PLANETARY EXPLORATION NEWSLETTER Volume 7, Number 8 (February 24, 2013) PEN Website: http://planetarynews.org Editor: Susan Benecchi Co-Editors: Mark V. Sykes, Melissa Lane Email: pen_editor at psi.edu o-------------------------TABLE OF CONTENTS---------------------------o 1. Workshop on the Evolution and Constitution of Mercury's Interior 2. NASA Postdoctoral Fellowships 3. Faculty Position in Space Physics: University of California, Los Angeles 4. Venus Lunch-Time Town-Hall Meeting and Early Career Scholars Mixer at LPSC, Wednesday - March 20, 2013 5. MESSENGER MDIS Data Users' Workshop 6. Call for Proposals for the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) 7. 10th IAA Low-Cost Planetary Missions Conference (LCPM-10) 8. Third Circular for MEPAG #27 Web Meeting 9. [NASA] ROSES-13 The Origins of Solar Systems Program 10. LRO Diviner Data Users Forum at LPSC on Sunday, March 17 11. 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 WORKSHOP ON THE EVOLUTION AND CONSTITUTION OF MERCURY'S INTERIOR April 22-24, 2013 The workshop Evolution and Constitution of Mercury's Interior will be held April 22-24, 2013 at the Congress Plaza Hotel in Chicago, IL. This international meeting will explore recent results from NASA's MESSENGER mission as well as implications for the forthcoming ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission. The workshop is organized around three thematic issues regarding Mercury's interior: Origin, structure, and bulk composition of Mercury Evolution of Mercury's crust and mantle Core evolution and magnetic field generation at Mercury Registration, presentation submissions, and additional information are available at: http://bit.ly/mercuryinterior Registration deadline: March 15, 2013. 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 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 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 FACULTY POSITION IN SPACE PHYSICS: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES The Department of Earth and Space Sciences seeks candidates for a tenured, or tenure track faculty appointment in Space Physics. Applicants with a PhD from all disciplines are invited, but preference will be given to candidates with a broad background in the physics of flowing magnetized plasmas in the heliosphere. The successful candidate is expected to strengthen the department's role in ongoing and future space missions through scientific leadership in theory, modeling and/or observations, and through the department's undergraduate/ graduate student instruction and mentorship. Applications for all levels will be considered. Appointment and salary will be commensurate with experience and qualifications. Please include curriculum vitae, a statement of research and teaching interests, a complete list of publications, names and email addresses of three referees, electronic or paper copies of up to five of your most significant publications, plus a short cover letter addressing your experience. All applications received on or before April 6, 2013 will be considered. Please email your application to space2013@ess.ucla.edu, reference job: 0995-1213-01. An optional hardcopy of materials may be mailed to: Space Physics Search Committee UCLA Earth and Space Sciences 595 Charles Young Drive East Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 [Edited for length.] 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 VENUS LUNCH-TIME TOWN-HALL MEETING AND EARLY CAREER SCHOLARS MIXER AT LPSC, WEDNESDAY - MARCH 20, 2013 You are invited to participate in a lunch-time (12:00-13:15) Venus Town-Hall Meeting during the LPSC on Wednesday, March 20, 2013, in the Waterway 6-8 Rooms. This is hosted by the Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG). The primary objective of the Town Hall meeting is to encourage a community discussion and feedback on proposed updates and changes to the Goals, Objectives and Investigations for Venus Exploration. Proposed updates will be made available via the VEXAG web site http://www.lpi.usra.edu/vexag/ prior to LPSC. Also, the VEXAG Venus Exploration Roadmap Topical Analysis Group will brief attendees on their efforts to develop a roadmap for Venus exploration consistent with the Decadal Survey. The VEXAG Early Career Scholars Focus Group will be hosting a casual mixer for students, postdocs and young scientists interested in Venus. The mixer will take place following the Venus oral session on Wednesday. Please check the VEXAG - Early Career Scholars Facebook page for more information: https://www.facebook.com/groups/432478660134856/ For those unable to attend in person, the call-in number for an audio hook-up is Toll-Free - 866-328-8761 / 818-354-3434 / Meeting ID 8493 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 MESSENGER MDIS DATA USERS' WORKSHOP Since entering orbit in 2011, MESSENGER's Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) has acquired >100,000 images of Mercury's surface and created the first global maps of the Solar System's innermost planet. A MESSENGER MDIS Data Users' Workshop will be held in association with the 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference on Sunday, March 17, 2013, from 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM. This workshop will introduce the available MDIS products, the calibrations applied, and tools for finding and using MDIS data, and is intended for anyone interested in using the data. To learn more about this workshop and to register, visit the MDIS Data Users' Workshop website: http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/workshop2013/workshop.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 CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR THE NASA INFRARED TELESCOPE FACILITY (IRTF) Deadline: 01 April 2013 NASA Infrared Telescope Facility Observing Proposals. The due date for the 2013B semester (August 1, 2013 to January 31, 2014) is Monday, April 1, 2013. See our online submission form. Information on available facility and visitor instruments can be found at: http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/Facility/ Remote observing is available with SpeX, NSFCAM, CSHELL, and MORIS. NSFCAM has been upgraded with a new array; please see the instrument webpage for more information. Important notice: SpeX will be available for the 2013B semester. We now anticipate that SpeX will be taken off line on Feb. 01, 2014, and will be unavailable for the entire 2014A semester (Feb. 1, 2014 - July 31, 2014). C/2012 S1 (ISON) observing campaign: We encourage proposals to observe comet C/2012 S1 (ISON), a recently discovered Oort Cloud comet with perihelion passage on Nov. 28, 2013. Approximately 170 hours of observing time will be set aside for this campaign. All data obtained will be made public (within one week), and observing logs will be requested for archiving. We encourage observing groups to form collaborations to enhance the scientific return from the observations. 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 10TH IAA LOW-COST PLANETARY MISSIONS CONFERENCE (LCPM-10) The 10th International Academy of Astronautics Low-Cost Planetary Missions Conference, LCPM-10, will be held on the campus of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, on June 18-20, 2013. The focus of the 10th Low-Cost Planetary Missions Conference is on missions characterized by those of NASA's Discovery program and ESA's Cosmic Visions Medium-Class program. These missions of scientific exploration are conducted at a fixed cost that includes spacecraft and science payload development, launch, operations, science data analysis, and all relevant mission-specific technology development. The conference is a forum for planetary scientists, technologists, engineers, project managers and agency officials to gather for the exchange of information and ideas for making this class of robotic mission richer scientifically while remaining affordably low-cost. LCPM-10 will be followed on June 21, 2013, by an IAA-sponsored symposium celebrating the life and many accomplishments of Theodore von Karman. The von Karman symposium will also to be held on the Caltech Campus in Pasadena. Please see http://lcpm10.caltech.edu/ for further information or contact the organizing committee at lcpm@caltech.edu. 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 THIRD CIRCULAR FOR MEPAG #27 WEB MEETING Dear Members of the Mars Community, On behalf of Dave Des Marais (MEPAG Chair), Dave Beaty, Rich Zurek, and Charles Budney of the Mars Program Science Office, the 3rd circular for the MEPAG #27 web meeting can be found at: http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov Regards, Joyce N. Pulliam 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] ROSES-13 THE ORIGINS OF SOLAR SYSTEMS PROGRAM The Origins of Solar Systems program solicits basic research proposals to conduct scientific investigations related to understanding the formation and early evolution of planetary systems and to provide the fundamental research and analysis necessary to detect and characterize other planetary systems. These investigations may involve analytical and numerical modeling, laboratory research, and observational studies in the following areas: star formation and the relationship to planetary system formation, solar nebula processes, accumulation and dynamical evolution, analysis of primitive materials, and the detection and characterization of other planetary systems. A number of changes have been made to Appendix E.3, The Origins of Solar Systems Program. The due dates remain unchanged: NOIs due March 22, 2013 Proposals due May 23, 2013 More information on NNH13ZDA001N at: http://nasascience.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations /roses-2013 Questions: Planetary Science Division HQ-OSS@mail.nasa.gov Christina Richey (202) 358-2206 Max Bernstein (202) 358-0879 Astrophysics Division Larry Petro larry.d.petro@nasa.gov; (202) 358-4424 [Edited for length.] 10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10 LRO DIVINER DATA USERS FORUM AT LPSC ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17 The LRO Diviner Science Team will host a public Diviner Data Users Forum on Sunday, March 17 from 3 to 5pm in the College Park Room at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel in Houston, TX. The purpose of the forum will be to acquaint the community with Diviner's new high- level mapped data products. These products include global maps of brightness temperature, solar reflectance, composition and thermophysical properties. This extensive new dataset will be made available via the NASA PDS Geosciences Node on March 15, 2013. The forum will also provide an opportunity for potential users to ask questions and provide feedback to the team. This is a public meeting and all are invited. For a detailed agenda and additional information see: http://www.diviner.ucla.edu/blog/?p=796 David Paige UCLA 11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11 PLANETARY MEETING CALENDAR ADDITIONS Posted at http://planetarynews.org/meetings.html April 22-24, 2013 Workshop on the Evolution and Constitution of Mercury's Interior http://bit.ly/mercuryinterior Chicago, IL May 10, 2013 RAS Specialist Discussion Meeting: Observation, Evolution and Origin of Planetary Satellites http://www.ras.org.uk/events-and-meetings/ras-meetings London, United Kingdom June 18-20, 2013 10th IAA Low-Cost Planetary Missions Conference (LCPM-10) http://lcpm10.caltech.edu/ Pasadena, California June 30 - July 2, 2013 Australian Astrobiology Meeting http://astrobiologyaustralia.com.au Sydney, Australia September 9-13, 2013 European Planetary Science Conference (EPSC 2013) http://www.epsc2013.eu London, United Kingdom October 6-11, 2013 45th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS 2013) http://aas.org/meetings/45th-meeting-division-planetary-sciences Denver, CO September 10-12, 2014 Planet Formation and Evolution 2014 http://www1.astrophysik.uni-kiel.de/~kiel2014/main/ Kiel, Germany November 9-14, 2014 46th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS 2014) http://dps.aas.org/meetings Tucson, AZ [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.php, 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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