PLANETARY EXPLORATION NEWSLETTER Volume 2, Number 37 (August 03, 2008) PEN Website: http://planetarynews.org Editor: Matt Balme Co-Editors: Mark V. Sykes, Nic Richmond Email: pen_editor at psi.edu o-------------------------TABLE OF CONTENTS---------------------------o 1. [NASA] New ROSES Due Dates for Program Elements Impacted by the Unplanned Unavailability of NSPIRES 2. [NASA] New Proposal Opportunity: MOST U.S. Guest Observer Program - Cycle 1 3. The Great Planet Debate: Science as Process 4. Great Planet Debate Webcast Test Invitation 5. IAG Planetary Geomorphology Image of the Month 6. Podcasts of Nontechnical Astronomy Talks Available Without Charge 7. 2008 AGU Fall Meeting Session: The Dynamic Lunar Environment 8. Job Opportunity: Assistant Research Physicist: Mars Space Physics and Geophysics 9. 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 [NASA] NEW ROSES DUE DATES FOR PROGRAM ELEMENTS IMPACTED BY THE UNPLANNED UNAVAILABILITY OF NSPIRES ROSES-08 Amendment 22: New ROSES Dues Dates for Program Elements impacted by the unplanned unavailability of NSPIRES The NSPIRES system was unavailable from Thursday July 24, 2008, to Tuesday July 29, 2008. New due dates are announced for ROSES program elements whose Notice of Intent (NOI) to propose due date or proposal due date were affected. Appendix A.21: Advanced Component Technology: Proposals due August 4, 2008. Appendix A.26: IceSAT-II Science Definition team: Proposals due August 4, 2008. Appendix A.27 SMAP Science Definition team: Proposals due August 1, 2008. Appendix B.9 Solar Dynamics Observatory Science Center: Proposals due August 1, 2008. Appendix C.17 Astrobiology: Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology: NOIs due August 4, 2008. On or about July 29, 2008, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2008" (NNH08ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ (select "Solicitations" then "Open Solicitations" then "NNH08ZDA001N") Questions concerning these program elements may be addressed to the NASA POC identified in each ROSES Appendix. General questions regarding ROSES may be addressed to: Dr. Max Bernstein, Research Lead, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546-0001 Telephone: (202) 358-0879 E-mail: max.bernstein@nasa.gov. 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] NEW PROPOSAL OPPORTUNITY: MOST U.S. GUEST OBSERVER PROGRAM - CYCLE 1 ROSES Amendment 23 announces a new proposal opportunity in Appendix D.10 entitled "MOST U.S. Guest Observer (GO) Program - Cycle 1." This program element solicits proposals for the acquisition and analysis of data from the MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations of STars) observatory through a partnership between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. Observations will begin on or around February 1, 2009 and awards will have a 12-month duration. The MOST mission is designed for photometric studies with high precision sufficient to perform stellar asteroseismology studies and other variability analyses of stars and exoplanet systems. GO investigations may address any area of astrophysics and are not restricted to asteroseismology. Investigations may range from the study of single or many targets per field, and should optimize the amount of science that can be derived from a single pointed observation (field). Notices of Intent due August 29, 2008 Proposals due October 6, 2008 On or about July 31, 2008, this ROSES Amendment (NNH08ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage: http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ (select "Solicitations" then "Open Solicitations" then "NNH08ZDA001N"). Questions may be addressed to Dr. Padi Boyd, Telephone: (202) 358-2368; E-mail: padi.boyd@nasa.gov. [Editor's note: This item has been edited from its orginal form so as to meet PEN's 200-word limit] 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 THE GREAT PLANET DEBATE: SCIENCE AS PROCESS Dear Colleagues, You are cordially invited to "The Great Planet Debate" (GPD) conference at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory August 14-16, 2008. This includes two days of scientific sessions to discuss and debate the processes leading to planetary formation and characteristics and various criteria by which planets can be defined and categorized. An educator's workshop follows on the third day, to discuss how the planet debate can be used to explain science as a process. The final program is now available at: http://gpd.jhuapl.edu/schedule The abstracts are posted at: http://gpd.jhuapl.edu/abstracts An open-to-the-public debate between Dr. Mark Sykes of the Planetary Science Institute and Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson of the American Museum of Natural History will start at 4:30 pm EDT on August 14th. The debate, which will be moderated by Ira Flatow (the host of Science Friday on National Public Radio) is free and will be streamed live on the web. To register for web and in-person participation in the GPD conference, go to http://gpd.jhuapl.edu/ Hope to see you in a couple of weeks. With best regards, Hal Weaver (GPD LOC Chair) 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 GREAT PLANET DEBATE WEBCAST TEST INVITATION The Great Planet Debate: Science as Process will be held at APL, August 14 & 15, with an actual debate between Neil deGrasse Tyson (American Museum of Natural History) and Mark Sykes (Planetary Science Institute), moderated by Ira Flatow (NPR Science Friday). The invited talks and the debate will be webcast live. The agenda is available at http://gpd.jhuapl.edu/ On August 5, beginning at 1:30 PM EDT, APL will be testing the webcast and you are invited to help. The link is: mms://a1719.l711155718.c7111.n.lm.akamaistream.net/D/1719/7111/v0001/ reflector:55718 The more people sign on, the better the test analysis. You are asked to sign on for a minimum of 30 minutes between 2PM and 3PM EDT. This will provide a good read on peak usage and number of viewers. Outside of that window is fine as well, and APL is interested in how things work in other parts of the World outside the US. APL has scheduled a meeting place Help line for call ins during the test. The phone numbers for HELP are: 443.778.2200 Baltimore 240.228.2200 Washington 800.835.0936 Toll Free The caller must enter the meeting ID: 344228 Someone will be on the line to help. Thank you! [Editor's note: Please note the media-link above extends over 2 lines] 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 IAG PLANETARY GEOMORPHOLOGY IMAGE OF THE MONTH The August 'Image of the month' is now available at the IAG's Planetary Geomorphology web page http://www.psi.edu/pgwg/images/aug08image.html This month's topic is on Lava flows on Mars, Io and Earth The images and information are a free educational resource provided to encourage the inclusion of planetary geomorphology topics in curriculum. They are also intended to stimulate collaboration between geomorphologists studying Earth landforms and those who focus primarily on other planetary surfaces. If you would like to contribute an image (Earth analogs are welcome) please contact mbourke@psi.edu Past images and captions are available at http://www.psi.edu/pgwg/images/index.html Mary Bourke Coordinator of the IAG Working Group on Planetary Geomorphology 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 PODCASTS OF NONTECHNICAL ASTRONOMY TALKS AVAILABLE WITHOUT CHARGE Audio recordings of twelve public lectures by astronomers are now available as free MP3 downloads at the web site of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP): http://www.astrosociety.org/education/podcast/index.html Among the talks now available are: * Dr. Jill Tarter (SETI Institute): "Better Searches for Signals from Extra-terrestrial Civilizations" * Dr. Geoff Marcy (U. of California, Berkeley): "Hunting for Earth-like Planets Among the Stars" * Dr. David Morrison (NASA Ames Research Center): "Asteroid Impacts and the Evolution of Life on Earth" * Dr. David Grinspoon (Denver Museum of Nature & Science): "Climate Catastrophes in the Solar System" * Dr. Dale Cruikshank (NASA Ames): "The Planet Pluto: Maligned but Not Forgotten" * Dr. Alex Filippenko (University of California, Berkeley): "Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe" * Dr. Frank Drake (SETI Institute): "Estimating the Chances of Life Out There" A few talks are also available as video files (instructions can be found on the same page.) These lectures are co-sponsored by: + NASA's Ames Research Center + The SETI Institute + The Foothill College Astronomy Program + The Astronomical Society of the Pacific 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 2008 AGU FALL MEETING SESSION: THE DYNAMIC LUNAR ENVIRONMENT We are soliciting contributions on a variety of topics related to dynamic lunar processes. These include (but are not limited to) plasma and electromagnetic fields, dust and neutral exosphere, impacts, seismic events, and coupling between these processes. We hope to review the current state of knowledge, hear about exciting new advances from research on existing data sets and those from the latest lunar missions, and discuss the future measurements and analyses needed to understand fundamental processes in the dynamic lunar environment. We would be excited to hear about your research in this session, and we encourage you to submit an abstract to what we believe will be a very interesting and educational session. The abstract submission deadline for the AGU fall meeting is September 10th, and abstracts can be submitted at http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm08. Please forward this announcement to any colleagues that you think would be interested in this session, and please contact us if you have any questions. We hope that you can participate in this session. Timothy Stubbs (Timothy.J.Stubbs@nasa.gov) University of Maryland, Baltimore County/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Jasper Halekas (jazzman@ssl.berkeley.edu) Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley [Editor's note: This item has been edited from its orginal form so as to meet PEN's 200-word limit] 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 ASSISTANT RESEARCH PHYSICIST: MARS SPACE PHYSICS AND GEOPHYSICS The Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, seeks to fill an Assistant Research Physicist position in the area of Mars space physics and geophysics. Topics of interest are the Mars-solar wind interaction, the night-side ionosphere, the effects of solar energetic particle events and solar storms on the atmosphere, atmospheric loss and resulting climate evolution, the dynamic thermosphere and the effects of dust storms thereon, magnetic effects of large meteorite impacts, volcanic, magmatic and tectonic evolution studies through observations of thermal demagnetization and the history of the now-extinct Martian global magnetic field. Applicants must have a Ph.D. related to space or Planetary physics and at least two years of postdoctoral experience in some of these areas, with a track record of publication in the Mars community. Analytical and programming skills are required for both data analysis and modeling. Familiarity with IDL and hardware experience is preferable. Interested applicants should send a curriculum vitae, list of publications, statement of research interests, and contact details for at least three references to: Daniele Meilhan, Space Sciences Laboratory, 7 Gauss Way, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. Applications must be received by 9/1/08. 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 PLANETARY MEETING CALENDAR ADDITIONS No new meetings [Editor Note: If there is a planetary-related meeting, conference or workshop that you think your colleagues should be aware of, 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 * * To unsubscribe, go to http://planetarynews.org/pen_unsubscribe.html * * 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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