Issue 25-06, Mar 19, 2025
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- DIVISION FOR PLANETARY SCIENCES COMMITTEE 2025 ADVOCACY
- AAS POLICY TEAM ACTION ALERT
- RENEW YOUR AAS AND DPS MEMBERSHIP
- SPECIAL AAS WEBINAR: ADVOCACY FOR THE ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCES
- CHOIR MUTUAL AID FOR ASTROPHYSICS & SPACE SCIENCES
- DPS COMMITTEE SEEKS PRESS OFFICER APPLICANTS TO BEGIN TERM IN SEPTEMBER 2025
- CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: PROGRESS IN UNDERSTANDING THE PLUTO SYSTEM: 10 YEARS AFTER FLYBY CONFERENCE
- 6TH ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY FOR THE CHEOPS GUEST OBSERVERS PROGRAM
- PLANETARY PROTECTION SESSION AT COSPAR 2025 SYMPOSIUM IN CYPRUS
- STEM FACULTY PARTICIPANTS NEEDED FOR SURVEY
- 2025 PI LAUNCHPAD: FROM SCIENCE IDEA TO NASA MISSION IN PERSON WORKSHOP
- IN MEMORIAM OF JOSEPH BURNS SUBMITTED BY ICARUS
- NEW HORIZONS SCIENCE SPOTLIGHT WEBINAR
- SMASHING IT: HOW IMPACTS FORGE FORMATION, DYNAMICS, AND CLIMATES OF (EXO)PLANETS, JUNE 3-5, 2025, UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
- 2025B NASA IRTF CALL FOR PROPOSALS
- INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON INSTRUMENTATION FOR PLANETARY MISSIONS
- POST-BACCALAURATEATE POSITIONS IN ASTROPHYSICS SCIENCE AND SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION DIVISIONS AT NASA/GSFC DUE MARCH 31, 2025
- PLANETARY RESEARCH: OPEN CALL FOR EDITORS
- CURRENT TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THE PLANETARY SCIENCE JOURNAL AND ICARUS
- JOBS, POSITIONS, AND OPPORTUNITIES
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DIVISION FOR PLANETARY SCIENCES COMMITTEE 2025 ADVOCACY
In early March 2025, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) Committee completed a series of annual visits to Capitol Hill to discuss planetary science community priorities and funding. This year’s advocacy documents (one-pager and letter) are publicly available here: https://dps.aas.org/public_policy/communicating-congress/.
During the numerous meetings with Congressional offices, we discussed the impact of recent Executive Orders and other Presidential Administration directives on the planetary science community, and in particular for NASA and NSF. We emphasized the need to maintain U.S. leadership in space exploration and continued education about the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey, among other topics. Our messaging was well received this year by the Congress, and will be followed by continued advocacy of the AAS DPS Federal Relations Subcommittee (FRS) in early May 2025.
Athena Coustenis, DPS committee Chair ([email protected])
Angela M. Dapremont, AAS DPS FRS Chair ([email protected])
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AAS POLICY TEAM ACTION ALERT
On March 5, the AAS Policy Team issued a new Action Alert for our members to submit FY 2026 appropriations request forms for their senators and representatives. These forms are an important way for representatives to gauge what their constituents care about most.Our topline asks are for NASA SMD ($9B), NSF ($9.9B), and the DOE Office of Science ($9.5B). Please note that every representative’s request form will close at different times, but most deadlines are in March. There is a spreadsheet here where you can check on the status of your representative’s request form.
Please note that in February the AAS also issued an original Action Alert for general support of the space sciences using our grassroots-level advocacy platform. The platform allows people to quickly craft a message and/or talking points that can easily be sent to their senators and representatives via call or email. (It would be best to use the suggested text as a start, and customize it as an email to your congressional representative, whose email address you can find here.)
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RENEW YOUR AAS AND DPS MEMBERSHIP
The DPS Committee and the AAS staff and community thank you for being an AAS/DPS member last year. For those who have not yet renewed for 2025, it’s not too late!
If you are unsure of your membership status, it’s easy to check. Go to my.aas.org and log in with your AAS username and password. Look for the framed Profile-at-a-Glance section on the right and confirm the Paid through date. If it’s 31 December 2024 or earlier, it’s time to renew.
If you have questions about your benefits or need assistance with your login or renewal, please email the membership team or call (202) 328-2010 x109. You can also send an e-mail to dpssec.org
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SPECIAL AAS WEBINAR: ADVOCACY FOR THE ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCES
Wednesday, 19 March 2025, 1:00-2:00 pm ET
Learn from the AAS public policy team about how you can take action to support the astronomical sciences! In this one-hour webinar, we will provide an overview of how Congress works, discuss how you can schedule Zoom or in-district meetings with your congressional offices to advocate on issues that are important to astronomy, and provide tips and best practices for these meetings.
Register here : https://aas-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2XmO3DfgRjm370ZUHgg06w#/registration
Even if you can’t attend the webinar, take a few minutes today to engage in advocacy through the AAS action alerts, and reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions!
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CHOIR MUTUAL AID FOR ASTROPHYSICS & SPACE SCIENCES
In direct response to the federal funding freeze outlined by OMB Memorandum M-25-13 and any ensuing directives imposed by the current administration which may prove harmful to our space sciences community, the choir collaboration is establishing a mutual aid program to offer financial assistance to those who are negatively impacted. Many of our colleagues in physics, astronomy, and planetary sciences may find themselves without a paycheck due to these orders.
To stand with our community in physics, astronomy, and planetary science currently affected by federal grant funding freezes and cancellations (e.g., the NSF funding freeze), we with support from Black In Astro, the Astro Poverty Survey, and Movement Consulting have organized a mutual aid initiative for our colleagues. Please join us in supporting our community by giving aid, or requesting aid.
https://www.choircollaboration.com/mutual-aid
Thank you for joining us in solidarity, hope, and building a community of care.
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DPS COMMITTEE SEEKS PRESS OFFICER APPLICANTS TO BEGIN TERM IN SEPTEMBER 2025
The Press Officer will serve a three-year term starting at the EPSC-DPS meeting in September 2025 but will start shadowing the current Press Officer imminently. The Press Officer will coordinate the DPS press conferences at the annual meetings as well as prize press releases. Candidates should be a full DPS member as of September 2025. Any questions about the position can be sent to [email protected]
If you’re interested, please send a CV and a brief statement of interest to [email protected]
Officer responsibilities are listed here: https://dps.aas.org/leadership/officer-responsibilities
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CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: PROGRESS IN UNDERSTANDING THE PLUTO SYSTEM: 10 YEARS AFTER FLYBY CONFERENCE
NASA’s New Horizons mission conducted the first and only exploration flyby of the Pluto system, culminating at the closest approach on July 14, 2015. This meeting (see https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/plutosystem2025/) will assess advances regarding all aspects of the Pluto system and other dwarf planets of the Kuiper Belt made since then, using New Horizons and all other data (ground-based, JWST, HST, etc.), as well as through theory and modeling. Session topics include: Pluto; Charon; Pluto’s Small Satellites; Kuiper Belt Dwarf Planets; Pluto and Satellite System Origins; and Past and Future Exploration of Pluto, the Kuiper Belt, and the Outer Solar System.
The conference will be held July 14–18, 2025 at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. Abstracts for both oral and poster presentations are being accepted through April 18th at 5 pm CDT. Oral papers can be given in person or virtually. Registration will last until the end of the meeting, with an early bird deadline for a reduced registration rate. Optional events are available for meeting attendees.
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6TH ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY FOR THE CHEOPS GUEST OBSERVERS PROGRAM
We are pleased to announce that the 6th CHEOPS Guest Observers Announcement of Opportunity is now open. Please find attached the letter from the ESA Director of Science.
Key Dates: The AO-6 Call is now open and is foreseen to close on the 8 May 2025 (12:00 CEST).
Observing Cycle: The selected proposals will be part of the observing cycle from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026. This period marks the last year of the first mission extension of CHEOPS.
Scientific Opportunities: CHEOPS provides observers with access to space-based pointed ultra-high precision photometry. Research areas include the observations of exoplanet transits, eclipses, occultations, and phase curves. Furthermore, the scientific scope may extend to any time-domain phenomena including, but not limited to, variable stars, super-nova remnants or any other astronomical transient phenomena.
Collaborative Synergies: The timely overlap of several space- and ground-based missions may provide exciting opportunities for synergies with NASA/ESA/CSA JWST, NASA/ESA HST, NASA TESS, ESO ground-based facilities, and more.
Scope: The AO-6 and the DP calls are open to the worldwide scientific community, regardless of nationality or institutional affiliation. Undergraduate and PhD students are eligible if it is guaranteed that their supervisor can provide sufficient guidance throughout the proposal. Proposers may request as much time as scientifically needed in a single proposal. Large observing programmes which will produce high-value datasets are encouraged.
Modern and user friendly:
- More targets: only 50 GTO reserved targets, with all the rest being open to the entire community
- More time: up to 30% science observing time (around 1500 orbits) dedicated to the GO Programme
- Double-anonymous peer-review of proposals
- Zero-installation tools: cloud-based visibility and ETC web tools
- Community contributions of many useful tools
Live hands-on tutorials: We foresee to run hands-on tutorials on March and April 2025 at various time-zones to guide you through the proposal preparation and submission process and answer all your questions. Please register at the link below if you would like to attend or watch the recordings:
Find out more about the CHEOPS mission via https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/cheops, read the Letter from the ESA Director of Science, and stay up-to-date about this opportunity via https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/cheops-guest-observers-programme
Feel free to email us with any questions. We look forward to receiving your observing proposals and advancing our understanding of exoplanetary and stellar systems.
Happy proposing!
Contact: [email protected]
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PLANETARY PROTECTION SESSION AT COSPAR 2025 SYMPOSIUM IN CYPRUS
3-7 November 2025: call for abstracts (deadline: 4 April)
Dear colleague,
Please consider submitting an abstract and attending the COSPAR Symposium in Cyprus (Nikosia, Νικοσία) : 3-7 November 2025. The deadline for submitting abstracts is 4 April 2025.
See information hereafter, but note that we will have a Special Session (PPP.1) for Planetary Protection. When you submit an abstract, please login and choose Scientific Event PPP.1.
This session will include reports on recent COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection (PPP) activities, planetary protection studies by scientists and agencies, and colloquia/workshops with relevance to planetary protection and in general and the COSPAR Policy and implementation guidelines. The overall Policy perspective will be presented, as well as recent adaptations and updates of the Policy proposed by the PPP and validated by the COSPAR Bureau, as based on documented research and recent findings. Further, this session will cover reports on the planetary protection implementation and status of launched, ongoing and planned missions. Focus will be placed on techniques, measurements and procedures applied to spacecraft, payloads, and ground facilities to implement forward and backward planetary protection. The session will also include discussions on lessons learnt from implementing planetary protection guidelines throughout mission and industrial organisations. Finally, this session will include reports on planetary protection research and development activities of all kinds, particularly those involving challenging scientific endeavors, such as life detection and contamination testing. We will encourage presentations of research on new approaches in planetary protection as they apply to both robotic and human missions.
If you wish to submit an abstract and have not already done so, please attend to this matter at your earliest convenience and no later than 4 April, 23:59. Information concerning the scientific program and abstract submission is at:
https://www.cospar-assembly.org
Registration, accommodation, and logistical information is at:
We are looking forward to seeing many of you at this important international meeting.
Best regards,
Athena Coustenis and Niklas Hedman.
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STEM FACULTY PARTICIPANTS NEEDED FOR SURVEY
My name is Dr. Katie Muenks and I am a researcher in the Educational Psychology department at UT-Austin looking for college-level instructors who are teaching at least one undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) course in Spring 2025 to participate in a 15-minute survey on their beliefs about learning and teaching and their teaching practices (see attached flier for more details).
Participants will receive a $15 Amazon gift card.
If the hyperlink above did not work, you may copy/paste the following web address into a browser: https://tinyurl.com/UTStemFacSurvey25
I very much appreciate your time and consideration, as this research will help to develop future programs aimed at improving STEM education for all students. Please feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected] with any questions. Thank you so much!
Sincerely,
Katie Muenks
Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, UT-Austin
Website: https://sites.edb.utexas.edu/lamb/
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2025 PI LAUNCHPAD: FROM SCIENCE IDEA TO NASA MISSION IN PERSON WORKSHOP
Important Dates:
Applications due: April 7, 2025 11:59 PM Eastern Time
Application Instructions and Submission URL: https://go.nasa.gov/ApplyPILP25
Application Number: NNH25ZDA009L
Pre-application Virtual Information Session: February 20, 2025 2 PM Eastern Time
Workshop Dates: August 11-14, 2025
Workshop Location: Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA
Are you thinking about developing your first flight mission proposal in the next few years but have no idea where to start? Are you working or studying in any NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) discipline? If you are a scientist who would like to submit a NASA space mission proposal in the next few years but don’t know where to start, this August workshop is for you! We are interested in expanding the pool of potential NASA space mission Principal Investigators (PIs). There is no fee to attend the in-person workshop.
PI Launchpad applications and instructions on eligibility and how to apply are available on the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) https://nspires.nasaprs.com. All applications must be submitted via NSPIRES. To submit an application, an NSPIRES account is required. To create an NSPIRES account, visit https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/registration/createuser!init.do.
Please email questions to the 2025 NASA PI Launch Pad Organizers at this shared address [email protected]. Do NOT submit ANY applications or other attachments to this email address. Emails with attachments will be deleted.
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IN MEMORIAM OF JOSEPH BURNS SUBMITTED BY ICARUS
Joseph A. Burns, Ph.D. ’66, emeritus professor of engineering and astronomy, former vice provost and dean of the Cornell faculty, and Editor of Icarus from 1978 to 1998, died Feb. 26 in Ithaca, New York, United States of America. He was 83.
Joseph Arthur Burns was born on March 22, 1941, in Queens, New York, and grew up in the village of Cold Spring on the Hudson River north of New York City. In 1962, he earned a bachelor’s degree in naval architecture and marine engineering at the Webb Institute on Long Island. Coming of age at the height of the space race, Burns decided to redirect his physics, engineering and applied math skills from shipbuilding to the burgeoning field of celestial mechanics.
Upon earning his PhD at Cornell University, Burns conducted postdoctoral research at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and then joined the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics at Cornell. He eventually held joint appointments as the Irving Porter Church Professor of Engineering and professor of astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences, teaching and training students interested in the dynamics of both spacecraft and natural bodies in the solar system.
Burns’ approach and scholarship earned him invitations to serve on NASA and National Research Council advisory panels, and on the imaging teams for multiple planetary exploration missions – notably on NASA’s Galileo mission to Jupiter, the NASA/ESA Cassini mission studying Saturn and its rings and satellites, and the European Space Agency-led Rosetta comet mission. In 1998 he also participated in the discovery of the first two known irregular moons of Uranus.
A former vice president of the American Astronomical Society and chair of its Division for Planetary Sciences, Burns received several NASA achievement awards for his research and was named an honorary fellow of Britain’s Royal Astronomical Society, among many honors. In 1978 he became editor of the planetary science journal Icarus – a role he took over from Carl Sagan and held until 1998. At this time, he was the sole editor, managing the communication with authors and reviewers for all manuscripts with the help of long-time editorial assistant, Cheryl Hall. For most of this double-decadal period, manuscripts were submitted on paper and all communications were by letters, sent by regular mail. This was huge amount of work. Burns helped shape the focus and publishing standards of the journal, making Icarus the reference journal in the field.
Icarus will soon publish a review of the scientific and editorial accomplishments of its beloved historical Editor.
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NEW HORIZONS SCIENCE SPOTLIGHT WEBINAR (Time-zone Correction)
Join us on 27 March 2025, 2:30-3pm EDT (11:30-12 PDT,12:30-1pm MDT, 1:30-2pm CDT)
New Horizons continues its operation, now at 61au from the Sun. Since 2015 it has made ground-breaking discoveries of the Pluto-Charon system, flown past the small contact KBO binary Arrokoth and collected phase and light curve data for some three-dozen additional KBOs and the ice giants. It has also been sampling dust density throughout the Solar
System and studying the cosmic optical background. To raise awareness of New Horizon’s scientific impact we are beginning a new spotlight seminar series (30 min, fourth week each month) which we invite you to attend online, or watch recorded at your convenience.
Our speaker will be Simon Porter of Southwest Research Institute and he will be speaking on: “Measuring the Shapes of Kuiper Belt Objects With New Horizons Photometry”
Connection Link:
https://zoom.us/j/97317697636?pwd=MTAzMjJmNThTeFppR3JoYzlkUXVCQT09
Meeting ID: 973 1769 7636
Passcode: 802327
Calendar for future seminars:
Recordings are archived and posted at:
https://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/index.php#Spotlight-Presentations
For questions, contact New Horizons CoI Susan Benecchi, [email protected]
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SMASHING IT: HOW IMPACTS FORGE FORMATION, DYNAMICS, AND CLIMATES OF
(EXO)PLANETS, JUNE 3-5, 2025, UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
We invite you to join us at the international conference “Smashing It: How Impacts Forge Formation, Dynamics, and Climates of (Exo)Planets” at the University of Leeds, UK. The meeting will be held from Tuesday, June 3 to Thursday, June 5, 2025.
This workshop will bring together about 50 researchers exploring how impacts influence the formation, dynamics, and habitability of rocky (exo)planets. The program will feature a balanced schedule of contributed talks from experts in astronomy, planetary science, geoscience, meteoritics, and laboratory experiments.
To apply to attend this meeting and find more details regarding the scope, program, venue, and other practicalities, please visit our website:
https://sites.google.com/view/wg4workshop/home
The final deadline for all applications will be March 30, 2025. We expect more than 50 applications due to the broad scope of this meeting and the SOC will apply a selection procedure. This is why it is an “application” to the meeting rather than a “registration.”
Do not book nor organise any travel/accommodation until you have confirmation of acceptance of your application to attend the meeting.
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2025B NASA IRTF CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The due date for the 2025B semester IRTF proposals (August 1, 2025 to January 31, 2026) is Tuesday, April 1, 2025. See our online submission form Submitting the Observing Time Application Form to the IRTF, which is available for proposal submission from 12:00 AM on March 01, 2025 until 5:00 PM on April 01, 2025 HST. Available instruments include: (1) SpeX, a 0.7 – 5.3 micron cross-dispersed medium-resolution spectrograph (up to R=2,500) and imager; (2) MORIS, a 512×512 pixel Andor CCD camera (60″x60″ field-of-view) mounted at the side-facing window of the SpeX cryostat that can be used simultaneously with SpeX; (3) iSHELL, a 1.06 – 5.3 micron cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph (up to R=80,000) and imager; (4) MIRSI/MOC, a 5-20 micron camera and grism spectrograph, and optical imager; (5) ‘Opihi, a wide-angle finder mounted to and aligned with IRTF. Information on available facility and visitor instruments and performance can be found at: https://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/instruments. Exposure time calculators for SpeX and iSHELL are available on the respective instrument webpages.
Please see https://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/observing/callforproposals/index.php for the full text.
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INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON INSTRUMENTATION FOR PLANETARY MISSIONS
4-6 August, 2025
Please save the date for the 2025 International Workshop for Planetary Instrumentation (IPM-2025), which will be hosted by LASP in Boulder, Colorado, on August 4-6. This workshop will convene scientists, engineers and students to discuss instrumentation and enabling
technologies that are necessary to address key questions in planetary science.
The IPM-2025 will have dedicated sessions on the Uranus Orbiter and Probe, Asteroid Exploration, and Lunar Exploration Opportunities, in addition to general sessions on planetary instrumentation and enabling technologies. Abstract submission will open in mid-March.
Contact: [email protected]
Previous workshops:
https://ssed.gsfc.nasa.gov/IPM
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POST-BACCALAUREATE POSITIONS IN ASTROPHYSICS SCIENCE AND SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION DIVISIONS AT NASA/GSFC DUE MARCH 31, 2025
Applications are now being accepted for short-term postbaccalaureate research positions to support the Astrophysics Science and Solar System Exploration Divisions at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA/GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD.
The position is funded by the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) through the Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology II (CRESST II). The Astrophysics Science Division conducts a broad program of research in astronomy, astrophysics, and fundamental physics. Individual investigations address issues such as the nature of dark matter and dark energy, which planets outside our solar system may harbor life, and the nature of space, time, and matter at the edges of black holes. The Solar System Exploration Division conducts theoretical and experimental research to explore the solar system and understand the formation and evolution of planetary systems. Laboratories within the division investigate areas as diverse as astrochemistry, planetary atmospheres, geochemistry, geophysics, geodynamics, space geodesy, extrasolar planetary systems, and comparative planetary studies. Positions available within the Astrophysics Science and Solar System Exploration Divisions span a variety of research areas. Successful candidates will be chosen to work on one of the research projects listed here:
To apply, each applicant should submit a cover letter describing personal background and interest in the applicants’ chosen project, Curriculum Vitae, unofficial transcript, and contact information for two references to each project of interest through the CRESST II Breezy application platform. After sponsors review applications, additional support materials may be requested which may include a work sample in the form of a report, poster, journal article, writing sample, or coding examples.
The deadline to apply is Monday, March 31st, 2025, at 11:59pm EDT.
More information on the CRESST-II Post-bac Program can be found here: https://cresst2.umd.edu/opportunities/Postbac_program_Opp.html
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PLANETARY RESEARCH: OPEN CALL FOR EDITORS
Planetary Research is a diamond open access journal that is being developed by the planetary science community. The journal will have no article processing fees for authors and all articles will be free to access without a subscription. The journal, run as part of a non-profit organization, will operate with a transparent governance and will promote the work it publishes to the scientific community and the general public alike. Manuscript submissions are expected to open in January 2026.
The journal seeks candidates for the editorial board, including the editor-in-chief, editors, and associate editors. Interested candidates should provide a CV, a publication list, and a short letter motivating their interest in the position to the chair of the search committee ([email protected]) before July 1, 2025. Additional information about the journal and the open positions can be found on our website : https://planetary-research.org/.
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CURRENT TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THE PLANETARY SCIENCE JOURNAL AND ICARUS
The current issues for both DPS-affiliated journals are here:
The Planetary Science Journal:
Issue 3 – Volume 6 – The Planetary Science Journal – IOPscience
Icarus:
Icarus | Vol 429, In progress (15 March 2025) | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier
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JOBS, POSITIONS, AND OPPORTUNITIES
Job seekers and employers are encouraged to browse DPS’s job listings and advertise open positions **for free** on the DPS job board.
Full details for several new positions can be found on the DPS job board.
A summary of recent job announcements and postdoc opportunities are listed below.
- Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor Lead Scientist – Due Apr 11, 2025
IPAC at Caltech invites applications for the Lead Scientist of the team that is developing the Survey Data System for NASA’s Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission. As Lead Scientist you will work closely with the IPAC/NEOS Task Lead and System Architect to guide the overall development, test, and operation of the NEO Surveyor Survey Data Systems (NSDS) at IPAC.
- ESA Archival Research Visitor Programme – Due Apr 30, 2025
To increase the scientific return from its space science missions, the European Space Agency (ESA) welcomes applications from scientists interested in pursuing research projects based on data publicly available in the ESA Space Science Archives (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/esdc).
The ESA Archival Research Visitor Programme is open to scientists, at all career levels, affiliated with institutes in ESA Member States and Collaborating States, although we will also consider strong applications from outside those states. Early-career scientists (within 10 years of the PhD) and PhD students are particularly encouraged to apply. We encourage applications from women and minorities. The peer-review evaluation process is anonymised to ensure equal opportunities for all applicants.
Applications received before 1 May 2025 will be considered for visits in autumn and winter 2025/2026.
For further details, including areas of research and contact information, please refer to:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/esdc/visitor-programme or write to the programme coordinators at [email protected]
- Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor Survey Scientist – Due Mar 29, 2025
NASA’s Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor is a planned mission (launch: September 2027) with a goal of finding, identifying, and characterizing potentially hazardous asteroids in our Solar System. The Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences is an academic unit within the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences.
The NEO Surveyor survey scientist’s high-level responsibilities include:
- Assist the Principal Investigator and Science Team in developing the NEO Surveyor survey plan, which determines where the Observatory points as a function of time.
- Interface with the NEO Surveyor Science Data System (NSDS) archive to access NEO Surveyor image and catalog data, and work with the NSDS team to maximize the ability to link individual NEO Surveyor detections of small body candidates.
- Interface with the NEO Surveyor mission system team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Astrophysics and Space Physics (LASP), and ensure that the teams at JPL and LASP produce uplink sequences that match the desired survey plan.
- Interface with the Minor Planet Center to ensure that the survey plan produces the best possible orbits for small body candidates detected by NEO Surveyor.
More information on the position, including qualifications, compensation range, benefits and how to apply are provided in the full position description: https://jobs.ucla.edu/jobs/6856
- Postdoctoral Research Associate: (Exo)planetary Atmosphere – University of Arizona Lunar & Planetary Laboratory – Due Mar 24, 2025
The Lunar & Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona has an opening for a Postdoctoral Research Associate I in the field of modeling of planetary atmospheres. Research areas of interest include atmospheric escape from rocky planets, chemical kinetics of early Earth, Venus, Mars, and analogous exoplanets, and interior-atmosphere interactions on rocky worlds; candidates are encouraged to reach out to Prof. Ranjan in advance of their application to cooperatively identify specific research topics of mutual interest. Applicants should have previous experience modeling the atmospheres of planets or exoplanets, although a variety of backgrounds may be relevant. Candidates with expertise in 1D hydrodynamic escape of rocky planet atmospheres are especially encouraged to apply. The position is for a period of up to three years, renewable annually contingent on satisfactory performance reviews.
Position is opened until filled, and first review of applications will begin 03/24/2025. UA LPL is a world-class department and a very stimulating environment. We have strong connections to missions and the next generation of telescopes, as well as to our colleagues in Astronomy and Geoscience. Tucson is a great place to live, with excellent hiking, great food, and a low cost of living. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Prof. Ranjan with any questions!
Link to position description and application: https://arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/21927
- Supervisors, Astrobiology Section and Asteroids and Rocky Small Bodies Section, JHUAPL
The Small Bodies and Ocean Worlds group in the Space Exploration Sector of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) seeks supervisors for its Astrobiology Section and its Asteroids and Rocky Small Bodies Section. The Astrobiology Section focuses on potentially habitable environments beyond Earth, laboratory studies of Earth analogs, development of instrumentation for detection of extraterrestrial biosignatures, and missions including Europa Clipper and Dragonfly that investigate environments of astrobiological interest. The Asteroids and Rocky Small Bodies Section focuses on the chemistry, physics, and geology of rocky small bodies, physical processes that affect their surfaces, development of spaceflight instrumentation to study them, and the study of meteorites that sample them.
The desired candidates will have: a doctorate in a physical or biological science relevant to the work in their section; an accomplished research program; excellent people skills; and excellent written and oral communications skills. They will be expected to provide leadership and mentorship to the half-dozen members of the section, and participate in a variety of strategic efforts.
Applications for the Astrobiology Section may be submitted at https://careers.jhuapl.edu/jobs/56619?lang=en-us and for the Asteroids and Rocky Small Bodies Section at https://careers.jhuapl.edu/jobs/56655?lang=en-us
Applications will close Monday, March 31, 2025.
- Senior Application Developer Caltech/IPAC – Application Deadline Mar 31, 2025
PAC at Caltech has an opening for a Senior Applications Developer with a strong background in Unix software development to lead the Data Systems development team at the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA). As lead of IRSA’s Data Systems Team, you will manage the activities of a group of IRSA scientists and developers who share the overarching goal of supporting community science with archival IRSA and other NASA data sets. Your development work may involve processing astrophysics space mission data, containerization & cloud technologies, large scale databases, and petabyte-scale storage. You will also work with scientists and other developers to help interpret and implement project requirements and document the work that you’ve accomplished.
Link to the full job description: https://dps.aas.org/senior-application-developer/
- Full-time staff scientist to work with Roman team at IPAC
IPAC, part of the Physics, Math, and Astronomy Division at Caltech, provides science operations, user support, data and archive services, and scientific vision to enhance discovery with observatories both in space and on the ground. IPAC invites applications from highly qualified individuals for a full-time position at the junior scientist level to work with the Roman team at IPAC.
The Roman Space Telescope is a NASA observatory designed to address key questions in the areas of dark energy, exoplanets, and infrared astrophysics. It is slated for launch in late 2026. The Roman Science Support Center (SSC) at IPAC is part of the Roman Ground Data System, providing algorithm and software development and data processing for the Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey and all Roman spectroscopic data. In addition, the SSC will support the operations of the Coronagraph Instrument, manage the Roman General Investigator Program proposal solicitations and related data analysis funding, and provide community support for exoplanet and wide-field spectroscopy science with Roman.
For more details, see: https://roman.ipac.caltech.edu
Link to the full job description: https://dps.aas.org/7526/
- Postdoctoral Scholar: Asteroid Radar – University of Central Florida
The incumbent will be expected to participate in data analysis, physical and dynamical characterization of near-Earth asteroids using radar and optical data, and support archiving asteroid shape models in the Planetary Data System (PDS). This position is open until filled.
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Send submissions to: Denise Stephens, DPS Secretary, at this address [email protected]
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