X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 14:03:04 -0600 To: Recipient List Suppressed: ; From: Linda French <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: DPS Mailing #05-05: Message from the Chair.... Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Status: R X-Status: N X-KMail-EncryptionState: X-KMail-SignatureState:
Greetings, DPS Colleagues, +------------------CONTENTS:------------------------------+ 1) MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR 2) 2005 DPS PRIZE NOMINATIONS SOUGHT 3) PRELIMINARY DPS 2005 INFO 4) VENUS EXPLORATION ANALYSIS GROUP (VEXAG) +----------------------------------------------------------+ 1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1 Dear Colleagues: Last week saw another ominous development for planetary science. On Wednesday, NASA announced its selections from the latest (11th) round of Discovery proposals. From 18 proposals, no stand-alone flight missions were selected, an unprecedented occurrence. The DPS is stunned by this decision. Discovery proposals require a tremendous amount of unfunded work by Principal Investigators (PIs), their Co-Investigator teams, NASA centers, other research centers and laboratories, and their industry partners. Are we to believe that none of the flight missions proposed merited going to "Phase A," which is not selection for flight, but selection for further detailed study to determine suitability for flight? The Discovery Program is one of NASA's most innovative and cost-effective programs. It is a major and in our judgment irreplaceable part of planetary exploration. Incredible ideas are conceived, and if all goes well, brought to fruition. Missions are flown, such as Pathfinder, NEAR, Lunar Prospector, Stardust, Genesis, Messenger, and Deep Impact, that frankly never would have had little chance of being flown under the old way of doing business. While the Discovery proposal PIs have yet to be debriefed on the details of each evaluation, we do know that some submitted proposals have heritage from earlier rounds and have in past Discovery proposal cycles simultaneously received the highest possible scientific ranking and the lowest possible risk ranking. Last week, NASA also announced that the next Discovery AO would be released soon, and officials have told us that both the cost cap would be raised and the existing budget profile restrictions would be relaxed. These are welcome developments, but the effect of last week's non-selection will likely adversely affect the applicant pool regardless of the scope of the program in the future. As we noted above, qualified teams and their industrial partners have invested their own resources, countless man-hours and (all together) millions of dollars. But in the face of such seemingly arbitrary actions by the Agency, they cannot be expected to continue doing so. And as a result, America's space program is the loser. In effect, the non-selection of potential mission candidates for study means that a Discovery mission has been cancelled, and the Discovery selection process has failed. We call upon NASA to conduct an open selection-process failure analysis, just as it would for a flight mission loss. The paradigm of PI-led missions like Discovery represents American enterprise, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship at its best. The Discovery Program, and the nascent New Frontiers Program, and the smaller scale Explorer programs, all PI-led, must not be allowed to falter. The DPS strongly urges NASA to reaffirm its support for the Discovery and other PI-led programs by making mission selections in response to NASA Aos, and to work with Congress to ensure the funding of these missions. Finally, we note that last week's decision takes place against the background of profound change in NASA's directions and priorities, more details of which are expected in the FY06 Federal Budget to be released Monday, February 7th. The AAS and DPS will be closely analyzing the implications of the budget for NASA and the programs within it. In the meantime, letters, phone calls, and faxes to NASA and the press in support of the Discovery and other PI-led programs are critically important. These could stress 1) your disappointment in the recent non-selection and 2) your support for Discovery and other PI-led programs; request that 3) NASA openly investigate the causes of this non-selection; and most important, that 4) NASA recommit itself to making competitive selections in these programs. We ask you, however, to also prepare for a much larger effort that we may be calling upon you to undertake, which transcends our serious concerns for individual programs. On behalf of the DPS Committee, Bill McKinnon DPS Chair 2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2 2005 DPS PRIZE NOMINATIONS SOUGHT As announced in Mailings #05-01 and 05-02, the DPS Prize Subcommittee is seeking nominations for 2005 winners of the Urey, Kuiper, Masursky, and Sagan Prizes. The deadline for submission of completed applications is 7 March, 2005. More information is available at http://www.aas.org/~dps/prizes_contact.html, along with a nomination form. A complete nomination will be considered by the Prize subcommittee for three years. You may wish to contact me to see if there already is an active pending nomination for your candidate. Because of the time it takes to accumulate materials needed for a nomination, I encourage all of you to begin as soon as possible. The award will be presented at the 2005 DPS meeting in Cambridge, England. William D. Cochran DPS Prize Subcommittee Chair McDonald Observatory 1 University Station C1402 Austin TX 78712-0259 Ph: (512) 471-6474 Fax: (512) 471-6016 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 3---------3---------3---------3---------3---------3---------3---------3 PRELIMINARY INFORMATION ABOUT DPS 2005 CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND The preliminary meeting website is at http://www.dps2005.org. It is not yet possible to book accommodation, etc., via the website. Those functions will be available soon. 4---------4---------4---------4---------4---------4---------4---------4 VENUS EXPLORATION ANALYSIS GROUP (VEXAG) Dear Colleague, We are working with NASA to establish a Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG). While this group will build on a nucleus of US scientists involved in the ESA's Venus Express mission, it is intended to represent the full range of scientific interest in the study or our sister planet. As NASA moves to redefine itself in light of the President's Vision for Exploration, strategic roadmaps are being developed for exploration and scientific investigations throughout the solar system. We feel that it is imperative that the Venus community has a voice as these roadmapping exercises continue to define mission priorities for the coming decades. VEXAG is intended to fill this role of assisting NASA in its planning and to represent the wishes of the community in much the same way as MEPAG, LEAG and OPAG represent the Martian, Lunar and Outer Planets Communities, respectively. If you have a wish to participate in VEXAG or simply want to stay informed of Venus-related activities internationally, please register at out new web site <http://www.lpi.usra.edu/vexag> While this site is now just under construction, it is intended to act as a locus for information on Venus activities, and as an archive for and connection to Venus data. Best regards, Steve Mackwell Director, LPI +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Linda French Emmons, DPS Secretary Send submissions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Submissions should be in text format (no attachments, please). ------------------------------------------------------- -- *********************************************************************** Amara Graps, PhD Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, CNR - ARTOV, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere, 100, I-00133 Roma, ITALIA tel: +39-06-4993-4375 |fax: +39-06-4993-4383 [EMAIL PROTECTED] | http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/dustgroup/~graps ************************************************************************ "We came whirling out of Nothingness scattering stars like dust." --Rumi ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07078, 11.61144 http://www.leitl.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE http://moleculardevices.org http://nanomachines.net
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