PLANETARY EXPLORATION NEWSLETTER Volume 10, Number 10 (February 28, 2016) PEN Website: http://planetarynews.org Editor: Melissa Lane Co-Editors: Susan Benecchi, Mark V. Sykes Email: pen_editor at psi.edu o-------------------------TABLE OF CONTENTS---------------------------o 1. AOGS 2016 Session PS-03: Polarization of the Solar System and Beyond 2. AOGS 2016 Session PS-08: Solar System Primitive Body Exploration Missions 3. AOGS 2016 Session PS-09: Planetary Science Data Archiving 4. AOGS 2016 Session PS-13: Communicating the Excitement of Space Exploration to Audiences in Young Space-faring Nations 5. AOGS 2016 Session PS-15: Role of Small Bodies in the Formation of the Solar System: From Interplanetary Dust to Planetary Moons 6. AOGS 2016 Session PS-16: Moon And Mercury - A Comparative View 7. Laboratory Measurement Needs for Exoplanetary Atmospheres 8. Exoplanet and Habitability Workshop, March 2, at Lowell Observatory 9. Register Today for the 2016 Humans to Mars Summit (H2M) 10. 2016 NASA Planetary Science Summer School Applications Open 11. Second Announcement: Cometary Science After Rosetta Meetings 12. [NASA] Call for Letters of Application for Membership on NASA’s Science Definition Team for Europa Lander Pre-Phase A Study 13. 2016 NASA Planetary Science Summer School Applications Open 14. 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 AOGS 2016 SESSION PS-03: POLARIZATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND BEYOND Asia Oceania Geosciences Conference 2016 July 31 – Aug 5, Beijing, China Conference website: http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2016/public.asp?page=home.htm Abstract submission deadline: extended to March 4, 2016 Polarimetry is a currently enjoying a rejuvenation in various astronomical applications. As a complementary technique to imaging and spectroscopy, polarization allows the investigation of scattering properties of variety of media ranging from planetary atmospheres, comets, small bodies (planetary satellites, asteroids, Kuiper Belt objects, etc.) to detection and characterization of exoplanets, brown dwarfs, star and planet forming regions; characterization of magnetic fields and search for optically active molecules in a search for habitability elsewhere than our earth. We invite contributions from observers, modellers, laboratory measurements, instrument designers and missions. We anticipate half to one day of presentations including oral and poster contributions. Conveners: Dr. Padma A Yanamandra-Fisher (padmayf@gmail.com) Dr. Ludmilla Kolokolova (ludmilla@astro.umd.edu) Dr. Herve Lamy (herve.lamy@aeronomie.be) Dr. Zhibo Jiang (zbjiang@pmo.ac.cn) Dr. Anny-Chantal Levvaseur-Regourd (Anny-Chantal.Levasseur Regourd@latmos.ipsl.fr) 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 AOGS 2016 SESSION PS-08: SOLAR SYSTEM PRIMITIVE BODY EXPLORATION MISSIONS Asia Oceania Geosciences Conference 2016 July 31 – Aug 5, Beijing, China Conference website: http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2016/public.asp?page=home.htm This session welcomes abstracts about the results from all past and ongoing small body missions by combining multiple missions, as well as new concepts for future missions. Solar system small bodies are considered the best-preserved fossils from the early era of planetary systems formation. Small body exploration missions have tremendously revolutionized our understanding of the formation of the planetary system with their paradigm changing results. In the context of past and current missions, such as Dawn, Rosetta, Stardust-Next, EPOXI, Deep Impact, NEAR, Giotto, and VEGA, as well as missions such as Hayabusa2, en route to its target, OSIRIS-REx, in development and possibly Lucy, Psyche, AIDA, and the Japanese Trojan asteroid mission, it is now time to both combine the mission results to enhance scientific returns of these missions and to develop concepts for future small body explorations. Abstract submissions are open until March 4, 2016. Conveners: Jian-Yang Li (Planetary Science Institute, United States), Makoto Yoshikawa (JAXA, Japan), Lucy McFadden (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, United States), Sebastien Besse (ESA, Spain), Liang Chang (Yunnan Observatory, China) 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 AOGS2016 SESSION PS-09: PLANETARY SCIENCE DATA ARCHIVING Asia Oceania Geosciences Conference 2016 July 31 – Aug 5, Beijing, China Conference website: http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2016/public.asp?page=home.htm The focus of this session is planetary science data archives, archiving activities, and future plans. We invite contributed abstracts related to all aspects of planetary science data archiving activities and concepts and will invite speakers from the major data archiving organizations from various space agencies to discuss their facilities and activities. It is of great importance and broad community interest to archive and make available to the public the data returned by planetary science exploration missions and related data from Earth- based observatories. The ultimate goal is to enable and facilitate combined scientific analyses using data covering long time-baselines and multiple observations for new phenomena and scientific objectives emerging in the future. This session provides a forum for researchers in planetary sciences to discuss and understand the standards, approaches, current progress, and future plans and concepts for effective long-term planetary science data preservation. Abstract submissions are open until March 4, 2016. Conveners: Jian-Yang Li (Planetary Science Institute, United States), Ludmilla Kolokolova (University of Maryland, United States), Daniel Crichton (JPL, Caltech, United States), Sebastien Besse (ESA, Spain), Yukio Yamamoto (JAXA, Japan) 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 AOGS 2016 SESSION PS-13: COMMUNICATING THE EXCITEMENT OF SPACE EXPLORATION TO AUDIENCES IN YOUNG SPACE-FARING NATIONS Asia Oceania Geosciences Conference 2016 July 31 – Aug 5, Beijing, China Conference website: http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2016/public.asp?page=home.htm Abstract submission deadline: extended to March 4, 2016 Recent years have seen growth in the number of nations that are conducting spacecraft missions for planetary science, space science, and astronomy. China, India, and Japan have flown successful lunar and planetary missions. Korea and Russia also have plans to enter or re-enter the arena of space exploration. A challenge for countries with youthful space exploration programs is to engage their citizens and communicate an appreciation of the value and excitement of space exploration. This session will highlight education and public outreach (EPO) programs, strategies, and technologies, with emphasis on developing countries and nations that are relatively new to space science and exploration. We also welcome presentations that describe outreach programs that have been successful in the U.S., Europe, or elsewhere. Conveners: Prof. Yongchun Zheng (National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China), Dr. David Blewett (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, United States) 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 AOGS 2016 SESSION PS-15: ROLE OF SMALL BODIES IN THE FORMATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM: FROM INTERPLANETARY DUST TO PLANETARY MOONS Solar system small bodies, ranging from dust particles to primitive bodies (asteroids, comets, minor planets, KBOs) and planetary moons and ring systems present targets for future exploration. Results from recent missions such as NASA/New Horizons to Pluto and now enroute to a KBO, ESA/Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, NASA/ DAWN mission of Vesta and Ceres, ESA/Gaia, and new missions such as JAXA/Hyabusa2 mission to an asteroid, NASA/Europa Clipper mission, etc. illustrate the importance of studying these objects and their role in the formation and evolution of the solar system. Given their location, composition and evolution, we have windows into the inventory of the early solar system. The asteroid-comet spectrum; discovery of rings around Centaurs; jets from planetary satellites are examples of large diversity that exists in our solar system. We invite presentations (oral and poster; invited, reviews and contributed) covering the broad themes of observations, models, laboratory measurements, instrumentation, missions, and related outreach and Citizen Science activities. Conveners: Dr. Padma A Yanamandra-Fisher (padmayf@gmail.com) Dr. Ludmilla Kolokolova (ludmilla@astro.umd.edu) Dr. Aigen Li (University of Missouri-Columbia, United States) Dr. Jian Yang Li (jyli@psi.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 AOGS 2016 SESSION PS-16: MOON AND MERCURY - A COMPARATIVE VIEW Asia Oceania Geosciences Conference 2016 July 31 – Aug 5, Beijing, China Conference website: http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2016/public.asp?page=home.htm Abstract submission deadline: extended to March 4, 2016 Session Description: Recent years have provided us with many new insights on both the Moon and Mercury. In the past the Moon was often considered as a Mercury analog. Now we know that this view is true only to a limited extent. However there are many similarities between these two bodies, and the differences allow us to learn more about airless bodies in the Solar System in general. Therefore we invite contributions to this comparative session. In addition to comparative presentations, contributions that focus on just one of these bodies are welcome. Main Convener: Dr. Jorn Helbert (German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany), joern.helbert@dlr.de Co-convener(s): Dr. David Blewett, David.Blewett@jhuapl.edu Prof. Sho Sasaki ,sasakisho@ess.sci.osaka-u.ac.jp Prof. Masaki Fujimoto, fujimoto@stp.isas.jaxa.jp 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 LABORATORY MEASUREMENT NEEDS FOR EXOPLANETARY ATMOSPHERES A team of NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) scientists and other members of the exoplanet community, led by Jonathan Fortney, have written a white paper entitled, "The Need for Laboratory Work to Aid in the Understanding of Exoplanetary Atmospheres." The paper can be found at: http://arxiv.org/abs/1602.06305 Community comment is welcome. Please submit comments and suggestions by going to the Google Doc version of the paper: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1109uy_5n9VWuOOn-huTVv- gJgBFRO9QH0Ojkao1a6Lk/edit?usp=sharing More information about NExSS can be found at: https://nexss.info/ We also invite you to follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nexssinfo A new blog about NExSS and other exoplanet community research news, "Many Worlds," can be read at: http://www.manyworlds.space/ Anthony D. Del Genio Anthony.D.DelGenio@nasa.gov 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 EXOPLANET AND HABITABILITY WORKSHOP, MARCH 2, AT LOWELL OBSERVATORY On Wednesday March 2, the Northern Arizona Planetary Science Alliance (NAPSA) will be hosting a workshop on Exoplanets and Habitability at Lowell Observatory. Anyone who is interested in learning more about these topics or opportunities for collaboration should feel free to attend. For more information, or to register for the workshop, please visit the workshop webpage: https://napsaconsortium.wordpress.com/2016-napsa-workshop-exoplanets- and-habitability/ 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 REGISTER TODAY FOR THE 2016 HUMANS TO MARS SUMMIT (H2M) Join us at the Humans to Mars Summit (H2M) that will be held from May 17-19, 2016 at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. H2M is an annual Mars exploration conference that addresses the major technical, scientific, and policy challenges that need to be overcome in order to send humans to Mars by the 2030s. It is the most comprehensive conference in the world focused on landing humans on Mars, and the 2016 H2M is shaping up to be the biggest H2M yet. Confirmed and tentative speakers already include Charles Bolden, Dava Newman, Andrew Weir (Author, The Martian) Ellen Stofan, Bill Nye ("The Science Guy"), James Green, Janet Ivey, Scott Hubbard, Miles O'Brien (PBS, CNN), Penelope Boston, 'Astronaut Abby' Harrison, Joe Cassady (Aerojet Rocketdyne), Harley Thronson (NASA Goddard), and many more. Register today at: http://h2m.exploremars.org 10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10 2016 NASA PLANETARY SCIENCE SUMMER SCHOOL APPLICATIONS OPEN NASA is accepting applications from science and engineering post-docs, recent PhDs, and doctoral students for its 28th Annual Planetary Science Summer School, which will be held July 25-29, 2016 at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. During the program and pre-session webinars, student teams will carry out the equivalent of an early mission concept study, prepare a proposal authorization presentation, present it to a review board, and receive feedback. By the end of the session, students will have a clearer understanding of the life cycle of a space mission; relationships between mission design, cost, and schedule; and the tradeoffs necessary to stay within cost and schedule while preserving the quality of science. Applications are due April 6, 2016. Partial financial support is available for a limited number of individuals. Further information is available at: http://pscischool.jpl.nasa.gov 11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11 SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT: COMETARY SCIENCE AFTER ROSETTA MEETINGS Meeting I: June 14-15: Cometary Science after Rosetta The Royal Society, London Results from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission to Comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko are leading to a revolution in our understanding of these ancient bodies, and hence the conditions prevalent in the early Solar System. This meeting will report, through solicited reviews and a contributed poster session, on all aspects of the mission's ground-breaking discoveries, placing them in the context of cometary science as a whole. Contributions to the poster session are welcome. Registration and abstract submission now open at: https://royalsociety.org/events/2016/06/cometary-science/ Poster Abstract deadline: March 18, 2016 Meeting II: June 16-17: Cometary Science After Rosetta: Future Directions The Centre for Planetary Sciences at UCL/Birkbeck At this second meeting, we shall further review the current status of the field of cometary science following the keenly-anticipated results of Rosetta, with the aim to engender focused, collaborative studies of these fascinating objects. The programme will include solicited presentations as well as contributed talks and posters. Abstract submission and Registration now open at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/mssl/planetary-science/comets-after-rosetta Abstract deadline: April 30, 2016 12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12 [NASA] CALL FOR LETTERS OF APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP ON NASA’S SCIENCE DEFINITION TEAM FOR EUROPA LANDER PRE-PHASE A STUDY The Planetary Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate plans to conduct a Pre-Phase A study of a Europa lander mission concept. NASA invites scientists and other qualified individuals at U.S. institutions to apply for membership on the Europa Lander Science Definition Team (SDT). The SDT will be formed in March 2016 and will be disbanded after the work is complete. Volunteers selected for membership will have demonstrated expertise and knowledge in areas highly relevant to science relevant for the lander mission concept. NASA anticipates the selection of approximately seven to ten SDT members. Representative(s) from the NASA Planetary Science Division will serve as ex officio members of the SDT. Letters of Application are invited only from individuals, and group applications will not be considered. In addition, collaborations and teams will not be considered. Each Letter of Application, limited to one page, shall be submitted by E-mail no later than March 18, 2016 (11:59 p.m. EST), to Dr. Curt Niebur at: curt.niebur@nasa.gov. The subject line of the E-mail should include "Europa Lander SDT". [Edited for length.] 13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13 2016 NASA PLANETARY SCIENCE SUMMER SCHOOL APPLICATIONS OPEN NASA is accepting applications from science and engineering post-docs, recent PhDs, and doctoral students for its 28th Annual Planetary Science Summer School, which will be held July 25-29, 2016 at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. During the program and pre-session webinars, student teams will carry out the equivalent of an early mission concept study, prepare a proposal authorization presentation, present it to a review board, and receive feedback. By the end of the session, students will have a clearer understanding of the life cycle of a space mission; relationships between mission design, cost, and schedule; and the tradeoffs necessary to stay within cost and schedule while preserving the quality of science. Applications are due April 6, 2016. Partial financial support is available for a limited number of individuals. Further information is available at: http://pscischool.jpl.nasa.gov 14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14-14 PLANETARY MEETING CALENDAR ADDITIONS March 2, 2016 Exoplanet and Habitability Workshop https://napsaconsortium.wordpress.com/2016-napsa-workshop-exoplanets- and-habitability/ Flagstaff, Arizona May 17-19, 2016 Humans to Mars Summit http://h2m.exploremars.org Washington, DC June 16-17, 2016 Cometary Science After Rosetta: Future Directions http://www.ucl.ac.uk/mssl/planetary-science/comets-after-rosetta London, United Kingdom July 25-27, 2016 NASA Planetary Science Summer School http://pscischool.jpl.nasa.gov Pasadena, CA [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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