PLANETARY EXPLORATION NEWSLETTER Volume 7, Number 13 (March 24, 2013) PEN Website: http://planetarynews.org Editor: Mark V. Sykes Co-Editors: Melissa Lane, Susan Benecchi Email: pen_editor at psi.edu o-------------------------TABLE OF CONTENTS---------------------------o 1. EDITORIAL - A Budget 2. NASA Planetary Science Subcommittee Meeting, April 4-5, 2013 3. Origin of the Moon 4. John Bahcall Public Policy Fellowship 5. [NASA] PDS Releases Additional LRO Data 6. NASA Postdoctoral Fellowships 7. International Conference "Cosmic Dust VI" 8. Max Planck Research Group Leader in Cometary Science 8. [NASA] Planetary Science Division Technology Infusion Request for Information (RFI) 10. [NASA] EPO Point of Contact Change 11. [NASA] PDS MSL Data Release 12. Characterizing Luna Incognita 13. Cosmochemistry and Planet Formation Theme at Goldschmidt 2013 Meeting 14. [NASA] Travel Restrictions Update 15. Planetary Atmospheres Researcher (GSFC/CRESST/University of Maryland) 16. International Scientific Workshop on Golden Spike Human Lunar Expeditions, 3-4 October 2013 17. IPEWG 2013: Second Announcement 18. Reminder: Call for Chapters for Asteroids IV, Deadline March 31st, 2013 19. Planetary Meeting Calendar Additions o---------------------------------------------------------------------o 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 EDITORIAL - A BUDGET On March 21, Congress passed a full year FY13 CR to which sequestration will be applied. For the past six months, the Administration has implemented a 20% reduction in the planetary budget (to $1.2B), but Congress has raised that to $1.415B. Even with sequestration, planetary should do significantly better than Administration plans. Further, Congressional direction to increase research and Discovery budgets over Administration request sends a strong message about the importance of these foundational programs that should be heeded by the Administration and NASA management. Record low selection rates over the past two years were the predictable consequence of PSD management removing ~$25M from research programs in 2010 through "rephasing" to help cover MSL cost overruns. The Discovery program has been decimated since the selection of Dawn and Kepler in 2001 (the end of a decade selecting two missions for flight every two years). The Administration and NASA management need to move away from their focus on back-room deals on large projects for special interests and pay attention to getting the basics right and making them stable. Without this, our solar system exploration program and the national capabilities supporting it will irreversably decline. Mark V. Sykes 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2 NASA PLANETARY SCIENCE SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING, APRIL 4-5, 2013 The agenda for the meeting includes the following topics: Planetary Science Division Update Mars Exploration Program Update Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Update Research and Analysis Update Reports from Assessment Groups Location: NASA HQ, Washington, DC To attend in person or by telecon and Webex, go to: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-03-11/html/2013-05486.htm [Editor's Note: NASA Assessment Group chairs are no longer automatic members of this committee. To date, the Small Bodies Assessment Group, Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, and Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group chairs have been removed.] 3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3 ORIGIN OF THE MOON Two contiguous meetings sponsored by the Royal Society. Organized by David Stevenson (Caltech) and Alex Halliday (Oxford). The first will be September 23-24 in London and the second will be at the Kavli center (about 90 minutes from London), September 25-26. There will be a poster session for contributed papers at the second meeting only. For more information, visit: http://royalsociety.org/events/2013/origin-moon/ for the London meeting, and go to: http://royalsociety.org/events/2013/moon-origin-satellite/ for the follow-on meeting. 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4 JOHN BAHCALL PUBLIC POLICY FELLOWSHIP The John Bahcall Public Policy Fellowship is a full-year postdoctoral level position, renewable for a second year. In partnership with the Director of Public Policy, the John Bahcall Public Policy Fellow will be responsible for a wide range of AAS public policy activities. The AAS The deadline to apply is May 1, 2013. The position begins September 2013. Go to: http://jobregister.aas.org/job_view?JobID=44466 5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5 [NASA] PDS RELEASES ADDITIONAL LRO DATA The NASA Planetary Data System is pleased to announce a new delivery of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) data for the following instruments: CRaTER, DLRE, LAMP, LEND, LOLA, LROC and SPICE. In general, LRO Release 13 includes data collected between September 15, 2012 and December 14, 2012. To access the above data, please visit the following link: http://pds.nasa.gov/subscription_service/SS-20130315.html PDS offers two services for searching the LRO archives: The Planetary Image Atlas at the Imaging Node allows selection of LRO data by specific search criteria: http://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/search/lro/ The Lunar Orbital Data Explorer at the Geosciences Node allows searching and downloading of LRO data and other lunar orbital data sets (Clementine and Lunar Prospector): http://ode.rsl.wustl.edu/moon/ LRO SPICE ancillary data may be obtained here: http://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/data_archived.html 6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6 NASA POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers scientists and engineers unique opportunities to conduct research at NASA Centers. Each NPP fellowship opportunity is designed to advance NASA research in a specific project related to space science, earth science, aeronautics, exploration systems, lunar science, astrobiology, or astrophysics. Applicants must have a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in hand before beginning the fellowship, but may apply while completing the degree requirements. U.S. citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents, and foreign nationals eligible for J-1 status as a Research Scholar may apply. Stipends start at $53,500 per year, with supplements for high cost-of-living areas and for certain academic specialties. Financial assistance is available for relocation and health insurance, and $8,000 per year is provided for professional travel. Applications are accepted three times each year: March 1, July 1, and November 1. For further information and to apply, visit: http://nasa.orau.org/postdoc/description/index.htm Questions may be submitted by e-mail to nasapostdoc@orau.org 7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE "COSMIC DUST VI" August 5-9, 2013 Center for Planetary Science (CPS), Kobe, Japan. This series of Cosmic Dust meetings aims finding a consensus among experts on the formation and evolution of cosmic dust: where it comes from and where it goes. The primary objectives of the meeting are to bring together professionals who deal with cosmic dust and to provide an opportunity for participants to develop human relations and interactions between the participants. The meeting considers all kinds of cosmic dust: intergalactic and interstellar dust, protoplanetary and debris disk dust, cometary, interplanetary and circumplanetary dust, planetary aerosols, regolith, micrometeorites, meteors and meteoroids, presolar grains and stellar nebular condensates. The meeting is open for any aspects of dust research by means of in-situ and laboratory measurements, astronomical observations, laboratory and numerical analogue simulations, theoretical modeling, data analysis, etc. Any dust-related topics, for example, formation of molecules and their reactions on and desorption from the surface of dust particles, are also welcome. Publishing the proceedings of this meeting is currently being planned as a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal. Deadline for admissions application: 13 May 2013. For online registration and more details go to the meeting website: https://www.cps-jp.org/~dust/ 8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8 MAX PLANCK RESEARCH GROUP LEADER IN COMETARY SCIENCE The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) offers outstanding young scientists the opportunity to set up and lead a Max Planck Research Group (MPRG) in the field of cometary research. In order to foster the scientific exploitation of the Rosetta mission, arriving in 2014 at its target comet, the MPS intends to establish a new MPRG dedicated to cometary science. The new MPRG leader will have the unique chance to play a leading role in the research that is based on the Rosetta data. In close collaboration with the several instrument teams at the MPS he/she is expected to take advantage of the multiple involvements of the MPS in the Rosetta mission and to utilize the corresponding synergies in order to answer the key science questions. The successful candidate will be offered a MPRG for a period of five years with the possibility of twice a 2-years extension after successful evaluation and subject to financial and legal conditions. The group leader will hold a temporary W2 position equivalent to the associate professor level. In exceptional cases a tenured W2 position can be offered. For more information visit: http://www.mps.mpg.de/de/aktuelles/jobs/job_20130321.html 9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9 [NASA] PLANETARY SCIENCE DIVISION TECHNOLOGY INFUSION REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) Solicitation Number: NNH13ZDA008L Response Date: April 19, 2013 Through the Technology Infusion RFI the Planetary Science Division at NASA seeks to better understand how to realize a scientific return on spacecraft system technology investments by soliciting recommendations on how to effectively infuse new spacecraft systems technologies that it develops into future competed missions, enabling increased scientific discoveries, lower mission cost, or both. We are collecting input on how to maximize the return on and benefits from current technology investments and thereby improve the prospects of the inclusion of these investments within future competed missions opportunities. We are requesting the community's assessment of barriers to technology infusion, e.g., as related to approach, technology readiness, documentation, integration, risk considerations, and system level impacts. The call contains a series of specific questions to be answered, but other volunteered will also be considered. The full text of this RFI, which contains points of contact, details on the contents and the format of the response, and other details, can be downloaded as a PDF file from: http://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/ under the heading "Community Announcements". 10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10 [NASA] EPO POINT OF CONTACT CHANGE The point of contact for the ROSES 2013 Opportunities in Education and Public Outreach for Earth and Space Sciences has changed to Therese Kucera, who's email address is therese.a.kucera@nasa.gov. The text of the call has been updated to reflect this change. 11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11 [NASA] PDS MSL DATA RELEASE The NASA Planetary Data System announces Release 1, Part 2, from the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, covering data from Sols 0-89, August 6 - November 5, 2012. Part 1 took place on February 27, 2013, and consisted of raw data products. Part 2 consists of derived data from the following instruments: APXS, CheMin, Hazcam, Navcam, REMS and SAM. It also includes CheMin raw data. Data for the following is delayed and will be released soon: ChemCam, DAN and RAD. Release 1 does not include data from the MAHLI, MARDI, or Mastcam instruments. Links to MSL data sets are on the PDS Geosciences Node web site: http://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/missions/msl/ and on the PDS home page: http://pds.nasa.gov/ MSL data are archived at the PDS Atmospheres, Planetary Plasma Interactions (PPI), Geosciences, Imaging, and Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF) Nodes. PDS offers two services for searching the MSL archives: The Planetary Image Atlas at the Imaging Node allows selection of MSL image data by specific search criteria: http://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/search The MSL Analyst's Notebook at the Geosciences Node allows access to all MSL data in the context of mission events: http://an.rsl.wustl.edu/msl To receive future announcements of MSL releases, subscribe at: http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/subscription_service/top.cfm 12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12 CHARACTERIZING LUNA INCOGNITA Monday, April 15, 2013 9:00AM PDT, 12:00 Noon EDT, 16:00 UTC Ben Bussey, JHU/APL The goal of our team is to advance our scientific understanding of the Moon's poles and to fill in strategic knowledge gaps that facilitate the robotic and human exploration of these areas. Our results provide useful data for planning future lunar surface missions. For example we have located places near both poles that are constantly illuminated for several months around mid-summer. Such locations permit long-duration missions that do not have to survive periods of darkness. We have mapped regions of permanent shadow as far from the poles as 58 degrees latitude. This new result dramatically increases the opportunities for missions wishing to investigate if these areas contain volatiles, a useful resource for future robotic and human explorers. Participation instructions: Web Browser: The slides and audio/video for this meeting will be presented using Adobe Connect. To join the meeting, connect to: http://connect.arc.nasa.gov/nlsi_directors_seminar/ Videoconference: Please RSVP to Ricky Guest (Ricky.Guest@nasa.gov) if you will be joining by Polycom or other standards based Video Teleconferencing System. Slides will be viewable by logging in to: http://connect.arc.nasa.gov/nlsi_directors_seminar/ 13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13 COSMOCHEMISTRY AND PLANET FORMATION THEME AT GOLDSCHMIDT 2013 MEETING Goldschmidt 2013 will be held August 25-30 in Florence, Italy, and feature a Cosmochemistry and Planet Formation Theme, with the following special sessions: - Refractory Grains, Volatiles, and Organic Molecules Inherited from the Interstellar Medium - Martian Evolution; Ancient Messengers and Modern Measurements - Planet Formation and Bombardment - Comparative Planetology of Crust Formation - Accretion and Differentiation of Primitive Parent Bodies - Chronology of Molecular Cloud Collapse, First Solids Formation, and Earliest Accretion - Origins of Life: Environments, Mineral Surfaces, and Prebiotic - Dynamics and Chemistry in Protoplanetary Disks - The Volatile Inventory of the Moon and Mercury - In Situ, High Spatial Resolution Isotopic Measurements Applied to Extraterrestrial Materials Abstract deadline: April 12, 2013 Additional details available at: http://goldschmidt.info/2013/program/programViewThemes#theme02 14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14 [NASA] TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS UPDATE Several grantees have indicated that they thought that the Administrator's memo on travel restrictions under the sequester applied to their grants. For various reasons this is not the case. The memo specified only NASA Civil Servants and contractors (especially JPL), it did not mention grantees. Those who are on grants are not required to skip travel. If anything changes the grantees will be contacted by the NASA Shared Services Center. Until then scientists should continue their research projects in the normal, fiscally responsible manner they did before. Max Bernstein, HQ-Senior Advisor for Research and Analysis 15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15 PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES RESEARCHER (GSFC/CRESST/UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND) The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's (GSFC) Planetary Environments Laboratory, in conjunction with the Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology (CRESST), is soliciting applications for a researcher in the field of Planetary Atmospheres to support Mars upper atmosphere investigations with the MAVEN mission. Additional details are available at: http://www.astro.umd.edu/employment/ Candidates should have a Ph.D. in a relevant discipline with a strong and demonstrated interest in and understanding of upper atmospheric physics. IDL skills and experience in acquisition and analysis of data from space flight instruments are highly desirable. The University of Maryland is an equal opportunity employer. All applications received by Monday, April 29, 2013 will receive full consideration. 16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16-16 INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC WORKSHOP ON GOLDEN SPIKE HUMAN LUNAR EXPEDITIONS, 3-4 OCTOBER 2013 Golden Spike and the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) have announced a two-day workshop for the US and international scientific community to explore the planned capabilities of Golden Spike human lunar expeditions planned to begin in 2020. The workshop will be held at the Lunar and Planetary Science Institute (LPI) in Houston, Texas on October 3rd and 4th, 2013. The workshop will focus on landing site selection, surface experiment packages, sample return capabilities, and surface traverse planning. The workshop's program committee includes Dr. Alan Stern, CEO and President of Golden Spike, Dr. Steve Mackwell, Director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Dr. Clive Neal/Notre Dame University, Dr. William McKinnon/Washington University at St. Louis, Dr. Amand Mahesh/The Open University in the UK, and Dr. James Carpenter/European Space Agency. More information about this workshop, an expression of interest form can be found at: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/gs2013/ More information about Golden Spike can be found at: http://www.goldenspikecompany.com 17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17 IPEWG 2013: SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT Dear Colleagues: The on-line registration to the third Meeting of the International Primitive Body Exploration Working Group (IPEWG 2013) on May 29-31, 2013, in Nice, France, is now open. Information regarding how to register, the program (based on solicited speakers only), the meeting goals, the logistics are indicated on the following web site (click on the Registration Menu for explanations on how to register): http://www.oca.eu/michel/IPEWG2013/ Discussions held at IPEWG 2013 are expected to impact and improve international collaboration activities for primitive body space exploration. We hope you will be interested in participating to this workshop and to the discussions that will encourage efficient international coordinations and efforts to improve our knowledge of these fascinating primitive bodies. The deadline for registration is May 10th, 2013 and we encourage interested persons to register (and book their Hotel; see the web site for information) as soon as possible as the workshop is limited to a maximum of 100 participants. Please contact Patrick Michel, LOC Chair (michelp@oca.eu) with any questions. We look forward to welcoming you on the "Nice" Côte d'Azur! Sincerely, Patrick Michel michelp@oca.eu 18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18-18 REMINDER: CALL FOR CHAPTERS FOR ASTEROIDS IV, DEADLINE MARCH 31st, 2013 Dear Colleagues, This message is a solicitation for ideas for chapter topics and a solicitation for volunteers for chapter authors for the book Asteroids IV. If you would like to recommend chapters for the book, or would like to volunteer to write a particular chapter as a first author, we would like to know no later than March 31st, 2013. The Asteroids IV web site includes the call for chapters and instructions that can be seen and downloaded: http://www.oca.eu/michel/ASTEROIDSIV/ The SOC will then make the final choice of chapters, based on the received ideas and its own conclusions. Your participation would be an extremely valuable service to the asteroid and planetary science community. It is our intention to make Asteroids IV as useful as Asteroids (1979), Asteroids II (1989), and Asteroids III (2002) such that it becomes the science community's primary reference manual for at least the next decade, and we hope you will volunteer to participate to this challenge. On behalf of the co-Editors and SOC, Best regards, Patrick Michel Editor, Asteroids IV 19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19-19 PLANETARY MEETING CALENDAR ADDITIONS Posted at http://planetarynews.org/meetings.html April 4-5 NASA Planetary Science Subcommittee Meeting http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-03-11/html/2013-05486.htm Washington, DC CANCELLED April 29 - May 2 Habitable Worlds Across Time and Space http://www.stsci.edu/institute/conference/habitable-worlds Baltimore, MD June 20-21, 2013 Interplanetary Small Satellite Conference http://www.intersmallsatconference.org/ Pasadena, CA August 25-30, 2013 Goldschmidt 2013 Conference goldschmidt.info/2013/index Florence, Italy September 23-24, 2013 Origin of the Moon http://royalsociety.org/events/2013/origin-moon/ London, United Kingdom September 25-26, 2013 Origin of the Moon - Challenges and Prospects http://royalsociety.org/events/2013/moon-origin-satellite/ Chicheley, United Kingdom October 3-4, 2013 Workshop on Golden Spike Human Lunar Expeditions http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/gs2013/ Houston, TX [Editor Note: If there is a planetary-related meeting, conference or workshop of which your colleagues should be aware, please send the date, title, URL and location to pen_editor at psi.edu.] *********************************************************************** * The Planetary Exploration Newsletter is issued approximately weekly. * Current and back issues are available at http://planetarynews.org * * To subscribe, go to http://planetarynews.org/pen_subscribe.html, or * send a request to pen_editor at psi.edu * * To unsubscribe, send an email to pen_editor at psi.edu * * Please send all replies and submissions to pen_editor at psi.edu. * Announcements and other messages should be brief with links to URLs * for extended information, including detailed descriptions for job * announcements. 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