 13 December 2022 to 13 December 2023. These data are combined with the Year 1-9 data into a single archive that contains ~25.3 million sets of 3.4 and 4.6 micron images and a database of ~189 billion source detections extracted from those images.
NEOWISE scanned the sky nearly twenty complete times during the first ten years of survey operations, with approximately six months between survey passes. Twelve or more independent exposures are made on each point of the sky during each survey epoch making the NEOWISE archive a time-domain resource for extracting multiple, independent thermal flux and position measurements of solar system small bodies and background galactic and extragalactic sources.
A guide to the NEOWISE data release, data access instructions, and supporting documentation are available at http://wise2.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/release/neowise/. Access to the NEOWISE data products is available via the on-line and API services of the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA) at https://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu.
NEOWISE is a joint project of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology and the University of Arizona, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Planetary Science Division.
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MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE
The Planetary Science Journal (PSJ) funds itself with publication charges (formerly `page charges’ back when physical pages were a thing), but we recognize that such fees can be an impediment to DPS members submitting their papers to the journal. Therefore, the AAS offers publication support to assist in covering publications fees for cases where authors are unable to pay. The publication support is based on need, not merit, and therefore if you click the box to request consideration for publication support when you submit a manuscript to PSJ then having done so will not affect the peer-review process or evaluation of your paper.
Evaluation, publication, and curation of papers does cost money, and so if you have grant money then paying for publication charges is expected. But if for whatever reason you find yourself unable to publish in PSJ solely due to cost, then please do not hesitate to request support. You
can read more in this letter from the AAS Editor-in-Chief here:
https://baas.aas.org/pub/2023i026/release/1
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NASA PLANETARY SCIENCE DIVISION STATUS UPDATE ON EFFORTS IN RESPONSE TO THE PLANETARY DATA ECOSYSTEM INDEPENDENT REVIEW BOARD (PDE IRB) FINAL REPORT
In the fall of 2020, the NASA Planetary Science Division chartered the Planetary Data Ecosystem Independent Review Board (PDE IRB) to conduct a wholistic review of the PDE, which is defined as the ad hoc connected framework of activities and products that are built upon and support the data collected by planetary space missions and research programs, which primarily are NASA funded. The PDE IRB delivered its final report in April 2021.
The Planetary Science Division has performed an internal evaluation of actions and efforts in support of addressing the findings and recommendations in the PDE IRB final report. A summary of efforts towards developing a more connected and effective PDE is documented in a status report (see below links). This report describes efforts that have been completed from April 2021 to September 2023.
This status report can be viewed at: https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-science/data/pde-irb/ Direct link: https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/psd-pde-irb-response-v1-20240228.pdf
Comments and feedback on this document are welcome and encouraged. Please email the NASA Headquarters PDE Team with any comments, additional information, or corrections at [email protected].
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CURRENT TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR ICARUS AND THE PLANETARY SCIENCE JOURNAL
The current issues for both DPS-affiliated journals are here:
Icarus:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/icarus/vol/412/suppl/C
The Planetary Science Journal:
https://iopscience.iop.org/issue/2632-3338/5/4
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JOBS, POSITIONS, AND OPPORTUNITIES
Job seekers and employers are encouraged to browse DPS’s job listings and advertise open positionsfor free **for free**.
Recent openings and opportunities are listed below and more are at the link above.
- Lunar Postdoc Position at JPL
Job description: The postdoctoral research associate will work with Dr. Catherine Elder to investigate the surface of the Moon. Specifically, they will use data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment (Diviner) to constrain the thermophysical properties of the surface. Areas of particular interest include volcanism, and the breakdown of rocks and the evolution of regolith. Additionally, the postdoctoral researcher will supervise undergraduate interns. The interns will use LRO Camera (LROC) images to count boulders surrounding cold-spot craters to assess spatial variability in the subsurface rock content of the Moon.
Qualifications: Applicants with a PhD in planetary science, physics, geology, astronomy, or any related field are encouraged to apply. Experience with some or all of the following is helpful but not required:
- Supervising students
- Using remote sensing data
- Using ArcGIS
- Numerical modeling
Interested applicants can apply here https://citjpl.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/Jobs/job/JPL-Campus/Postdoc–Understanding-lunar-surface-processes-using-LRO-Diviner_R4872
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Send submissions to: Denise Stephens, DPS Secretary, at this address [email protected]
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