PLANETARY EXPLORATION NEWSLETTER
Volume 2, Number 51 (October 19, 2008)

PEN Website: http://planetarynews.org
Editor: Nic Richmond
Co-Editors: Mark V. Sykes, Matt Balme
Email: pen_editor at psi.edu

o-------------------------TABLE OF CONTENTS---------------------------o

1. [NASA] Evaluation and Selection of Small Complete Missions in
   Astrobiology and Fundamental Space Biology
2. [NASA] Asteroid Data Sets Now Available Through the PDS
3. Planetary Meeting Calendar Additions

o---------------------------------------------------------------------o


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[NASA] EVALUATION AND SELECTION OF SMALL COMPLETE MISSIONS IN 
ASTROBIOLOGY AND FUNDAMENTAL SPACE BIOLOGY
 
With this amendment, the NASA Announcement of Opportunity
NNH08ZDA009O, "Stand Alone Missions of Opportunity Notice (SALMON),"
has been amended to clarify the evaluation and selection process
for proposals submitted in response to Program Element Appendix H3:
Small Complete Missions of Opportunity in Astrobiology and Fundamental
Space Biology.

For Small Complete Missions in Fundamental Space Biology, the minimum
unencumbered cost reserve required for Phase A through Phase D is
reduced to 15%.

An accommodation study performed by the MicroNano Spacecraft and
Payloads Office at NASA Ames Research Center will take the place of
the technical, management, and cost (TMC) feasibility, including
cost risk, evaluation.

The merit of data being added to the Planetary Data System is 
removed as an evaluation factor.

Technical or scientific questions may be addressed to the 
points-of-contact given at the end of Program Element Appendix 
H3 of the SALMON AO.

Programmatic questions concerning the SALMON AO may be addressed 
to Dr. Carlos Liceaga, (757) 846-5880; salmonao@nasa.gov.

[Editor Note: This announcement was edited slightly for length.
For more information, see http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ (select
"Solicitations" then "Open Solicitations" then "NNH08ZDA009O"]


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[NASA] ASTEROID DATA SETS NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH THE PDS

The NASA Planetary Data System announces the availability of the 
following data sets:

ASTEROID LIGHTCURVE DERIVED DATA V10.0
http://www.psi.edu/pds/resource/lc.html
Rotational parameters derived from lightcurve
data through Feb. 15, 2008.

ASTEROID NAMES AND DISCOVERY V12.0
http://www.psi.edu/pds/resource/discover.html
Names, designations, and discovery circumstances for asteroids 
numbered through April 20, 2008.

ASTEROID OCCULTATIONS V6.0
http://www.psi.edu/pds/resource/occ.html
Asteroid occultation timings and axes, through 2007, with
some events from 2008.

ASTEROID POLARIMETRIC DATABASE V6.0
http://www.psi.edu/pds/resource/apd.html
Published and unpublished polarimetry results for
asteroids through January 22, 2008.

ASTEROID SPIN VECTOR COMPILATION V5.0
http://www.psi.edu/pds/resource/spin.html
Compilation by A. Kryszczynska as of Oct. 2007.

GASKELL EROS SHAPE MODEL V1.0
http://www.psi.edu/pds/resource/erosshape.html
Derived from NEAR images.

GASKELL ITOKAWA SHAPE MODEL V1.0
http://www.psi.edu/pds/resource/itokawashape.html
Derived from Hayabusa images, version of August 2007.

PLUTO-CHARON MUTUAL EVENTS V3.0
http://www.psi.edu/pds/resource/pcme.html
Ground-based observations of the 1985-1990 Pluto-Charon mutual 
events.

SPECTROSCOPY AND PHOTOMETRY OF JUPITER TROJANS V1.0
http://www.psi.edu/pds/resource/fornasier.html
From Fornasier et al. (2004) and Fornasier et al. (2007).

SUBMILLIMETER LIGHTCURVES OF ASTEROIDS V1.0
http://www.psi.edu/pds/resource/submmlc.html
From Jan. 2003 through May 2004.

TNO AND CENTAUR COLORS V5.0
http://www.psi.edu/pds/resource/tnocencol.html
Broadband colors of TNOs and Centaurs, through the end of 2007.

For access to all data archived in the PDS, go to:

http://pds.nasa.gov
 

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PLANETARY MEETING CALENDAR ADDITIONS

Posted at http://planetarynews.org/meetings.html

May 15-19, 2009
2009 Joint Assembly - Meetings of the Americas (CGU, GAC, IAH-CNC, 
MAC, AGU)
www.agu.org/meetings/ja09/
Toronto, Canada

July 13-18, 2009
72nd Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society
http://www.metsoc2009.org/
Nancy, France

[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.]


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