PLANETARY EXPLORATION NEWSLETTER
Volume 15, Number 22 (May 25, 2021)

PEN Website: http://planetarynews.org
Editor: Mark V. Sykes 
Co-Editors: Alex Morgan, Elisabeth Adams, Georgiana Kramer
Email: pen_editor at psi.edu
Twitter: @pen2tweets

o--------------------------SPECIAL EDITION----------------------------o

DELAY OF NEW FRONTIERS (NF) 5 AND RAMIFICATIONS FOR THE DECADAL SURVEY

Dear colleagues,

We have entered the most intense phase of effort on the Planetary 
Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey and the nearly 100 members of 
the Decadal Committee are working tirelessly. We are extremely grateful 
for all of their efforts, and we remain on-track for release of our 
report at the end of March 2022.

The delay of the NF-5 Announcement of Opportunity (AO), as described in 
the Third Community Announcement released by NASA on May 12, has 
substantial ramifications for the Decadal Survey. The Decadal Statement 
of Task charges us with developing "a comprehensive science and mission 
strategy" for the 2023 to 2032 decade, within which the AO release for 
NF-5 will now fall. However, when the Decadal Committee was populated 
last summer, it was with the understanding that the NF-5 mission 
candidates defined by the prior Decadal Survey (Vision and Voyages for 
Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022), and modified by subsequent 
NASA decisions and CAPS findings, would not be affected by this Decadal 
for the NF-5 call. Changing that stance now would create conflicts of 
interest and other problematic issues for the Survey and the community.

We take our responsibility to represent the community very seriously, 
and protecting the integrity of the Decadal Survey process is our 
highest priority. To avoid real or perceived conflicts, the Decadal 
Steering Committee has decided that it will retain the list of mission 
themes for NF-5 previously provided by NASA in their Second Community 
Announcement on November 5, 2020. We will continue to assess the future 
of the New Frontiers program and will formulate recommendations for 
NF-6 and beyond as originally planned.

Sincerely,

Robin Canup and Phil Christensen


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