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Science Committee Presentation to NAC Plenary October 16, 2008 Jack Burns Brad Jolliff Mark Robinson Byron Tapley Owen Garriott* Charles Kennel. Owen makes his apologies…. Astrophysics Recent Results. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Science Committee Presentation to NAC Plenary
October 16, 2008
Jack BurnsBrad Jolliff
Mark RobinsonByron Tapley
Owen Garriott*Charles Kennel
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Owen makes his apologies…
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Astrophysics Recent Results
Swift has found the most distant gamma-ray burst ever detected. The blast, designated GRB 080913, arose from an exploding star 12.8 billion light-years away. The burst occurred less than 825 million years after the universe began.
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The first all-sky view taken by Fermi (GLAST) reveals bright emission in plane of the Milky Way (center). bright pulsars and super-massive black holes.
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MESSENGER 2nd Mercury Encounter
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Planetary Science SubcommitteeOct 2008
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Under Study
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Solar Storms from Hinode
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Arctic Sea Ice Extent
Arctic sea ice coverage reached its lowest extent for the year and the second-lowest amount recorded since the dawn of the satellite era, according to observations from the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Daily Arctic sea ice extent for September 12, 2008, where the date of this year's minimum (white) is overlaid on September 16, 2007, last year's minimum extent (dark gray). Light gray shading indicates the region where ice occurred in both 2007 and 2008. Blue is open water; and mask is gray.
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A Busy Time for Science at NASA
THEMIS
AIM
Phoenix
Dawn
GLAST
IBEX
OSTM
CINDI
TWINS-B
Chandrayaan 1
SDO
NPP
Aquarius
ST-7
2007 2008 2009 2010
NASA Mission on STS
DoD Mission with Substantial NASA Contribution
International Mission with Substantial NASA Contribution
Joint NASA - International Partner Mission
Reimbursable for NOAA
2011
Juno
NuSTAR
GRAIL
LADEE
LWS SET-1
20132012
RBSP
LDCM
SMAP
SMEX
MAVEN
ILN 1/2
SMAP
JWST
GPM Core
ExoMars
NeXT
As of 10/1/08
MMS
ICESat II
GPM Const
Discovery
Venture 1
2014
= Successfully launched to date
* = Early science flight
NASA Mission on US ELV
JDEM
SMEX
Solar Orbiter
2015
Discovery
New Frontiers
Mars 2016
Venture 2
2016
ESMD mission with SMD participation
LRO/LCROSS
OCO
Glory
MSL
WISE
Kepler
SOFIA*
HST SM-4
GOES-O
GOES-P
NOAA-N’
Herschel
Planck
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Major Meeting Features & Topics• Invited participation from NAC Science Subcommittee Chairs and
corresponding SMD Division Directors
• SMD Overview by SMD Associate Administrator, Ed Weiler
• Will feature one science area in each of the next several meetings. This time: Earth Science
– ESS Chair/Daniel Jacobs, ESD Director/Mike Freilich, ES Techology Office Director/George Komar
• Worked on Transition white paper
• With the Space Ops Committee, heard a briefing on Space Communications and Navigation (ScAN) by SOMD Deputy AA / Badri Younes
• Reviewed Subcommittee recommendations
• Reviewed Mars Science Laboratory status with SMD Planetary Science Director/Jim Green
• Received briefing on LEAG’s Lunar Goals Roadmap with LEAG Chair / Clive Neal
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Earth Science• The first NRC decadal survey in Earth Science and Applications
from Space was released in January 2007– Identified an integrated slate of 15 new missions for NASA in
three time-phased cohorts between 2010-2020– Resources permit only about half of these to be accomplished in
the time frame recommended by the NRC– NASA and the science community will need a strategy to address
this disconnect– NASA has initiated formulation of the first two decadal survey
missions, with the next two in pre-formulation
• Continuity of Earth observation data is critical to global change research. NASA has taken steps to recover key measurements/sensors dropped from NPOESS, e.g. total solar irradiance, atmospheric ozone profile
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NASA Operating Earth Science Missions
OSTM/Jason 2
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Mars Science Laboratory
• In the NAC’s April meeting, we recommended that “NASA should continue to make every effort toward MSL mission success with a launch in 2009.”
• Since then, the MSL project has come forward with another large over-guideline budget request for FY09
• NASA has identified metrics that must be met to achieve a 2009 launch, e.g., key hardware deliveries this Fall
• NASA will review MSL’s progress in January to determine whether to continue working toward the 2009 launch or defer to the 2011 opportunity.
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Recommendations
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Near-term Access to Space• All four of NASA’s science areas face
challenges in obtaining reliable launch services for medium-class payloads given the pending retirement of the Delta-II
• New commercial vehicles in this class are under development, but it will be several years before they are available for routine purchase and use for NASA science missions
• DoD’s Minotaur 4/5 launch vehicles could be an important resource to fill the gap until new commercial vehicles are available
• NASA has arranged for launch of the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission on a Minotaur vehicle from Wallops Island
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Recommendation
• Short title of proposed recommendation: Obtain Minotaur launch vehicles as a gap-filler.
• Short Description of Proposed Recommendation:
– NASA should work with the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Department of Defense to obtain Minotaur launch vehicles to launch science missions. This capability would fill the gap until new commercial vehicles are available to provide launch services on a reliable, routine basis.
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LEAG Lunar Goals Roadmap• The Lunar Exploration Analysis Group has made excellent
progress in developing a Lunar Goals Roadmap.• Defined Themes, Goals, Objectives, Investigations, and
Priorities
Science Theme: Address fundamental questions about the solar system, the universe, and our place in them.
Feed Forward Theme: Use the Moon to prepare for future missions to Mars and other destinations.
Sustainability Theme: Extend sustained human presence to the Moon to enable eventual settlement.
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Recommendation
• Short title of proposed recommendation: Enhancing communication between NASA and the lunar science community in planning for science activities in lunar exploration planning.
• Short Description of Proposed Recommendation:
– A formal mechanism should be established to enhance communication between the OSEWG (Optimizing Science and Exploration Working Group) and the lunar science community through coordinated interaction with the LEAG (Lunar Exploration Analysis Group).
– The LEAG and OSEWG should coordinate a workshop in conjunction with a regular meeting of the LEAG or other appropriate conference to review NASA’s ongoing implementation of the lunar exploration architecture, including the development of Surface Science Scenarios and responses to previous recommendations of the Council
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