PLANETARY EXPLORATION NEWSLETTER Volume 3, Number 19 (April 19, 2009) PEN Website: http://planetarynews.org Editor: Mark V. Sykes Co-Editors: Nic Richmond, Matt Balme Email: pen_editor at psi.edu o-------------------------TABLE OF CONTENTS---------------------------o 1. Planetary Decadal Survey Update 2. Steve Ostro Memorial Symposium 3. Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG) Seeks Input 4. [NASA] Call For Proposals: Field Science Analog Testing 5. [NASA] Letter from the Senior Advisor for Research and Analysis (SARA) 6. [NASA] Invitation to be a Proposal Reviewer for the Planetary Division 7. Job Openings at the CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility 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 PLANETARY DECADAL SURVEY UPDATE Steven Squyres, chair of the National Research Council's Planetary Science Decadal Survey, has posted the first of a planned series of community newsletters on the survey's website. The newsletter, together with additional information about the survey's goals, organization and activities, is available at http://www7.nationalacademies.org/ssb/ssedecadal2011.html. Work on assembling the decadal survey's steering group and supporting panels is progressing. Candidates have now been identified to fill all of membership slots on the steering group and, also, the chair/vice-chair positions on the five panels. The identities of these individuals will be made public as soon as their nominations have been approved by the NRC's executive office. The numerous suggestions and nominations made by members of the community, the analysis/assessment groups and other organizations were extremely useful in identifying these individuals. Nominations are still being accepted for panel membership. Dates for the first two meetings of the steering group have now been set. The first meeting will be held at the National Academies' Keck Center in Washington, D.C., on 6-8 July. The second meeting will be held at the National Academies' Beckman Center in Irvine, California, on 16-18 November. David H. Smith, Study Director 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 STEVE OSTRO MEMORIAL SYMPOSIUM Dear Colleagues, This is an invitation for you to attend a one day JPL Symposium to honor the memory of Steve Ostro. This one-day Symposium will be held at JPL's Von Karman Auditorium on Thursday June 4, 2009 (8:30 - 5:00). The ten invited oral presentations are listed below. Attendees are invited to bring poster presentations (30 x 40 inches), which will be displayed in Von Karman Auditorium all day. If there is sufficient interest, additional room for posters will be provided in a facility adjacent to the Auditorium. There is no registration fee. To facilitate access to JPL (through JPL security) and to make plans for the poster presntations, potential attendees are asked to contact either Don Yeomans (donald.k.yeomans@jpl.nasa.gov) or Lance Benner (Lance.Benner@jpl.nasa.gov) by May 15 with the following information: Name Affiliation email address U.S. citizen? Will you bring a poster presentation? If so, what is the title of your poster presentation? Details of the Symposium and the invited speakers can be found at: http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/ostro_symposium/ostro_symposium.html With kind regards, Don Yeomans and Lance Benner, Co-Chairs 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 VENUS EXPLORATION ANALYSIS GROUP (VEXAG) SEEKS INPUT The Goals, Objectives and Investigations for Venus Exploration were updated at the last Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG) meeting, held 2/25/09. We seek further community input on this updated list and urge the community to review and provide input on the updated Goals-Objectives-Investigations chart that is posted on the VEXAG website at http://www.lpi.usra.edu/vexag/investigations_comments/ The objectives and investigations are listed in priority order. The comments page will be available until May 1, 2009. We anticipate that the updated VEXAG White Paper will be posted on the website in early summer, 2009. 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 [NASA] CALL FOR PROPOSALS: FIELD SCIENCE ANALOG TESTING The focus of this program will be on engaging field scientists (supported by the NASA Science Mission Directorate) within NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) field campaigns to provide high fidelity field testing of hardware and operations to optimize future human scientific exploration of the Moon and Mars. A goal of this program is to test operations and systems for human lunar exploration to help optimize scientific investigations. NASA is in need of data to support surface science and operations scenarios as it moves forward in its architecture and requirements definition processes for human lunar exploration. Proposers should plan to provide feedback to the ESMD analog teams regarding concepts of operations and hardware (including instrumentation) as NASA plans for future human lunar exploration. Only by considering how to accomplish high-fidelity science investigations can these components of exploration be satisfactorily tested to optimally aid with the planning and implementation of science investigations on other planetary surfaces. The due date for these 5 page proposals is May 11, 2009. For more information regarding this call for proposals go to http://nasascience.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/fsat Contact: Dr. Jennifer Heldmann (NASA Headquarters), Jennifer.Heldmann@nasa.gov (202) 358-2302 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 [NASA] LETTER FROM THE SENIOR ADVISOR FOR RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS (SARA) A new SARA letter has been posted at http://sara.nasa.gov (click on "Letters from SARA" on the left navigation bar) Highlights: (1) All team members on ROSES 09 proposals must confirm their participation online. (2) Warning: proposal submissions through grants.gov may not be possible. (3) The latest on NASA spending on conferences. (4) An invitation to provide input to an SSB NRC study on “Mission-Enabling Activities.” (5) A new call for proposals to participate in ESMD field campaigns! There are now RSS feeds at the SARA web page for "Letters from SARA" and the "Amendments, clarifications and corrections to ROSES 2009." 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 [NASA] INVITATION TO BE A PROPOSAL REVIEWER FOR THE PLANETARY DIVISION The Planetary Science Division encourages scientists, especially early career researchers, to volunteer to be reviewers. To volunteer please send a brief description of your areas expertise and/or names of ROSES programs which you feel most qualified to review, and a short CV to: SARA@nasa.gov . 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 JOB OPENINGS AT THE CSIRO AUSTRALIA TELESCOPE NATIONAL FACILITY Dear colleagues, We would like to draw your attention to three senior positions available in the Operations group at the CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility. These are for an Assistant Director for Operations (CSIRO position 2009/178), a Head of Engineering Operations (2009/176), and an Engineer and Site Manager (Parkes Observatory) (2009/177). For a full description and details of how to apply, go to https://recruitment.csiro.au/asp/job_list.asp Applications for all three positions close on 03 May 2009. It would be greatly appreciated if you would forward this email to anyone who may be interested. Best wishes, Jessica Chapman ATNF Operations Research Program Leader 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 4, 2009 Steve Ostro Memorial Symposium http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/ostro_symposium/ostro_symposium.html Pasadena, CA July 6-8, 2009 A Joint European/Japanese Workshop on the SPICA Space Mission http://www.sstd.rl.ac.uk/spica/index.html Oxford, United Kingdom September 20-30, 2009 Summer School NOVICOSMO 2009 - Highlights in Astrophysics http://www.novicosmo.org Rabac, Croatia [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. 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