PLANETARY EXPLORATION NEWSLETTER Volume 3, Number 7 (February 8, 2009) 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. Latest SARA Letter Out Now 2. Geomorphology Image of the Month 3. Google Map - Now with Mars 4. International Symposium on Marco Polo and Other Small Body Sample Return Missions 5. NRC study on The Role and Scope of Mission-Enabling Activities in NASA's Space and Earth Science Missions 6. Report on a Flagship Class Mission to Venus 7. Planetary Atmospheres: Dynamics, Chemistry, Climate, and Couplings 8. 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 LATEST SARA LETTER OUT NOW The latest "SARA letter" from the R&A lead of NASA's Science Mission Directorate came out at the end of January. It includes links to how the upcoming big ROSES 2009 solicitation will differ from prior years, the latest grant stats reporting selection rates for program elements, plots of the time that elapsed between submission and selection for ROSES 2007, a summary of Greg Davidson's latest Science News metric, and a list of all of the program officers and their contact information. The Jan letter from SARA can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/cg95n3 and an RSS feed is now available. 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 GEOMORPHOLOGY IMAGE OF THE MONTH The January 'Image of the month' is now available at the IAG's Planetary Geomorphology web page http://www.psi.edu/pgwg/images/feb09image.html This month's topic is Caves on Mars Past images and captions are available at http://www.psi.edu/pgwg/images/index.html 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 GOOGLE MAP - NOW WITH MARS On Monday, Google, Inc., released Google Earth 5.0 (it is free), which contains a Mars 3D mode. My colleagues and I here at NASA Ames helped with getting the data into a format ready for Google. The Ames press release is here: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2009/09_10AR.html The Google blog post is here: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2009/02/google-earth-goes- to-mars.html and a short video tour can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/d5mavj Ross Beyer 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 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON MARCO POLO AND OTHER SMALL BODY SAMPLE RETURN MISSIONS An International Symposium on Marco Polo and other Small Body Sample Return Missions will be held in Paris on May 18-20, 2009. Marco Polo is a joint European-Japanese sample return mission to a Near-Earth Object (NEO) studied within the ESA Cosmic Vision program. The meeting is open to and welcomes members of all communities interested in small body sample return missions as they relate to understanding Solar System origin and evolution. For more information and registration (deadline March 15, 2009), see http://sci.esa.int/marcopolo_ws2009 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 NRC STUDY ON THE ROLE AND SCOPE OF MISSION-ENABLING ACTIVITIES IN NASA's SPACE AND EARTH SCIENCE MISSIONS In response to a request from Congress, the Space Studies Board has organized a committee to conduct a study of mission-enabling activities in NASA's space and Earth sciences program. (Mission-enabling activities--which traditionally encompass much of NASA's research and analysis (R&A) programs--include support for theory, modeling, and data analysis; sub-orbital flights and complementary ground-based programs; and advanced mission and instrumentation concept studies.) The study will identify the appropriate roles for mission-enabling activities and metrics for assessing their effectiveness. It also will evaluate how, from a strategic perspective, decisions should be made about balance between mission-related and mission-enabling elements of the overall program as well as balance between various elements within the mission-enabling component. It is important to note that while the study will consider portfolio allocation principles and metrics from a strategic perspective, it will NOT address or propose specific funding levels. More information about the study committee and its charge is available at: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/projectview.aspx?key=48965 Individuals who wish to offer views or suggestions for the attention of the study committee should send them to the study director, Joseph Alexander, at jalexander@nas.edu. 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 REPORT ON A FLAGSHIP CLASS MISSION TO VENUS The Venus Science and Technology Definition Team (STDT) is finalizing its report on a Flagship class mission to Venus, which will be released in April 2009. With the support of the Venus Exploration and Analysis Group (VEXAG), all interim publications and reports of the Venus STDT are now available on the VEXAG web site at: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/vexag/venusSTDT/ Comments are appreciated and may be sent to Mark Bullock at bullock@boulder.swri.edu 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 PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES: DYNAMICS, CHEMISTRY, CLIMATE, AND COUPLINGS Session P05 at the 2009 Joint Assembly, 24-27 May 2009. Toronto, Canada Abstracts due: 4 March 2009 Go to http://www.agu.org/meetings/ja09/ Convenors: Franklin Mills (ANU) Frank.Mills at anu.edu.au Jack McConnell (York) jack at nimbus.yorku.ca Observations and modelling are yielding increasing understanding of the characteristics of the atmospheres of Venus, the Earth, and Mars. Each planet's atmosphere is unique yet there are also commonalities. In addition, the couplings and interactions amongst dynamics, chemistry, and climate are increasingly being recognised and explored for each of these planets. This session aims to bring together research on the dynamics, chemistry, and climate of Venus, the Earth, and Mars to compare and contrast the characteristics of these planetary atmospheres and the couplings and interactions within each planet's atmosphere. We invite papers that provide new information on (1) the dynamics, chemistry, or climate of Venus or Mars, (2) comparisons amongst the atmospheres of Venus, the Earth, and Mars, (3) the couplings amongst dynamics, chemistry, and climate on Venus, the Earth, and Mars, and (4) comparisons amongst past evolutionary epochs for Venus, the Earth, and Mars. Co-sponsored by Planetary Sciences, Atmospheric Sciences, Global Environmental Change, Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, and SPA-Aeronomy 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 PLANETARY MEETING CALENDAR ADDITIONS Posted at http://planetarynews.org/meetings.html June 29 - July 3, 2009 Annual meeting of the French Astronomical Society - La semaine de l'astronomie Francaise http://sf2a.obs-besancon.fr/main.php Besancon, 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.] *********************************************************************** * * 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. Go to the PEN website for submission directions. ************************************************************************