ExoPAG News and Announcements - Archive

ExoPAG News and Announcements (December 26, 2022)

ExoPAG 27 at AAS241 (January 7-8, 2023, Seattle and virtual)
ROSES-22: D.18 Extreme Precision Radial Velocity Foundation Science (Step-1 proposals due February 16, 2023; Step-2 proposals due April 26, 2023)
ROSES-22: D.10 TESS GI Program Cycle 6 (Phase-1 Proposals due April 14, 2023)
ROSES-22: D.14 Roman Mission Research and Support Participation Opportunities (NOIs requested by January 20, 2023; Proposal due date March 21, 2023)
Job Opening: Senior Scientist for Astrobiology at NASA HQ (Application deadline January 31, 2023)
2023 Exoplanet Meetings/Events

1) ExoPAG 27 at AAS241 (January 7-8, 2023, Seattle and virtual)

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/exopag-27/

Agenda: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/system/events/agendas/388_ExoPAG_27_Agenda-122122.pdf

2) ROSES-22: D.18 Extreme Precision Radial Velocity Foundation Science (Step-1 proposals due February 16, 2023; Step-2 proposals due April 26, 2023)

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=%7bE52C5EC5-E0FC-403E-1071-4802DB562F0C%7d&path=&method=init

In response to NASEM’s 2018 Exoplanet Science Strategy report, the Astrophysics Division introduced the Extreme Precision Radial Velocity Foundation Science program element under ROSES-2020 to support a pilot set of competitively-selected investigations that addressed key challenges to achieving centimeter-per-second EPRV measurement precisions. This new ROSES-2022 program element is released to continue that work.

D.18 Extreme Precision Radial Velocity (EPRV) Foundation Science solicits investigations that will advance tools, techniques, and understanding to enable the extraction of small Keplerian radial velocity signals buried deeply within complex time-series stellar spectra. Specifically, we seek investigations in the following areas:

Studies of how stellar (including solar) surface phenomena (convection, granulation, supergranulation, various flows, oscillations, magnetic fields, spots, faculae, plage) impact the radial velocity time series measurements of disk-integrated spectra and how those impacts vary over (relevant time scales (e.g., rotational periods, magnetic cycles, convection time scales, etc.). Investigations leading to the development of models, tools, and techniques that can be applied to disk-integrated spectra of stars to mitigate stellar radial velocity variability.
Analyses of disk-integrated precision radial velocity observations of the Sun and benchmark (standard) stars, along with cross comparisons and simultaneous observations from different radial velocity instruments, designed to evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation strategies for stellar radial velocity variability and instrument systematics.
Development of advanced statistical methodologies to analyze complex radial velocity datasets to enable detection of small planets and precisely measure their masses.
Interdisciplinary research that capitalizes on existing and new heliophysics datasets beyond just those from the solar feeds of existing EPRV instruments to help model/detrend/interpret disk-integrated solar RV measurements for broad application in stellar astrophysics.

Proposed investigations may involve theory, observation, analysis of archival data, or a combination of these approaches.

ROSES-2022 Amendment 80 releases text and due dates for a new opportunity in ROSES-2022: Extreme Precision Radial Velocity Foundation Science (D.18 EPRV). Step-1 proposals are due February 16, 2023, and Step-2 proposals is April 26, 2023. Step-2 proposals will be evaluated via Dual-Anonymous Peer Review.

On or about December 20, 2022, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2022" (NNH22ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2022 and will appear on SARA's ROSES blog at:https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2022/

Questions concerning D.18 EPRV may be directed to Douglas Hudgins at douglas.m.hudgins@nasa.gov.

3) ROSES D.10: TESS GI Program Cycle 6 (Phase-1 Proposals due April 14, 2023)

ROSES-22 Amendment 79: TESS General Investigator Program (ROSES D.10) Final Text and Due Date Released

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=%7bF595238E-19D1-C0D6-D9AF-805702BC3D59%7d&path=&method=init

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) General Investigator (GI) Program (ROSES D.10) solicits proposals for the acquisition and analysis of new scientific data from the TESS Explorer mission. Additionally, proposals that support the acquisition and/or analysis of scientific data from ground-based telescopes are solicited. Such ground-based programs must directly support the analysis and/or interpretation of TESS scientific data. Observations associated with TESS GI Cycle 6 will be executed from September 2023 until October 2024, covering observing sectors 70 - 83 (https://tess.mit.edu/tess-year-6-observations/). Proposals are solicited for targets in Northern Ecliptic Hemisphere fields and in fields along on the ecliptic plane. The observing plan for Cycle 6 will be posted at https://tess.gsfc.nasa.gov once finalized.

ROSES-2022 Amendment 79 releases final text and due dates for D.10 TESS GI. Phase-1 proposals are due 4:30 pm April 14, 2023, via the Astrophysics Research Knowledgebase Remote Proposal System at https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ark/rps/

On or about December 19, 2022, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2022" (NNH22ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2022 and will appear on SARA's ROSES blog at:https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2022/

Programmatic information regarding D.10 TESS GI may be directed to Joshua Pepper at joshua.a.pepper@nasa.gov and Technical questions concerning this program element may be directed to Knicole Colón at knicole.colon@nasa.gov.

4) ROSES-22: D.14 Roman Mission Research and Support Participation Opportunities (NOIs requested by January 20, 2023; Proposal due date March 21, 2023)

Roman Mission Research and Support Participation Opportunities (ROSES-D.14) solicits proposals to work on preparation for the operational phase of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, in one of three categories:

Wide Field Instrument Science, which supports investigations that prepare for and/or enhance the science return of Roman that can be addressed with its Wide Field Instrument (WFI);
WFI Project Infrastructure Teams who will work with the Science Centers to develop scientific infrastructure to pursue Roman’s science goals in cosmology and exoplanet demographics; and
Coronagraph Community Participation Program for individuals or very small teams to work with the Coronagraph Instrument team to plan and execute its technology demonstration observations.

ROSES-2022 Amendment 78 releases the final text for this program element, which had previously been released as draft for community comment. Notices of Intent are requested by January 20, 2023, and the proposal due date is March 21, 2023.

On or about December 16, 2022, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2022" (NNH22ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2022 and will appear on SARA's ROSES blog at:https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2022/

The programmatic point of contact concerning D.14 Roman Mission Research and Support Participation Opportunities is Dominic Benford, who may be reached at Dominic.Benford@nasa.gov. Technical questions concerning this program element may be directed to Julie McEnery at julie.e.mcenery@nasa.gov.

5) Job Opening: Senior Scientist for Astrobiology at NASA HQ (Application deadline January 31, 2023)

Job Opening: Senior Scientist for Astrobiology, at NASA Headquarters, Washington D.C.

NASA leads the world in Astrobiology research and exploration and is preparing for the discovery of life elsewhere by nurturing multidisciplinary research, developing exciting space missions to explore habitable worlds, and by cooperating with partners nationally and internationally for the benefit of humankind. Astrobiology is a scientific discipline devoted to the study of life in the universe - its origin, evolution, future, and distribution.

This appointment will be for a period of up to 6 years under the NASA Excepted Hiring Authority (NEX) and is open only to U.S. Citizens.

The incumbent serves as the Agency’s Senior Leader in Astrobiology leading efforts from NASA Headquarters to ensure significant progress is made in Astrobiology. This position will ensure coordination and collaboration across SMD Divisions and between research programs and mission planning.

The incumbent fulfills the following responsibilities:

Enables world-class interdisciplinary research in Astrobiology by serving as the senior-most NASA scientist responsible for coordination of Astrobiology-related research across SMD and the Agency.
Establishes and leads the implementation of an Agency-wide integrated scientific Astrobiology strategy which supports SMD’s focus on “the search for life” based on a foundation of guidance from the National Academies and consistent with scientific priorities established by SMD management.
Provides scientific and technical input for NASA missions with Astrobiology-related goals and objectives.
Leads the development of new, innovative research and technology investment strategies, which include collaborations with other agencies and commercial, academic, and international partners.
Serves as the senior-most primary NASA Astrobiology representative to the broader scientific community through advisory committees and other groups such as the National Academies.
Supports, integrates, and implements innovative Astrobiology research activities and technology investment strategies across the Agency.
Serves as the authoritative voice on Astrobiology.

Full job information:

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search/?currentJobId=3393498186&keywords=Senior%20Scientist%20for%20Astrobiology%20

To be considered for this position, application materials must be submitted by January 31, 2023. For inquiries, please contact Leo Gomez, leopoldo.gomez@nasa.gov.

6) 2023 Exoplanet Meetings/Events

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/

January 7, 2023 - January 8, 2023
ExoPAG 27
Location: Seattle, WA
January 8, 2023 - January 12, 2023
241st AAS Meeting winter 2023
Location: Seattle, WA
February 6, 2023 - February 7, 2023
Spectroscopy of Exoplanets at High Resolution
Location: Sedgebrook Hall, Northampton, England
February 7, 2023 - February 9, 2023
First EMAC Workshop on Open-Access Exoplanet Resources - Virtual
March 19, 2023 - March 24, 2023
Exoplanet Systems and Stellar Life Cycles: Late-Stage and Post-MS Systems
Location: Aspen, Colorado
March 20, 2023 - March 24, 2023
PLANET-ESLAB-2023 Understanding Planets in the Solar System and Beyond
Location: Hybrid-format - at ESA-ESTEC, in the Netherlands
March 27, 2023 - March 30, 2023
The Fifth Workshop on Extremely Precise Radial Velocities (EPRV 5)
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
April 10, 2023 - April 15, 2023
Protostars and Planets VII
Location: Kyoto, Japan
May 5, 2023 - May 7, 2023
Oxygen in Planetary Biospheres
Location: Green Bank Observatory, West Virginia
May 16, 2023 - May 19, 2023
STScI Annual Spring Symposium: Planetary Systems and the Origins of Life in the Era of JWST
Location: Baltimore, MD
June 11, 2023 - June 16, 2023
Origins of Solar Systems
Location: South Hadley, MA
June 19, 2023 - June 22, 2023
Second Annual SETI Symposium
Location: State College, PA
June 22, 2023 - June 30, 2023
Exoclimes VI and ExoSLAM Summer School
Location: University of Exeter (UK)
July 3, 2023 - July 7, 2023
Towards Other Earths III: The Planet-Star connection
Location: Porto, Portugal
July 3, 2023 - July 7, 2023
Complex Planetary Systems II – Kavli-IAU Symposium 382
Location: University of Namur (Belgium)
July 10, 2023 - July 14, 2023
2023 Kavli-IAU Astrochemistry Symposium
Location: Traverse City, MI
July 17, 2023 - July 21, 2023
TESS/Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium Workshop (TASC7/KASC14)
Location: Honolulu, Hawaiʻi
July 24, 2023 - July 28, 2023
2023 Sagan Exoplanet Summer Hybrid Workshop: Characterizing Exoplanet Atmospheres: The Next Twenty Years
Location: Pasadena, CA (Hybrid)

ExoPAG News and Announcements (December 15, 2022)

AAS241 Joint PAG Session: NASA Astrophysics Division Update With APD Director Mark Clampin (Sunday, January 8, 2023; 6pm-8pm EST/3pm-5pm PST)
AAS241 Splinter Session: Starlight Suppression Technologies for the IR/O/UV Flagship (January 10, 2023; 9am-11am PST; hybrid)
New ROSES Opportunity: D.16 Astrophysics Decadal Survey Precursor Science (Mandatory NOIs due January 20, 2023; Proposals due March 24, 2023) and Note on Extreme Precision Radial Velocity
SPD-41a: Revised Scientific Information Policy for the Science Mission Directorate
EMAC Workshop on Open-Access Exoplanet Resources (Workshop February 7-9, 2023)
Planetary Systems and the Origins of Life in the Era of JWST (May 16-19, 2023; Abstract Deadline January 27, 2023)
ExoSLAM Summer School (June 22-24, 2023) and ExoClimes VI (June 26-30, 2023; University of Exeter, UK)
Kavli-IAU Symposium IAUS 382: Complex Planetary Systems II (CPSII) (University of Namur, Belgium, July 3-7, 2023; Abstract Deadline January 31, 2023)

+ more

1) AAS241 Joint PAG Session: NASA Astrophysics Division Update With APD Director Mark Clampin (Sunday, January 8, 2023; 6pm-8pm EST/3pm-5pm PST)

Please join us Sunday, January 8, 2023, 3pm-5pm PST at AAS 241 at the Seattle Convention Center, Room 4C-3 for a joint PAG session organized by the Physics of the Cosmos (PCOS), Cosmic Origins (COR), and Exoplanet Exploration (ExEP) programs. The joint PAG session will feature an update on NASA Astrophysics by Dr. Mark Clampin (Astrophysics Division Director).

Meeting Connect Information

https://nasaenterprise.webex.com/nasaenterprise/j.php?MTID=m97d6e3923d2e4fb9272656745d310f4c
Sunday, 8 January 2023 6:00 pm | 2 hours | (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Meeting number: 2760 103 4420
Password: NASA_AAS23_Sig!

Join by video system: Dial 27601034420@nasaenterprise.webex.com
You can also dial 207.182.190.20 and enter your meeting number.

Join by phone: +1-415-527-5035 US Toll
Access code: 276 010 34420

2) AAS241 Splinter Session: Starlight Suppression Technologies for the IR/O/UV Flagship (January 10, 2023; 9am-11am PST; hybrid)

Starlight Suppression Technologies for the IR/O/UV Flagship
AAS241 splinter session (hybrid; location and remote link tbd)
January 10, 2023; 9am – 11am
Chairs: Ruslan Belikov, Brendan Crill

Description:

NASA is about to embark on an ambitious program to develop an “IR/O/UV” (infrared/optical/ultraviolet) flagship mission to directly image ~25 potentially Earth-like planets and spectroscopically characterize them for signs of life, as recommended by the Astro2020 decadal survey. In addition, Astro2020 recommended a new approach for flagship formulation, which involves increasing the scope and depth of early, pre-phase A trades and technology maturation, as part of the new Great Observatories Maturation Program (GOMAP).

A critical capability of the IR/O/UV mission is starlight suppression. To inform future architecture trades, we will need to survey a wide range of technologies, from the relatively mature such as the ones described in the LUVOIR and HabEx reports, to the relatively new and emerging ones, which may lead to breakthrough performance. The purpose of this splinter session is to discuss the current status and future potential of different coronagraph technologies (including wavefront control), starshade technologies, and architectures.

Agenda:

0. Rus Belikov (5 mins): brief introduction / goals of session

1. Bruce Macintosh (15 mins): Decadal Survey science goals and the IR/O/UV Flagship.

2. Chris Stark (15 mins): Interdependence between mission requirements and science requirements

3. Rhonda Morgan (15 mins): Starlight suppression technologies from LUVOIR and HabEx reports

4. Bertrand Mennesson (15 mins): Advances of established starlight suppression technologies in the years since LUVOIR and HabEx.

5. Olivier Guyon (15 mins): Emerging technologies and their potential.

6. Pin Chen (10 mins): New initiatives: Coronagraph Survey, Coronagraph Roadmap, andDM Roadmap, etc.

7. Q&A and discussion (25 mins + 5 min buffer)

3) New ROSES Opportunity: D.16 Astrophysics Decadal Survey Precursor Science (Mandatory NOIs due January 20, 2023; Proposals due March 24, 2023) and Note on Extreme Precision Radial Velocity

New ROSES opportunity D.16 ASTROPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY PRECURSOR SCIENCE

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=%7b916A49FB-D88F-3C76-5B06-6148E6748FE7%7d&path=&method=init

Important clarification on EPRV: Science investigations with the primary goal of advancing Extreme Precision Radial Velocity measurement precisions to the ~1 cm/s level required to detect potentially habitable, Earth-mass exoplanets orbiting solar type stars are not solicited here. Those investigations will be solicited separately under ROSES-2022 program element D.18 Extreme Precision Radial Velocity Foundation Science (EPRV22). EPRV observations undertaken with the primary goal of conducting a census or characterizing plausible target systems for the large Infrared/Optical/Ultraviolet space mission (Precursor Science Gap #2) are allowed under this program element.

Scope of Program

Overview: The Astrophysics Decadal Survey Precursor Science (ADSPS) program supports research in areas related to the recommendations from the National Academy of Science and Engineering report, "Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s" (https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26141/pathways-to-discovery-in-astronomy-and-astrophysics-for-the-2020s) for 1) a large Infrared/Optical/Ultraviolet space mission to search for biosignatures from nearby exoplanets and to perform transformative astrophysics investigations, 2) a large Far Infrared mission, and 3) a large X-ray mission. Research proposals to ADSPS should describe how scientific progress in the areas being investigated will either reduce the design and development risk for one or more of these future large missions or help to define the requirements such missions must meet to enable transformative discoveries. Proposals to ADSPS will be evaluated using the dual-anonymous peer review process.

Scope: The emphasis of this program element is on science investigations that will reduce future Great Observatory mission risk and inform mission designs and trades when those activities begin. All three Great Observatory concepts identified in the Astro2020 Decadal Survey Report are in the scope of this activity.

Precursor science is distinguished from preparatory science, which refers to science that may inform the use of a new observatory (but which does not to affect the mission architecture). In planning for the Future Great Observatories that were recommended by the Astro2020/Pathways Decadal Survey, precursor science is more urgent to accomplish than preparatory science. The precursor science investigations solicited by this program element may include, but are not limited to, theoretical and computational studies, laboratory astrophysics investigations, archival research, and observational investigations.

Proposers to this program element are encouraged to read the NASA Science Plan, the Astrophysics Roadmap (available at https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/documents/astrophysics-roadmap); the report of the Astro2020 Decadal survey, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s, (available at https://www.nap.edu/catalog/26141/pathways-to-discovery-in-astronomy-and-astrophysics-for-the-2020s); and the reports from the Precursor Science Workshops including the science gaps worksheets (available at https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/astro2020-precursor-sciws2-roses-call/) to gauge the relevance of their research to the closing of community-identified science gaps important for future great observatory definition. Awards resulting from this call may be for up to three years in duration.

Science investigations with the primary goal of advancing Extreme Precision Radial Velocity measurement precisions to the ~1 cm/s level required to detect potentially habitable, Earth-mass exoplanets orbiting solar type stars are not solicited by this program element. Such investigations will be solicited separately under ROSES-2022 program element D.18 Extreme Precision Radial Velocity Foundation Science (EPRV22). EPRV observations undertaken with the primary goal of conducting a census or characterizing plausible target systems for the large Infrared/Optical/Ultraviolet space mission (Precursor Science Gap #2) are allowed under this program element.”

4) SPD-41a: Revised Scientific Information Policy for the Science Mission Directorate

Note that there will be a Townhall at AAS241 January 10, 2023 (12:45pm - 1:45pm PST) in the Seattle Convention Center Room 602/603 on "NASA's Transform to Open Science (TOPS) Initiative"
SMD Policy Document SPD-41a: https://science.nasa.gov/science-red/s3fs-public/atoms/files/SMD-information-policy-SPD-41a.pdf

Revised Scientific Information Policy for the Science Mission Directorate

The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) announces a revised Scientific Information Policy SMD Policy Document (SPD-41a). The policy defines SMD’s commitment to sharing scientific information produced from NASA’s missions and research through Open Science practices. For new missions and grants starting with ROSES-2023, SPD-41a requires that:

Peer-reviewed publications are made openly available with no embargo period.
Research data and software are shared at the time of publication or the end of the funding award.
Mission data are released as soon as possible and unrestricted mission software is developed openly.
Science workshops and meetings are held openly to enable broad participation.

Further details:

The data, software, and publications resulting from NASA funded activities, regardless of award type, e.g., grant, contract, inter-or intra-agency agreements, represent a significant public investment. NASA holds this information as a public trust to increase knowledge and serve the public good. It is the Science Mission Directorate’s (SMD) policy, consistent with NASA and Federal policy, that information produced from SMD-funded scientific activities be made publicly available to the greatest practical extent.

To provide contextual guidance to proposers, awardees, and other members of our communities, SMD has developed SPD-41a: Scientific Information Policy for the Science Mission Directorate. The core values behind the policy are to make SMD-funded research as open as possible, restricted as required, and always secure. SPD-41a (https://science.nasa.gov/science-red/s3fs-public/atoms/files/SMD-information-policy-SPD-41a.pdf) updates the previously released SPD-41 (https://science.nasa.gov/science-red/s3fs-public/atoms/files/Scientific%20Information%20policy%20SPD-41.pdf), which consolidated existing Federal and NASA policy on sharing scientific information. The updates in SPD-41a are in response to new federal guidance on Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/08-2022-OSTP-Public-Access-Memo.pdf), studies from the National Academies, and input from the SMD scientific community. In November 2021, NASA issued a Request for Information (RFI;https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument/cmdocumentid=852834/solicitationId=%7B3612D133-135D-24D2-BC4C-17EFAC73F8E7%7D/viewSolicitationDocument=1/NNH22ZDA006L%20SPD41%20RFI_DueDateDelay.pdf) to solicit information from SMD communities on proposed updates to SPD-41. The responses to this RFI helped to inform SMD on how to update its minimum requirements for openness and accessibility, as well as how to successfully implement the policy. SMD will published a summary of the comments and responses to the RFI on the SMD's Scientific Information Policy website (https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/science-data/science-information-policy).

SPD-41a is a forward-looking policy that will apply to new missions and grants starting with ROSES-2023. Existing missions and grants are not required to adopt the new guidance, but they are encouraged to do so if feasible with available resources.

The development and implementation of SPD-41a is one component of NASA’s Open-Source Science Initiative (OSSI), a comprehensive program of activities to enable and support a movement toward more accessible, inclusive, and reproducible scientific processes. The OSSI aims to implement SMD's Strategy for Data Management and Computing for Groundbreaking Science 2019-2024. SPD-41a was developed to minimize the burden on SMD-funded missions and researchers while moving science toward openness. In pursuit of this goal, the OSSI will provide additional guidance, training, and services to support researchers in implementing policy requirements. Links to these resources are available on SMD's Scientific Information Policy website, which will be updated as SMD identifies additional actions needed to support the research community in implementing SPD-41a. Resources include an Open-Source Science Guidance document, answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ), open science curriculum being developed by NASA’s Transform to OPen Science (TOPS) program, and links to additional policies and guidance developed by SMD divisions to provide specific guidance for their communities.

A virtual community townhall on SMD’s Scientific Information Policy will be held on January 17, 2023, 1:00-2:00 pm ET to provide additional information on SPD-41a and to address questions and comments from the community. Additional townhalls will be held at the OSSI session at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting on December 14, 2022 at 6:30-7:30 pm ET, at the 241st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society on January 10 at 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM PT, and at the 2023 American Meteorological Society meeting on January 10 at 7:00 - 8:15 AM MT.

Please contact HQ-SMD-SPD41@mail.nasa.gov with any questions about SPD-41a. All questions will be responded to, either individually or on the Scientific Information Policy FAQ page (https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/science-data/science-information-policy_faq).

5) EMAC Workshop on Open-Access Exoplanet Resources (Workshop February 7-9, 2023)

"Abstract Deadline: EMAC Workshop on Open-Access Exoplanet Resources

Just a reminder to consider submitting an abstract to the upcoming EMAC Workshop on Open-Access Exoplanet Modeling & Analysis Tools, organized by the NASA Goddard Exoplanet Modeling & Analysis Center (EMAC) (https://emac.gsfc.nasa.gov/). The workshop will be a free 3-day virtual meeting, scheduled for February 7-9, 2023. We will have brief invited talks from the EMAC community of code developers across a range of exoplanet science areas, associated contributed talks on science projects that have utilized these publicly available exoplanet-related modeling and analysis resources, as well as panel discussions and hack sessions.

If you would be interested in attending and/or presenting on an open-access resource OR on research focused around an open-access resource, please fill out THIS form to register; you can also submit an abstract for a contributed talk on the same form now or in the future. The deadline for first consideration for contributed talks is December 9th, 2022.

Thanks,

Avi Mandell, for the EMAC team"

6) Planetary Systems and the Origins of Life in the Era of JWST (May 16-19, 2023; Abstract Deadline January 27, 2023)

STScI’s Annual Spring Symposium:
Planetary Systems and the Origins of Life in the Era of JWST
Second Announcement – Abstract Submission Now Open
https://www.stsci.edu/contents/events/stsci/2023/may/planetary-systems-and-the-origins-of-life-in-the-era-of-jwst

Building on the foundational work enabled by HST and Spitzer, one of JWST’s main scientific drivers is the study of the origins of life, from planetary formation and exoplanetary systems to investigations of our own solar system. The data to be collected through ERS, GTO, and Cycle 1 GO programs over the coming months will revolutionize our current understanding of chemical compositions within the atmospheres of exoplanets, brown dwarfs, and the planets, moons, and minor bodies of the solar system. Studies of protoplanetary and debris disks will establish fundamental initial conditions and endpoints for forming these planetary systems. The power of JWST will expand through development of multi-wavelength synergies with other missions, particularly HST, enabling astrobiologists to develop more accurate simulations of biosignatures on other worlds.

Given these exciting prospects, the 2023 STScI Spring Symposium will be on “Planetary Systems and the Origins of Life in the Era of JWST”, named intentionally after one of the mission’s four main science themes. The symposium will bring together researchers working on planetary systems and their precursors, the solar system, and astrobiology, stimulating discussions and exchange of ideas for future JWST cycles. We will also hold a pre-symposium workshop for early career researchers, where local experts will provide guidance and mentorship for the upcoming generation of scientists who will use JWST.

Description:

The Space Telescope Science Institute will hold an in-person introductory workshop for early career scientists on Monday, May 15, 2023.

The 2023 Spring Symposium will be held May 16-19, 2023 as an in-person event at the Space Telescope Science Institute (Muller Building, Bahcall Auditorium) in Baltimore, MD, USA. For more information contact the organizing committee atSpringSymposium2023@stsci.edu.

The 2023 Spring Symposium website is located at:

https://www.stsci.edu/contents/events/stsci/2023/may/planetary-systems-and-the-origins-of-life-in-the-era-of-jwst

Invited Speakers' Names/Affiliations:

Richard Cartwright (SETI)
Elodie Choquet (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, Aix-Marseille University)
Katherine de Kleer (Caltech)
Jennifer Glass (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Brittany Miles (University of Arizona)
Karin Öberg (Harvard/CfA)
Noemí Pinilla-Alonso (Florida Space Institute, University of Central Florida)
Sukrit Ranjan (University of Arizona)
Geronimo Villanueva (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
Hannah Wakeford (University of Bristol)

Important Dates:

Talk/Poster Abstract Submission Deadline: Friday, January 27th, 2023 (Link to abstract submission form:https://forms.gle/8nSPzAKKUUD8yP31A)
Registration Opens: Monday, March 6, 2023
Registration Deadline: Friday, April 14, 2023
Introductory workshop for early career scientists: Monday, May 15, 2023
Symposium Dates: May 16-19, 2023

Science Organizing Committee Chairpersons:

Nicole Arulanantham
Leonardo Dos Santos
Isabel Rebollido”

7) ExoSLAM Summer School (June 22-24, 2023) and ExoClimes VI (June 26-30, 2023; University of Exeter, UK)

Exoclimes VI
June 26-30, 2023
University of Exeter (UK)
http://exoclimes.org

Exoclimes VI will be preceded by the ExoSLAM Summer School, 22-24 June 2023, also at University of Exeter, which will be a three-day summer school in atmospheric and climate science for astronomers.

8) Kavli-IAU Symposium IAUS 382: Complex Planetary Systems II (CPSII) (University of Namur, Belgium, July 3-7, 2023; Abstract Deadline January 31, 2023)

"Dear Colleagues,

We are very pleased to invite you to participate to the Kavli-IAU Symposium IAUS 382 « Complex Planetary Systems II » (CPSII) which will be organized at the University of Namur (Belgium), from the 3rd to the 7th of July 2023. It will be a face-to-face meeting, with several thematic sessions, round tables, poster prices, and many opportunities to discuss emerging topics and meet young researchers.

Registration is now OPEN.

SCIENTIFIC RATIONALE

All the planetary systems, from the Earth-Moon system to the extrasolar ones, are complex systems, requiring several levels of expertise and interdisciplinarity to be clearly understood. Following the success of Complex Planetary Systems in 2014, CPSII aims to bring forward the latest findings obtained in that perspective and generate new collaborations between different disciplines for the future. Any astronomer involved in planetary systems, at any level, is invited to participate to the meeting and to propose its own expertise in future complex challenges.

KEY TOPICS

Exoplanets, climate, and interiors
Formation of planetary systems
Long-term evolution and stability of planetary systems
Small bodies dynamics
Dynamics of resonances and observations
Orbit propagation methods
Rotation of planets and satellites
Dynamics of space debris

IMPORTANT DATES

Deadline for IAU grant application: 15th January 2023

Deadline for abstract submission: 31st January 2023

Early booking of the accommodation is strongly recommended since Namur is a highly prized summer destination.

SPEAKERS

Rose-Marie Baland, Konstantin Batygin, Giulio Baù, Emeline Bolmont, Alexandre Correia, Jean-Baptiste Delisle, Caroline Dorn, Daniel Fabrycky, Davide Farnocchia, Catalin Gales, Michaël Gillon, Mikael Granvik, Andres Johansen, Dong Lai, Man Hoi Lee, Alessandro Morbidelli, Antoine Petit, Cristobal Petrovich, Nicolas Rambaux, Aaron Rosengren, Daniel J. Scheeres, Kleomenis Tsiganis

SOC

Anne-Sophie Libert (chair), Anne Lemaitre (vice-chair), Cristian Beaugé, Slawomir Breiter, Alessandra Celletti, Shigeru Ida, Emmanuelle Javaux, Dong Lai, Jacques Laskar, Daniel J. Scheeres, Federica Spoto, Elke Pilat-Lohinger (Division A representative)

Website: https://cps2.unamur.be
Contact address: cps2@unamur.be

We are very pleased to welcome you in Namur next July!

Anne-Sophie Libert, chair of the SOC
Anne Lemaitre, chair of the LOC"

ExoPAG News and Announcements (December 2, 2022)

Join the New Great Observatories Science Analysis Group
ExoPAG 27: Suggestions for Topics, Future Activities, Ideas, Findings
ExoPAG 27 at AAS241 (January 7-8, 2023, Seattle)
Call for Nominations to the Executive Committee of the Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) (Deadline February 3, 2023)
AAS241 Splinter Session: Science from the TESS Extended Mission (January 10, 2023, 6:00-8:30pm PST, Seattle)
Community Survey on Data Access Policies for Hubble and JWST (Survey Deadline February 15, 2023)

+ more

1) Join the New Great Observatories Science Analysis Group

"Dear Colleagues,

NASA's Physics of the Cosmos, Cosmic Origins, and Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Groups (the PhysPAG, COPAG, and ExoPAG, respectively) have jointly formed a new cross-PAG Science Analysis Group (SAG) on science enabled by a fleet of future Great Observatories.

In the wake of the 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy & Astrophysics (Astro2020), the New Great Observatories Science Analysis Group is charged with analyzing and answering the following questions:

To what degree can the Key Science Questions from Astro2020 be advanced by contemporaneous flight of current, imminent, and future IR/O/UV, X-ray, and FIR Great Observatories? In particular, what discoveries in the Astro2020 Priority Areas might be uniquely made possible by coordinated use of X-ray through FIR space observatories using powerful and varied instruments? What gaps require contemporaneous flight of several or even all of these observatories, and to what degree is asynchronous panchromatic coverage sufficient? How might gaps be closed by the notional future multi-scale multiwavelength mission portfolio, including future explorers and probes?

In the scenario that any or all of these missions not be launched, or should their missions see minimal overlap, what are the corresponding scientific impacts with regards to loss of discovery space or inability of the community to address the priority areas of Astro2020?

You can read the full terms of reference of the New Great Observatories SAG here: https://www.greatobservatories.org/sag

The SAG has now been recommended by the Astrophysics Advisory Committee and formally approved by the NASA Astrophysics Division Director. The PhysPAG, COPAG, and ExoPAG Executive Committee (EC) Chairs are therefore now ready to solicit SAG membership from the broad astronomy and aerospace engineering communities.

In alignment with NASA’s core value of inclusion, the SAG will be committed to fostering an inclusive environment for all participants, and will invite candidates from all backgrounds to contribute fully, including in SAG-wide leadership roles. Applications to the SAG are easy and quick, and we encourage applications from community members at all career stages.

If interested, please fill out the form at this website (https://www.greatobservatories.org/sag) by January 15, 2023. Questions may be addressed to the PhysPAG, COPAG, and ExoPAG EC Chairs (Grant Tremblay:grant.tremblay@cfa.harvard.edu; Janice Lee: janice.lee@noirlab.edu; Ilaria Pascucci: pascucci@arizona.edu, respectively)."

2) ExoPAG 27: Suggestions for Topics, Future Activities, Ideas, Findings

ExoPAG 27 will be held January 7-8, 2023 in Seattle, WA in hybrid format (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/exopag-27/). ExoPAG meetings offer an opportunity to participate in discussions of scientific and technical issues in exoplanet exploration, and a forum for community input on the prioritization of activities in NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP). All interested members of the space science community are invited to attend and participate.

To support discussions at the Business Meeting, we invite members of the community to share suggestions via the submission form at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeToJmgMF6CZREHP693BghljMKMF8MOhVs3A2d7j2j1zkummA/viewform

These ideas will be discussed during the meeting after the program office reviews progress made on past suggestions. These ideas could lead to specific activities such as the creation of a Science Analysis Group (SAG) providing analysis in the form of a report submitted to the Astrophysics Division (APD). Some ideas could lead to further discussions and eventually generate future findings that could be affirmed by the ExoPAG by vote and passed to the Astrophysics Division (see below). While it is preferable to submit ideas before the ExoPAG, there will also be opportunity to propose new ideas during the meeting.

We invite community members to propose findings for consideration by the ExoPAG here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScjAUiemQTbgjnMAtMnqlawJtBM_hs8DsQtfu5KE2G5mHa02w/viewform

The ExoPAG EC will review these and structure a discussion of them at a future meeting.

We ask that proposed findings are submitted by December 15, 2022 (via the 2nd link) if they wish for them to be discussed at ExoPAG 27. However, suggestions (via the 1st link) can be submitted up until the time of the ExoPAG meeting.

3) ExoPAG 27 at AAS241 (January 7-8, 2023, Seattle)

ExoPAG 27
January 7, 2023 - January 8, 2023
Seattle Convention Center
705 Pike St., Seattle, WA
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/exopag-27/ Please register here:
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/register/

NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) will hold its twenty seventh meeting January 7th through the 8th, 2023 immediately preceding the 241st AAS meeting (https://aas.org/meetings/aas241) in Seattle, WA. This will be a hybrid meeting. The agenda will include programmatic updates of relevance for the ExoPAG community, science updates and descriptions of exciting new capabilities, updates from SIGs (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/sigs/) and SAGs (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/sag/), early career mini-symposium, as well as our regular business meeting.

The application deadline for talks by Early Career Scientists, Postdocs and Graduate Students to present talks at ExoPAG 27 has already passed (November 3, 2022).

ExoPAG meetings offer an opportunity to participate in discussions of scientific and technical issues in exoplanet exploration, and a forum for community input on the prioritization of activities in NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP). All interested members of the space science community are invited to attend and participate.

Conference Registration

The registration helps us with logistics planning (there is no fee associated with this).

Additionally, ExoPAG attendees will need to register (https://aas.org/meetings/aas241/registration) for the AAS conference as the ExoPAG is considered a splinter meeting of the winter AAS. For those that will not attend any AAS sessions outside of the ExoPAG, please select the "HAD Member 2 Day Special" registration.

As the ExoPAG is part of the AAS241 meeting, and (in person) attendees will need to register for the AAS conference, ExoPAG 27 will follow the AAS COVID policy: https://aas.org/meetings/aas241/COVID-policy

For information on registration, hotel and transportation, remote access, Q&A during the meeting, early career scientist talk guidelines, and community feedback, please visit: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/exopag-27/

NOTE: The agenda for ExoPAG 27 will be posted at the meeting website in the next few days.

4) Call for Nominations to the Executive Committee of the Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) (Deadline February 3, 2023)

"To: Astrophysics and Planetary Science Community
From: Astrophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
Date: November 10, 2022
Subject: Call for Nominations to the Executive Committee of the Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG)

Dear Colleagues:

The Astrophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is pleased to issue this open call for nominations to serve on the Executive Committee (EC) of NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG). In the coming months, NASA anticipates making four new appointments to the ExoPAG EC, replacing four current members of the committee who have reached the end of their appointments. New appointments will start in the Spring of 2023 and will be for a period of three years.

The ExoPAG is an open, interdisciplinary forum that provides a conduit for community input into NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP, http://exoplanets.nasa.gov), and for conducting analyses in support of ExEP science objectives and their implications for planning and prioritization of Program activities. The ExoPAG is led by a Chairperson drawn from the membership of the Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC), and a volunteer Executive Committee, whose membership is chosen to reflect the broad range of scientific disciplines and interests represented in the field of exoplanet exploration. Together, the ExoPAG Chair and Executive Committee are responsible for capturing and organizing community input, overseeing ExoPAG analyses, reporting ExoPAG findings and inputs to the Astrophysics Division Director, and keeping the scientific community apprised of ongoing activities and opportunities within NASA’s ExEP. Detailed information about the structure and function of the ExoPAG, including the current and past membership of the EC, can be found at http://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exopag.

Nominations for the ExoPAG EC should be submitted via email to the address: hannah.jang-condell@nasa.gov. Nominations must include both a cover letter and a one-page CV summarizing the nominee’s relevant background. The cover letter should provide a description of the nominee’s area of expertise, qualifications for service, and anticipated contributions to the ExoPAG Executive Committee. Nominations will only be accepted for scientists who reside at a U.S. institution for the period of the service. There are no citizenship restrictions. Nominations from individuals at academic institutions—university, college, or non-NASA research laboratory—are strongly encouraged. Self-nominations are welcome. The deadline for nominations is February 3, 2023, with announcement of selections anticipated in April 2023. Selections will be announced by the ExoPAG mailing list (http://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/announcementList).

We look forward to working with all of our stakeholders to develop a robust and compelling Exoplanet Exploration Program.

Sincerely,
Dr. Hannah Jang-Condell, NASA Headquarters
Deputy Exoplanet Exploration Program Scientist, ExoPAG Executive Secretary"

5) AAS241 Splinter Session: Science from the TESS Extended Mission (January 10, 2023, 6:00-8:30pm PST, Seattle)

"The TESS team is hosting a TESS Splinter Session at AAS 241 on Tuesday, January 10th, 2023 from 6pm-8:30pm PST at the Seattle Conference Center, Room 4c-3.

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has been in operation since July 2018, monitoring millions of stars across the entire sky and discovering thousands of exoplanets and exoplanet candidates. TESS's capability for precision photometry over long time baselines, as well as open access to TESS data, have resulted in extraordinarily high scientific output from the mission across a broad range of astrophysics.

In September 2022, TESS began operations as part of its 2nd Extended Mission. A major highlight of the 2nd Extended Mission is a faster full frame image cadence of 200 seconds.

In this Splinter session, we provide an overview of the TESS Extended Mission operations and science goals. We particularly showcase TESS's impact across all areas of astronomy, sharing some of the exciting new science being conducted with TESS including exoplanet detections, Solar System science, stellar physics and population studies, and discoveries of transient events and other time-domain astronomy.

This session will be a hybrid event allowing for virtual and in person attendance. Please note however that you must be registered for AAS 241 to participate in person.

Full details about the session schedule and the WebEx/Zoom link for virtual participation, will be provided at a later date and advertised on the TESS General Investigator home page.

6) Community Survey on Data Access Policies for Hubble and JWST (Survey Deadline February 15, 2023)

STScI is conducting a survey at the behest of the Hubble Space Telescope Users Committee (STUC) and the JWST Users Committee (JSTUC) regarding data access policies for Hubble and JWST. NASA has no immediate plans to change the exclusive access periods for either Hubble or JWST, but the topic is under active discussion. The survey should take about 10-15 minutes to complete, including time for providing freeform input. We understand that this is relatively long, but we would greatly appreciate responses across our community so we can assess the potential impact on diverse groups in order to inform future policy. For more information, and to fill out the survey, please see https://tinyurl.com/data-access-survey.

It will remain open until February 15, 2023.

ExoPAG News and Announcements (November 22, 2022)

ExEP Resources Available to Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) PIs
ExoPAG 27: Suggestions for Topics, Future Activities, Ideas, Findings
ExoPAG 27 at AAS241 (January 7-8, 2023, Seattle)
AAS241 Splinter Session: NASA-NSF Ground-based Support for Exoplanet Discovery and Characterization (January 9, 2023)
Call for Nominations to the Executive Committee of the Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) (Deadline February 3, 2023)
Oxygen in Planetary Biospheres (May 5-7, 2023; Green Bank Observatory)
TESS/Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium Workshop (TASC7/KASC14, July 17-21, 2023; Honolulu)

+ more

1) ExEP Resources Available to Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) PIs

The Exoplanet Exploration Program manages resources located at JPL to support to NASA ROSES Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) proposals, including the High Contrast Imaging Testbed coronagraph laboratory and starshade facilities. Details of the resources and the procedure for requesting access can be found at: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/internal_resources/2516/

Proposers to SAT 2022 who wish to access these resources are reminded to contact Brendan Crill, Deputy Program Chief Technologist (bcrill@jpl.nasa.gov) by November 28, 2022. Proposals are due December 15, 2022.

2) ExoPAG 27: Suggestions for Topics, Future Activities, Ideas, Findings

We invite community members to propose findings for consideration by the ExoPAG here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScjAUiemQTbgjnMAtMnqlawJtBM_hs8DsQtfu5KE2G5mHa02w/viewform

The ExoPAG EC will review these and structure a discussion of them at a future meeting.

3) ExoPAG 27 at AAS241 (January 7-8, 2023, Seattle)

ExoPAG 27
January 7, 2023 - January 8, 2023
Seattle Convention Center
705 Pike St., Seattle, WA
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/exopag-27/ Please register here:
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/register/

The application deadline for talks by Early Career Scientists, Postdocs and Graduate Students to present talks at ExoPAG 27 has already passed (November 3, 2022).

Conference Registration

We ask that intended participants provide their general information by accessing the blue "register" button on the ExoPAG 27 page or going straight to: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/register/. The registration helps us with logistics planning (there is no fee associated with this).

4) AAS241 Splinter Session: NASA-NSF Ground-based Support for Exoplanet Discovery and Characterization (January 9, 2023)

Splinter Session at the AAS 241 meeting
Date: Monday, January 9th, 2023
Time: 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM PST
Location: Hybrid; Seattle Convention Center - Room 304; https://jpl.webex.com/meet/ardila

This splinter session will focus on ground-based, community-led activities seeking to discover and characterize exoplanets, sponsored by both NASA and the NSF. The objective of this session is to present a breadth of results and possibilities to encourage community use of resources made available via the NASA & NSF Exoplanet Observational Research (NN-EXPLORE) program, NASA open time, and NSF instrument funding.

We will present updates and recent results from several cutting-edge Radial Velocity (RV) spectrometers (NEID at WIYN; MAROON-X at Gemini North; and the EXtreme PREcision Spectrometer - EXPRES - at LDT) and report on the status of the Keck Planet Finder (KPF) spectrograph that is currently being commissioned at Keck Observatory. Updates on US access to southern hemisphere RV science via SMARTS/CHIRON and MINERVA-Australis will also be provided.

In addition, this session will discuss recent results from the NESSI, 'Alopeke, and Zorro speckle cameras. These high-resolution speckle imagers have been instrumental in the host-star characterization carried out in advance of spectroscopic follow up.

Finally, the PIs of the ROSES 2020 call on Extreme Precision Radial Velocity (EPRV) Foundational science will present highlights from their results. The studies funded by this call seek to determine whether stellar variability can be understood well enough to mitigate the limitations it places on RV mass measurements – working towards the goal of detecting and measuring masses for temperate Earth-mass exoplanets orbiting Sun-like stars.

5) Call for Nominations to the Executive Committee of the Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) (Deadline February 3, 2023)

Dear Colleagues:

The Astrophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is pleased to issue this open call for nominations to serve on theExecutive Committee (EC) of NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG). In the coming months, NASA anticipates making four new appointments to the ExoPAG EC, replacing four current members of the committee who have reached the end of their appointments. New appointments will start in the Spring of 2023 and will be for a period of three years.

We look forward to working with all of our stakeholders to develop a robust and compelling Exoplanet Exploration Program.

Sincerely,
Dr. Hannah Jang-Condell, NASA Headquarters
Deputy Exoplanet Exploration Program Scientist, ExoPAG Executive Secretary"

6) Oxygen in Planetary Biospheres (May 5-7, 2023; Green Bank Observatory)

"Save the Date: Oxygen in Planetary Biospheres
Green Bank Observatory May 5-7, 2023

We are pleased to announce the Second Barry Blumberg Memorial Workshop in Astrobiology.

This 3-day workshop at the Green Bank Observatory will focus on topics related to the role of oxygen in the universe, planets and life, and how the rise of oxygen on Earth may (or may not) likely have analogs on other planets.

Attendance is limited to 50 participants, by application only, and all registration and travel expenses will be covered. The conference scope should be construed broadly; researchers working on any related problems are strongly encouraged to apply.

Recognizing the challenges the pandemic has presented for networking over the past several years, this workshop will have a strong focus on early career researchers, and will have broad international participation. Presenters are encouraged to gear their talks to an interdisciplinary audience, eschewing the trees of internecine disciplinary debates for the forest of broader understanding.

The full workshop description is here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BiLNMuYccH6eddAUF8KokoqExzkGaZ4_/view). The call for applications and abstract submission announcements will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

Jason Wright"

7) TESS/Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium Workshop (TASC7/KASC14, July 17-21, 2023; Honolulu)

FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT: TESS/Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium Workshop (TASC7/KASC14)
July 17-21 2023
Honolulu, Hawaiʻi
https://events.ifa.hawaii.edu/tasc/

Over the past decades, asteroseismology has been established as one of the most powerful tools to study stars and exoplanets in our galaxy. With TESS well into its second extended mission, this workshop will celebrate the ongoing successes from the exploration of Kepler/K2 and TESS data, and discuss future challenges and opportunities. Expected topics broadly include asteroseismology/stellar astrophysics, exoplanet science and galactic astronomy.

The workshop will take place from 17-21 July 2023 on the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Participation will be possible online and in-person. Further details will be announced in early 2023.

Dan Huber & Jen van Saders (on behalf of the LOC)"

ExoPAG News and Announcements (November 10, 2022)

Call for Nominations to the Executive Committee of the Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) (Deadline February 3, 2023)
ExoPAG 27 at AAS241 (January 7-8, 2023, Seattle)
The Fifth Workshop on Extremely Precise Radial Velocities (EPRV 5) (March 27-30, 2023, Santa Barbara; Deadline for Contributed Talks and Splinter Sessions: November 17, 2022)
PLANET-ESLAB-2023 Understanding Planets in the Solar System and Beyond (March 20-24, 2023, ESA-ESTEC; Abstraction Submission Closes November 11, 2022)

+ more

1) Call for Nominations to the Executive Committee of the Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) (Deadline February 3, 2023)

Dear Colleagues:

The Astrophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is pleased to issue this open call for nominations to serve on theExecutive Committee (EC) of NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG). In the coming months, NASA anticipates making four new appointments to the ExoPAG EC, replacing four current members of the committee who have reached the end of their appointments. New appointments will start in the Spring of 2023 and will be for a period of three years.

We look forward to working with all of our stakeholders to develop a robust and compelling Exoplanet Exploration Program.

Sincerely,
Dr. Hannah Jang-Condell, NASA Headquarters
Deputy Exoplanet Exploration Program Scientist, ExoPAG Executive Secretary"

2) ExoPAG 27 at AAS241 (January 7-8, 2023, Seattle)

ExoPAG 27
January 7, 2023 - January 8, 2023
Seattle Convention Center
705 Pike St., Seattle, WA
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/exopag-27/ Please register here:
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/register/

NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) will hold its twenty seventh meeting January 7th through the 8th, 2023 immediately preceding the 241st AAS meeting (https://aas.org/meetings/aas241) in Seattle, WA. This will be a hybrid meeting. The agenda will include programmatic updates of relevance for the ExoPAG community, science updates and descriptions of exciting new capabilities, updates from SIGs (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/sigs/) and SAGs (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/sag/), early career mini-symposium, as well as our regular business meeting.

The application deadline for talks by Early Career Scientists, Postdocs and Graduate Students to present talks at ExoPAG 27 has already passed (November 3, 2022).

Conference Registration

The registration helps us with logistics planning (there is no fee associated with this).

For information on registration, hotel and transportation, remote access, Q&A during the meeting, early career scientist talk guidelines, and community feedback, please visit:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/exopag-27/

3) The Fifth Workshop on Extremely Precise Radial Velocities (EPRV 5) (March 27-30, 2023, Santa Barbara; Deadline for Contributed Talks and Splinter Sessions: November 17, 2022)

We are pleased to announce that abstract submission for The Fifth Workshop on Extremely Precise Radial Velocities (EPRV 5) is now open! The conference will take place March 27 – 30, 2023 at the Hilton Beachfront Resort in Santa Barbara, California.

https://conference.ipac.caltech.edu/eprv5/

We are soliciting abstracts for contributed talks, posters, and splinter sessions, and participants may make multiple submissions within / across these categories. The deadline for both contributed talks and splinter sessions is Thursday, November 17, 2022. Poster submissions will be accepted until February 17, 2023, and all talk abstracts that are not selected for the main conference program will automatically be considered for a poster.

You can find more information and links to the submission forms on the EPRV 5 website on the Abstract Submission page (https://conference.ipac.caltech.edu/eprv5/page/6).

If you have any questions, please reach out to conference co-chairs Jennifer Burt (jennifer.burt@jpl.nasa.gov) and BJ Fulton (bjfulton@ipac.caltech.edu) or email us at eprv5@lists.astro.caltech.edu.

Registration and hotel information will be available in mid-November 2022.

Cheers,
Jennifer Burt (JPL) & BJ Fulton (Caltech)
EPRV 5 SOC Co-Chairs

4) PLANET-ESLAB-2023 Understanding Planets in the Solar System and Beyond (March 20-24, 2023, ESA-ESTEC; Abstraction Submission Closes November 11, 2022)

"Dear Colleagues,

The symposium "PLANET-ESLAB-2023 Understanding planets in the solar system and beyond” will be held on 20-24 March 2023 at ESA-ESTEC, in the Netherlands, with the option of online participation.

The event's goal is to unite the communities involved in our fleet of planetary and exoplanetary science missions by exploring their synergies. The covered themes, for both solar system planets and exoplanets, will include:

Planetary formation & evolution
Planetary system architecture, dynamics, stability
Interior structure & processes
Surface geological & geophysical processes
Atmospheric dynamics & chemistry
Ionospheres, magnetospheres, plasma environment
Stellar/solar activity and interaction with planets
Habitability & exobiology

Abstract submission is open and will close on 11 November 2022 for contributed talks and on 3 March 2023 for posters.

Symposium website: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/planet-eslab-2023

Abstract submission: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/planet-eslab-2023/abstract-submission

The symposium welcomes presentations in all aspects of planetary and exoplanetary science, ranging from observation techniques and data analysis to interpretation and modelling. We particularly encourage contributions exploring the parallels between solar system planets and their extrasolar counterparts.

Kind regards,
Colin Wilson and Ana Heras, on behalf of the Scientific Organising Committee"

ExoPAG News and Announcements (November 2, 2022)

ExoPAG 27 at AAS241 (January 7-8, 2023, Seattle)
Attention Early Career Scientists, Postdocs and Graduate Students: Apply to Present at ExoPAG 27 (Deadline November 3, 2022, 8:00pm ET/5:00pm PT)
TESS Interactive Data Workshop at AAS 241 (January 7, 2023)
First EMAC Workshop on Open-Access Exoplanet Modeling & Analysis Tools (February 7-9, 2023)

+ more

1) ExoPAG 27 at AAS241 (January 7-8, 2023, Seattle)

ExoPAG 27
January 7, 2023 - January 8, 2023
Seattle Convention Center
705 Pike St., Seattle, WA
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/exopag-27/
Please register here:
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/register/

The call for Early Career Scientists, Postdocs and Graduate Students to present talks at ExoPAG 27 is the next news item below (#2), and further details are at: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/talk-guidelines/. The application deadline is November 3, 2022 8:00pm ET/5:00pm PT.

Conference Registration

The registration helps us with logistics planning (there is no fee associated with this).

For information on registration, hotel and transportation, remote access, Q&A during the meeting, early career scientist talk guidelines, and community feedback, please visit:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/exopag-27/

2) Attention Early Career Scientists, Postdocs and Graduate Students: Apply to Present at ExoPAG 27 (Deadline November 3, 2022, 8:00pm ET/5:00pm PT)

NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) will host an early career mini-symposium during its hybrid meeting on January 7th and 8th 2023 in Seattle, WA.

Abstracts should feature recent results or modeling/theory efforts related to JWST or address one of the topics outlined in the ExEP Science Gap List 2022 (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/system/internal_resources/details/original/2146_ExEP_Science_Gap_List_2022.pdf). We are particularly interested in attendance and presentations by postdocs and graduate students from diverse backgrounds.

Applications for this early career-mini symposium are due by November 3rd at 8:00 pm ET/5:00 PM PT. We expect to notify applicants of their selection by November 15th.

Applications are now being accepted: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/talk-guidelines/

General information on the ExoPAG meeting can be found here: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/exopag-27/

As the ultimate users of future NASA facilities, early career scientists are encouraged to attend the ExoPAG meetings to:

Share their work with a broad audience of scientists, technologists, and program managers;
Learn about NASA's strategic goals and plans, and learn how to impact them through ExoPAG activities.

Finding and characterizing earth-like planets around nearby stars is one of NASA’s primary scientific goals. ExoPAG helps NASA assess the current and upcoming state of exoplanet science toward the goal of enabling future exoplanet missions relevant to NASA's strategic goals.

3) TESS Interactive Data Workshop at AAS 241 (January 7, 2023)

“The TESS General Investigator office would like to draw your attention to a TESS Interactive Data Workshop which will take place onSaturday, January 7, 2023 from 9am-5pm PST at AAS 241 in Seattle, WA. Registration is available via the AAS portal.

This full day workshop is presented to the community to learn about TESS, review how to obtain data and research funding through the TESS General Investigator Program, and understand how to quickly use your selected data, all of which is available with no exclusive access period.

This workshop is ideal for both new and established users of TESS data. New users will learn how and where to get started. More experienced users can check out the new 200s observing mode and updated analysis techniques. We welcome scientists at all career stages, working on all topics including extragalactic, stellar, and exoplanet astronomy. We additionally encourage attendance from anyone interested in proposing for TESS observations.

The workshop will consist of short talks introducing the NASA TESS mission, explanations of how to propose for TESS observations and obtain research funding in upcoming proposal calls, tutorials on working with TESS data, and an interactive learn-with-the-experts session to show you how to utilize TESS data on your own targets. The session is interactive and so laptops are encouraged. Please note that attendees must be signed up for AAS 241 and the workshop to attend.”

4) First EMAC Workshop on Open-Access Exoplanet Modeling & Analysis Tools (February 7-9, 2023)

https://emac.gsfc.nasa.gov/workshop/

The NASA Goddard Exoplanet Modeling & Analysis Center (EMAC) (https://emac.gsfc.nasa.gov/) is excited to announce our first virtual workshop focused on publicly available exoplanet modeling and analysis resources! The workshop will bring together our community of exoplanet model and analysis developers, in order to present and share open-source codes and expertise with the wider exoplanet community and highlight the exciting work being done with these software packages and resources.

We are currently planning for a free 3-day virtual workshop, scheduled for February 7-9, 2023. We will have brief invited talks from the EMAC community of code developers across a range of exoplanet science areas, associated contributed talks on science projects that have utilized these publicly available exoplanet-related modeling and analysis resources, as well as panel discussions and hack sessions.

If you would be interested in attending and/or presenting on an open-access resource OR on research focused around an open-access resource, please fill out THIS form to register; you can register and also submit an abstract for a contributed talk on the same form now or in the future. The deadline for first consideration for contributed talks is December 9th, 2022.

ExoPAG News and Announcements (October 20, 2022)

ExoPAG 27 at AAS241 (January 7-8, 2023, Seattle)
Attention Early Career Scientists, Postdocs and Graduate Students: Apply to Present at ExoPAG 27 (Deadline November 3, 2022, 8:00pm ET/5:00pm PT)
ExEP Tech Colloquium: "Update on Starshade Technology: Prospects for a Future Great Observatory" (Case Bradford, JPL) (November 16, 2022, 4:00pm EST/1:00pm PST)

+ more

1) ExoPAG 27 at AAS241 (January 7-8, 2023, Seattle, WA)

ExoPAG 27
January 7, 2023 - January 8, 2023
Seattle Convention Center
705 Pike St., Seattle, WA
Please register at: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/register/

NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) will hold its twenty seventh meeting January 7th through the 8th, 2023 immediately preceding the 241st AAS meeting (https://aas.org/meetings/aas241) in Seattle, WA. This will be a hybrid meeting. The agenda will include programmatic updates of relevance for the ExoPAG community, science updates and descriptions of exciting new capabilities, updates from the Science Interest Groups (SIGs; https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/sigs/) and Science Analysis Groups (SAGs;https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/sag/), an early career mini-symposium, as well as our regular business meeting.

Conference Registration

The registration helps us with logistics planning (there is no fee associated with this).

As the ExoPAG is part of the AAS241 meeting, any (in person) attendees will need to register for the AAS conference, ExoPAG 27 will follow the AAS COVID policy: https://aas.org/meetings/aas241/COVID-policy

For information on registration, hotel and transportation, remote access, Q&A during the meeting, early career scientist talk guidelines, and community feedback, please visit:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/exopag-27/

2) Attention Early Career Scientists, Postdocs and Graduate Students: Apply to Present at ExoPAG 27 (Deadline November 3, 2022, 8:00pm ET/5:00pm PT)

NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) will host an early career mini-symposium during its hybrid meeting on January 7th and 8th 2023 in Seattle, WA.

Applications for this early career-mini symposium are due by November 3rd at 8:00 pm ET/5:00 PM PT. We expect to notify applicants of their selection by November 15th.

Applications are now being accepted: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/talk-guidelines/

General information on the ExoPAG meeting can be found here: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/exopag-27/

As the ultimate users of future NASA facilities, early career scientists are encouraged to attend the ExoPAG meetings to:

Share their work with a broad audience of scientists, technologists, and program managers;
Learn about NASA's strategic goals and plans, and learn how to impact them through ExoPAG activities.

3) ExEP Tech Colloquium: "Update on Starshade Technology: Prospects for a Future Great Observatory" (Case Bradford, JPL) (November 16, 2022, 4:00pm EST/1:00pm PST)

"Update on Starshade Technology: Prospects for a Future Great Observatory"
Speaker: Case Bradford (JPL)
Wednesday, November 16, 2022 (4:00pm EST/1:00pm PST)

Is the starshade still a relevant technology for the IR/O/UV Future Great Observatory recommended by Astro2020? It certainly didn’t appear to feature prominently. Concerns about low yields, fuel limitations, a second spacecraft, and violation of NASA’s “test as you fly” guideline make this starlight suppression approach challenging. However, numerous benefits with respect to coronagraphs demand that it stays in the trade discussion – higher throughput, lower inner working angle, operability in the UV, no active optics, and no ultra-stability requirements levied on the telescope.

NASA’s Starshade Technology Activity (also known as S5) has been maturing the technology over the past 6 years, including a subscale lab demonstration of contrast deeper than 1e-10 over a 10% band. In this technology colloquium, Case Bradford, S5 Technology Manager, will give us an update on how far they’ve come (you may be surprised). He’ll also describe what is left to do and challenges in having a starshade ready for a future great observatory.

About the ExEP Technology Colloquium series: The intention of these web seminars is to provide a forum for sharing key technology advances and results that enable or enhance the direct imaging and characterization of exoplanets. Topics may include recent coronagraph and starshade demonstration results, advances in detector technology, deformable mirrors, LOWFS/C, telescope stability, polarization, RV, starshade tutorials, etc. Our target audience is the engineers and scientists working on technology for future exoplanet space missions, but all are welcome to attend. The presentation slides will be publicly archived so that they can be viewed at later dates.

Join from the meeting link
https://jpl.webex.com/jpl/j.php?MTID=m1aa70f14c0cc93a5718ec17bbd5c1731
Meeting number (access code): 2760 565 5347
Meeting password: ASpUiv3iq35
+1-510-210-8882 USA Toll
Toll Free: 844-JPL-WEBX (844-575-9329)

ExoPAG News and Announcements (October 15, 2022)

ExoPAG 27 at AAS241 (January 7-8, 2023, Seattle)
Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC; October 17-18, 2022)
Extreme Precision Radial Velocity Research Coordination Network (EPRV RCN) - 1st Full RCN Meeting (October 20, 2022; 11am-3pm EDT/8am-12pm PDT)
The Fifth Workshop on Extremely Precise Radial Velocities (EPRV 5; March 27-30, 2023, Santa Barbara)
ROSES D.3 Astrophysics Research and Analysis and D.7 Strategic Astrophysics Technology (Mandatory NOI deferred to November 4, 2022; Proposal deadline December 15, 2022)
TOEIII - Planet-Star Connection (July 3-7, 2023)

+ more

1) ExoPAG 27 at AAS241 (January 7-8, 2023, Seattle, WA)

ExoPAG 27
January 7, 2023 - January 8, 2023
Seattle Convention Center
705 Pike St., Seattle, WA
Registration: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/register/

NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) will hold its twenty seventh meeting January 7th through the 8th, 2023 immediately preceeding the 241st AAS meeting (https://aas.org/meetings/aas241) in Seattle, WA. This will be a hybrid meeting. The agenda will include programmatic updates of relevance for the ExoPAG community, science updates and descriptions of exciting new capabilities, updates from SIGs (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/sigs/) and SAGs (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/sag/), a mini symposium on the State of the Profession, as well as our regular business meeting.

Conference Registration

We ask that intended participants provide their general information by accessing the blue "register" button on the ExoPAG 27 page to assist us with logistics planning (there is no fee associated with this).

Additionally, ExoPAG attendees will need to register (https://aas.org/meetings/aas241/registration) for the AAS conference as the ExoPAG is considered a splinter meeting of the wniter AAS. For those that will not attend any AAS sessions outside of the ExoPAG, please select the "HAD Member 2 Day Special" registration.

A call for Early Career Scientists Talks will be released shortly. Information will be at:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/talk-guidelines/

For information on registration, hotel and transportation, remote access, Q&A during the meeting, early career scientist talk guidelines, and community feedback, please visit:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/388/exopag-27/

2) Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC; October 17-18, 2022)

The next meeting of the NASA Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC) will be held virtually October 17 and 18, per the following schedule. The meeting will be held for the purpose of soliciting, from the scientific community and other persons, scientific and technical information relevant to program planning.

Dates: Monday, October 17, 2022, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time and Tuesday, October 18, 2022, 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m., Eastern Time. The meeting will be available to the public by WebEx.

On Monday, October 17, the event address for attendees is: https://nasaenterprise.webex.com/nasaenterprise/j.php?MTID=mf79f5e8c2ce522a05c560caf505da802 , the meeting number is 2762 536 1104, and meeting password is Apac1017#

To join by telephone, the numbers are: 1-929-251-9612 or 1-415-527-5035. Access code: 2762 536 1104

On Tuesday, October 18, the event address for attendees is:

https://nasaenterprise.webex.com/nasaenterprise/j.php?MTID=m4de95daff639b0f4a500e61234f9cacf ,

the meeting number is 27604459382, and meeting password is Apac1018#

To join by telephone, the numbers are: 1-929-251-9612 or 1-415-527-5035. Access code: 2760 445 9382

The Federal Register Notice and agenda for the meeting, has been posted on the Astrophysics Advisory Committee web page:

https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/nac/science-advisory-committees/apac

The public may submit and upvote comments/questions ahead of the meeting through the website,https://nasa.cnf.io/sessions/tjk2/#!/dashboard which will be opened for input on October 13, 2022.

Questions regarding APAC or this meeting may be directed to Hashima Hasan at hhasan@nasa.gov.

3) Extreme Precision Radial Velocity Research Coordination Network (EPRV RCN) - 1st Full RCN Meeting (October 20, 2022; 11am-3pm EDT/8am-12pm PDT)

The Extreme Precision Radial Velocity Research Coordination Network (EPRV RCN) is excited to announce its first full RCN meeting, which will take place Thursday October 20th 2022.

This all digital meeting will take place from 8a – 12p Pacific US time and include segments on:

Community input on future activities/goals of the EPRV RCN
Science presentations from RCN members
A tutorial on how to use pyaneti, a multidimensional gaussian process software package for fitting RV time series
Networking efforts to help introduce RCN members and foster new relations between folks of all career levels and across all departments / institutions

For more information on the RCN meeting, including the full program and connection details, please see the RCN website :https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/NNExplore/EPRV-RCN

This meeting is open to RCN members and non-members alike, though only members will be able to access the Slack workspace and the RCN google drive where presentations are stored. If you are interested in joining the RCN, you can submit a request via this google form : https://bit.ly/EPRV_RCN_SignUp

If you have any questions about the meeting, please reach out to RCN lead Jennifer Burt : jennifer.burt@jpl.nasa.gov

4) The Fifth Workshop on Extremely Precise Radial Velocities (EPRV 5; March 27-30, 2023, Santa Barbara)

The Fifth Workshop on Extremely Precise Radial Velocities (EPRV 5)

March 27-30, 2023
Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort
https://conference.ipac.caltech.edu/eprv5/

"We are excited to announce that abstract submission for The Fifth Workshop on Extremely Precise Radial Velocities (EPRV 5) is now open! The conference will take place March 27 – 30, 2023 at the Hilton Beachfront Resort in Santa Barbara, California.

We are soliciting abstracts for contributed talks, posters, and splinter sessions, and participants may make multiple submissions within / across these categories. The deadline for both contributed talks and splinter sessions is Thursday, November 17^th 2022 at 11:59p Pacific US time. Poster submissions will be accepted until February 17th 2023, and all talk abstracts that are not selected for the main conference program will automatically be considered for a poster.

You can find more information and links to the submission forms on the EPRV 5 website on the Abstract Submission page: https://conference.ipac.caltech.edu/eprv5/page/6

If you have any questions, please reach out to conference co-chairs Jennifer Burt (jennifer.burt@jpl.nasa.gov) and BJ Fulton (bjfulton@ipac.caltech.edu)

Cheers,
Jennifer Burt & BJ Fulton
on behalf of the EPRV 5 SOC)"

Questions: eprv5@lists.astro.caltech.edu

The EPRV 5 Science Organizing Committee includes:

Co-chairs: Jennifer Burt [JPL / ExEP] & BJ Fulton [IPAC]
Oscar Barragan [Oxford University], Megan Bedell [Flatiron Institute], Heather Cegla [Univ. of Warwick], Abhijit Chakraborty [Physical Research Laboratory], Gaspare lo Curto [ESO], Xavier Dumusque [Univ. of Geneva], Dawn Gelino [IPAC], Nathan Hara [Univ. of Geneva], Teruyuki Hirano [NAOJ], Andrew Howard [CalTech], Francesco Pepe [Univ. of Geneva], Paul Robertson [UC Irvine], Andreas Seifahrt [Univ. of Chicago], Sam Thompson [Cambridge University], Sharon Xuesong Wang [Tsinghua University], Jason Wright [Penn. State University], Lily Zhao [Flatiron Institute]

5) ROSES D.3 Astrophysics Research and Analysis and D.7 Strategic Astrophysics Technology (Mandatory NOI deferred to November 4, 2022; Proposal deadline December 15, 2022)

Updates on APRA and SAT ROSES calls:

D.3 Astrophysics Research and Analysis (APRA)

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary!init.do?solId=%7B8378F31B-1E87-B357-98A2-9E4237B0F1FB%7D&path=open

NOTICE: Amended October 5, 2022. The mandatory NOI due date for D.3 Astrophysics Research and Analysis has been deferred toNovember 4, 2022. The proposal due date remains unchanged at December 15, 2022. Also, as part of making the Inclusion Plan language uniform and consistent among all Astrophysics elements that require an Inclusion Plan, the language in Section 2.7 has been replaced in its entirety. Finally, there will be a Webinar timed for APRA proposers on Commercial Suborbital Flight Tuesday, October 11 at 1:00 pm Eastern Time. For connect information, see the Webinar information PDF posted under "Other documents".

D.7 Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT)

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary!init.do?solId=%7B14958525-AA09-111E-59C2-5BBF6585F7AA%7D&path=open

NOTICE: Amended October 5, 2022. The mandatory NOI due date for D.7 Strategic Astrophysics Technology has been deferred toNovember 4, 2022. The proposal due date remains unchanged at December 15, 2022. Also, as part of making the Inclusion Plan language uniform and consistent among all Astrophysics elements that require an Inclusion Plan, the language in Section 1.5 has been replaced in its entirety.

6) TOEIII - Planet-Star Connection (July 3-7, 2023, Porto)

This is the 1st announcement for the TOEIII - Planet-Star Connection to be held in Porto (Portugal) from 3-7 July 2023

Planetary systems result from the synergy between the stars and the planets they host. It can be convenient, at first, to consider them in isolation, but the links between them affect all aspects of exoplanetary sciences. Stars can be a hurdle to exoplanetary sciences. The precision and accuracy of our knowledge of stellar parameters is often a major driver for the precision and accuracy of the respective planetary parameters. Stellar activity and its impact on planet detection and characterisation is one of the significant challenges for the next decade. But stars can also be facilitators to exoplanetary sciences. The correlation between stellar metallicity and the frequency of giant planets is well established and the link between stellar and planetary composition is an active topic. In the next few years we also have a lot to learn from the dynamical interactions between stars and planets.

With this new edition of the Towards Other Earth conference series, we aim to gather again scientists from all around the world in Porto (Portugal), to discuss what has been learned from studying stars and planets together. In particular we wish to address:

The impact of stellar activity on planet detection and characterisation but also on the evolution of planets and their atmospheres;
The link between the stellar properties and the frequency, bulk and atmospheric composition of planets;
The implications and different effects of the dynamical interactions between the stars and the planets that they host.

Susana Barros, Elisa Delgado Mena, Olivier Demangeon, Sergio Sousa
Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA), Portugal
Website: http://www.iastro.pt/toe3/
Contact: toe3@iastro.pt

ExoPAG News and Announcements (October 3, 2022)

Precursors to Pathways: Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories (Precursor Science Workshop II) (October 11-13, 2022, Virtual)
Save the Dates: 2023 Sagan Exoplanet Summer Hybrid Workshop: Characterizing Exoplanet Atmospheres: The Next Twenty Years (July 24-28, 2023, Pasadena/Hybrid)
AAS JWST Exoplanet Special Session Announcement (Abstracts Due October 11, 2022)
NASA SMD Community Town Hall (October 6, 2022, 10:30am EDT/7:30am PDT)
Inclusion Plan Best Practices Workshop (November 1–2, 2022, Virtual)
Great Lakes Exoplanet Area Meeting (GLEAM) 2022 (November 17-18, 2022, Columbus OH)
Save the Dates: Exoplanets V (June 17-21, 2024, Leiden)

+ more

1) Precursors to Pathways: Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories

(Precursor Science Workshop II) (October 11-13, 2022, Virtual)

Precursors to Pathways: Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories

(Precursor Science Workshop II)

When: 11-13 October 2022

Where: Virtual

Who: all community members interested in precursor science for NASA's future Great Observatories

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/astro2020-precursor-sci-workshop2/

Registration,
Agenda,
Form for Short Presentations (1 slide) on Facilities (deadline October 4, 2022),
Community Input on Science Gaps (deadline October 3, 2022)

This second workshop on Precursor Science will continue the dialog initiated during the first workshop in April 2022. As before, community discussions will inform the creation of a new NASA ROSES funding solicitation, with proposals due later in 2022. The workshop will also provide opportunities for community members to engage with each other and NASA on potential ideas for precursor science investigations in preparation for submitting proposals.

The ROSES call for Precursor Science proposals will support science investigations that will reduce mission risk and inform mission architectures and trades for future Great Observatories. All three Future Great Observatory (FGO) concepts identified in the Astro2020 Decadal Survey Report are in the scope of this activity. The FGO precursor science investigations may include, but are not limited to, theoretical studies, laboratory astrophysics experiments, archival research, and observational investigations.

We are working to ensure that these workshops will be accessible to all scientists. We especially want to promote significant involvement by early career researchers and minoritized community members in both the workshop and the FGO precursor science proposals. Please see the Workshop I Summary Report (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/internal_resources/2315_NASA_Astrophysics_Precursor_Science_Workshop1_Summary_Report.pdf).

This three-day (15 contact-hour) workshop features plenary talks and discussions as well as multiple breakout sessions. During the first day, we will frame the work and current understanding by exploring connections between science ideas and science gaps through historical and current examples; and discuss how to identify science topics and scope the proposal, including discussing the required Inclusion Plan and how to build inclusive and high-functioning teams. The second day will include breakout sessions to workshop the science gaps and ideas spreadsheet developed during the first workshop along with an activity centering inclusion. We’ll regroup and look forward on the last day by discussing the outcomes from the breakout sessions, how precursor science will integrate into the broader Great Observatories Maturation Program (GOMaP) process, and next steps for both community members and NASA.

We look forward to welcoming you to the next virtual Precursor Science Workshop!

For urgent queries, please contact Eric Smith eric.p.smith@nasa.gov and/or Terri Brandt t.j.brandt@nasa.gov.

2) Save the Dates: 2023 Sagan Exoplanet Summer Hybrid Workshop: Characterizing Exoplanet Atmospheres: The Next Twenty Years (July 24-28, 2023, Pasadena/Hybrid)

2023 Sagan Exoplanet Summer Hybrid Workshop: Characterizing Exoplanet Atmospheres: The Next Twenty Years
July 24-28, 2023
Hosted by The NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
https://nexsci.caltech.edu/workshop/2023/
Save the date for the 23rd Sagan Summer Workshop!

Observations of an exoplanet’s atmosphere provide the best hope for distinguishing the makeup of its outer layers, and the only hope for understanding the interplay between formation, natal composition, chemical and disequilibrium processes, and dynamics & circulation. The field is entering a revolution in our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres thanks to measurements from the ground, from space, and particularly from the new JWST – the superlative facility for exoplanet studies. In the longer term, such observations will also be essential for seeking signs of biosignature gasses in nearby exoplanets using future, next-generation observatories.

This year’s workshop will cover theoretical modeling, interpretation, and observations of exoplanets using a variety of telescopes, techniques, and hands-on exercises, presented by leading experts in the field.

We currently plan to hold the 2023 workshop as a hybrid with both in-person and on-line attendance. It is unclear at this time (September 2022) what, if any, restrictions will be in place due to COVID. This page will be updated with more information in the coming months and we expect registration will open in February 2023.

The Sagan Summer Workshops are aimed at advanced undergraduates, grad students, and postdocs, however all are welcome to attend. There is no registration fee for these workshops.

Attendees will also participate in hands-on tutorials and have the chance to meet in smaller groups with our speakers.

All participants must follow this Code of Conduct.

View presentations from previous summer workshops on the Sagan Summer Workshop YouTube Channel.

Email Sagan_Workshop@ipac.caltech.edu with questions or to be added to the email list for the 2023 workshop.

Scientific Organizing Committee: Ian Crossfield, Co-Chair (University of Kansas), Tiffany Kataria, Co-Chair (NASA JPL), Chas Beichman (Caltech/IPAC-NExScI), Kevin Stevenson (Johns Hopkins University/APL), Tom Greene (NASA Ames), Laura Kreidberg (MPIA), Jayne Birkby (University of Oxford), Jonathan Fortney (UC Santa Cruz)

Local Organizing Committee: Tracy Chen (Caltech/IPAC-NExScI), Megan Crane (Caltech/IPAC-NExScI), Dawn Gelino (Caltech/IPAC-NExScI), Ellen O'Leary (Caltech/IPAC-NExScI), Melanie Swain (Caltech/IPAC-NExScI)

3) AAS JWST Exoplanet Special Session Announcement (Abstracts Due October 11, 2022)

We invite the community to submit abstracts to a Special Session at AAS 241 on Early Transiting Exoplanet Science with JWST. The AAS meeting is taking place January 8-12, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. The Special Session will take place Monday, January 9, 2023 at 10:00 AM PT - 11:30 AM PT. Abstracts are due October 11, 2022 by 11:59 pm ET and should be submitted via the AAS abstract submission portal. When submitting an abstract, this Special Session should be selected from the dropdown menu on the “Abstract Detail” page.

We encourage submission of abstracts on any topics related to transiting exoplanet science and JWST, especially those presenting JWST observations of all types of planets (Jupiter-size to terrestrial-size) and modeling efforts applied to real JWST data. Contributed talks will follow a series of invited talks presenting results from the Early Release Science Transiting Exoplanet Program. All talks will have 6-minute time slots. The session will close with a panel encompassing Q&A and discussions of lessons learned from analysis of early JWST transiting exoplanet observations.

If you have questions about the session, please contact Knicole Colón (knicole.colon@nasa.gov), Tansu Daylan (tdaylan@princeton.edu), and/or Ian Crossfield (ianc@ku.edu).

4) NASA SMD Community Town Hall (October 6, 2022, 10:30am EDT/7:30am PDT)

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate will hold a community town hall meeting with Associate Administrator for Science Thomas H. Zurbuchen and his leadership team on Thursday, October 6 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time, to discuss updates to NASA’s science program and share the current status of NASA activities. Members of SMD, the science community, academia, the media, and the public are invited to participate by joining at the link below.

https://nasaevents.webex.com/nasaevents/j.php?MTID=m191da6a9534fbd35fbd5c6b0a26c9e62

If prompted, please use event number 2764 141 1204, followed by event password PNpncwFe834 (76762933 from phones).

Participants are invited to submit questions and/or vote up questions already posted at:

https://nasa.cnf.io/sessions/xgyk/#!/dashboard

Users must provide their first and last name and organization and can submit their own questions or vote up questions submitted by others. The meeting leaders will try to answer as many of the submitted questions as possible.

Presentation materials will be available for download and a recording will be available later that day at https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/virtual-townhall

5) Inclusion Plan Best Practices Workshop (November 1–2, 2022, Virtual)

"We are happy to announce the virtual Inclusion Plan Best Practices Workshop scheduled for November 1–2, 2022.

Inclusion is one of NASA’s core values, and one of the agency’s highest priorities is moving toward an increasingly diverse and inclusive workforce that fully engages varied talents, ideas, and perspectives. Many programs within NASA’s Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) are now requiring proposers to contain an inclusion plan that outlines how the team will work against barriers to create and sustain inclusive work environments and how the team will equip members in such a way that they can go on to lead and contribute to other teams that are diverse and inclusive. As a result, in coordination with social scientists, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is hosting this Inclusion Plan Best Practices Workshop to discuss best practices to consider when creating and maintaining inclusive teams. Examples include recruitment best practices; common barriers to inclusive working environments; and understanding the distinction between inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility.

The goal of this workshop is to provide proposers with some background and tools needed to be active participants in creating and maintaining inclusive work environments. This workshop is open to any member of the science community and may be of particular interest to those writing ROSES or mission proposals requiring inclusion plans. This workshop will be held in two 2-hour sessions over two days, allowing ample time for questions and discussion with the speakers and NASA personnel.

Registration

Registration fees are not being collected for this meeting, but registration is required. Registration will be available through November 2, 2022.

Before the workshop, registered attendees will receive an email from Houston Meeting Info with virtual connection information.

Meeting Portal Updates: We have modified the meeting portal to follow best practices that support inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility. We encourage you to log into the meeting portal before the conference to update your profile information. From the meeting portal home page, click on Edit Profile to get started.

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/inclusionpl "

6) Great Lakes Exoplanet Area Meeting (GLEAM) 2022 (November 17-18, 2022, Columbus OH)

"We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting the 2022 edition of the Great Lakes Exoplanet Area Meeting (GLEAM) at Ohio State University in Columbus, OH, on November 17-18, 2022. The purpose of this meeting is to bring together the exoplanet and related community in the Midwest and Great Lakes region, make introductions (especially of those new to the region this year), and encourage collaboration. It builds upon earlier meetings held at Chicago and Northwestern, and last year's edition at Michigan. In order to foster networking and collaboration the meeting will be in-person only.

Lodging and travel costs will be covered for students. There is no registration fee. Coffee and snacks will be provided, as well as lunch and dinner on the first day.

Registration and abstract submission are open now. We particularly encourage contributions from graduate and advanced undergraduate students and postdocs.

The conference will begin at 12 PM on Thursday, Nov. 17, and conclude at 1 PM on Friday, Nov. 18. We encourage attendees to drive to Columbus on Thursday morning and return Friday afternoon, but lodging will be available on Wednesday night for those too far away to drive on Thursday morning.

More details can be found at the conference website: https://u.osu.edu/gleam2022/

On behalf of the LOC,

Scott Gaudi, Marshall Johnson, David Martin, Ji Wang"

7) Save the Dates: Exoplanets V (June 17-21, 2024, Leiden)

Exoplanets V
(5th installment of the Exoplanets Conferences Series)
June 17-21, 2024
Leiden, Netherlands

ExoPAG News and Announcements (September 16, 2022)

NN-EXPLORE Minerva-Australis Informational Session (September 21, 2022, 6pm EDT/3pm PDT)
NN-EXPLORE in 2023A: Time Available on the WIYN 3.5m, CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with CHIRON, MINERVA-Australis, and Support for Community Observing with High Resolution Imaging on WIYN, Gemini-North, and Gemini-South (Proposals due September 30, 2022)
ROSES-22 Amendment 47: Release of Strategic Astrophysics Technology Final Text and Due Dates
2023A NASA IRTF Call for Proposals (deadline October 3, 2022)
2023 Astrophysics Probe Explorer (APEX) DRAFT Announcement of Opportunity Released for Community Comment (Comments Due September 29, 2022)
Rocky Worlds Discussions

+ more

1) NN-EXPLORE Minerva-Australis Informational Session (September 21, 2022, 6pm EDT/3pm PDT)

NASA and the NSF provide US community access to the Minerva-Australis facility. 300 hours of time per semester are available to community and applications are through the NOIRLab NNExplore process (https://noirlab.edu/science/observing-noirlab/proposals/nn-explorenexsc) and information about the facility can be found at NExScI (https://nexsci.caltech.edu/missions/Minerva/). Proposals are due as the normal part of the NOIRLab cycle on 30 September 2022.

To help the community understand better the capabilities of the facility, we are holding an hour-long informational meeting via zoom on Wednesday 21 September 2022 at 1500h US PDT (1800h US EDT) = Wednesday 21 September 2022 2200h UT = Thursday 22 September 2022 0800h AEST.

The zoom link for the informational meeting is

Meeting URL:
https://caltech.zoom.us/j/82151133478?pwd=eU5rMGRUT2hES0IycVJPQjBMUnp4QT09

Meeting ID: 821 5113 3478

Passcode: 333560

For more information, please contact one of the following

David Ciardi ( ciardi@ipac.caltech.edu )
Duncan Wright ( Duncan.Wright@usq.edu.au )
Eric Mamajek ( eric.mamajek@jpl.nasa.gov )

2) NN-EXPLORE in 2023A: Time Available on the WIYN 3.5m, CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with CHIRON, MINERVA-Australis, and Support for Community Observing with High Resolution Imaging on WIYN, Gemini-North, and Gemini-South (Proposals due September 30, 2022)

NN-EXPLORE proposals are invited for the WIYN 3.5m, CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with CHIRON, and MINERVA-Australis in semester 2023A (1 February 2023 – 31 July 2023.) through the NOIRLab call for proposals:

https://noirlab.edu/science/observing-noirlab/proposals/call-for-proposals
(see Sec 3.4 for NN-EXPLORE opportunities)

Proposal Deadline: 30 September 2022 at 11:59pm Mountain Standard Time (MST)

For further details on the NN-EXPLORE time and available instruments, see:
https://noirlab.edu/science/observing-noirlab/proposals/nn-explore/

NOIRLab proposals must be anonymized. Instructions for PIs can be found on the Anonymization page: https://noirlab.edu/science/observing-noirlab/proposals/anonymization-instructions

Update on status of Kitt Peak National Observatory after Contreras Fire:
https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2213/

* WIYN 3.5m

The NNEXPLORE program continues on the WIYN 3.5m, with 35 nights available for exoplanet programs - including the precision RV instrument NEID: https://www.wiyn.org/Instruments/wiynneid.html and https://www.wiyn.org/Observe/wiynstatus.html . WIYN selections come with modest monetary award for analysis, publications costs and incidental expenses. https://www.wiyn.org/

* CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m+CHIRON

NNEXPLORE offers observing time on the CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with the precision radial-velocity spectrometer CHIRON, with 300 hours (equivalent to 30 nights of service observing) of observing time in 2023A. For more information on the SMARTS 1.5m telescope and CHIRON contact Todd Henry (thyenry@astro.gsu.edu , http://www.astro.gsu.edu/~thenry/SMARTS/) and see the recent paper by Paredes et al. (2021, AJ, 162, 176): https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021AJ....162..176P/abstract.

* MINERVA-Australis

[NOTE: The MINERVA-Australis team will have a 1 hour-long information session on Wednesday, September 21, 2022 at 6pm EDT/3pm PDT for anyone interested in learning more about M-A. See previous news item.]

As part of the NNEXPLORE program, NASA is continuing in a partnership with the MINERVA-Australis consortium that began in 2020B. That agreement continues in Semester 2023A, with 300 hours of observing time open to NNEXPLORE proposals. MINERVA-Australis is a dedicated exoplanet observatory operated by the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Queensland, Australia. The facility is located at USQ's Mt. Kent Observatory, and saw first light in quarter two 2018; commissioning of the facility was completed in mid-2019. MINERVA-Australis currently consists of 5 (0.7m) PlaneWave CDK700 telescopes; these telescopes have two ports, allowing each to be used for either spectroscopic or photometric observations. A summary of the facility and its capabilities can be found in the commissioning paper by Addison et al. 2019
(https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019PASP..131k5003A)
The photometric channel is capable of milli-magnitude precision and currently, the light from four telescopes can be combined onto one R=75,000 echelle spectrograph for radial velocity precisions of 1 -10 m/s depending on the target brightness and how many telescopes are combined.

Note on Restrictions to MINERVA-Australis Call

NASA has made available to the US community 300 hours on the Minerva-Australis facility for the 2023A semester. The time is intended for exoplanet research, primarily of TESS targets but other exoplanet science will be considered. Proposed observing time will be allocated in hours and must include all science and calibration observations necessary to accomplish the science. More information can be requested by contacting David Ciardi at NExScI (ciardi@ipac.caltech.edu) or Rob Wittenmyer at University of Southern Queensland (Rob.Wittenmyer@usq.edu.au).

As the MINERVA-Australis is a scientific consortium, there are a set of restrictions by which proposers must abide:

The MINERVA-Australis has listed a set of “Collaboration Targets,” which are a set of targets that the collaboration is observing (see https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M4ee7qRmhMoldLqbngZD7qXMOQSzZvhV/view?usp=sharing__;!!PvBDto6Hs4WbVuu7!bQiLiXo3BVwkHQbR0BcXUQQTSbPCmfGjwn_M_AxEcZRASVtWNWsoGnp5bhGUX7dS24dGjMrw$ ) “Collaboration Targets” can be proposed for observation through the NASA time if the proposal principal investigator forms a collaboration with the appropriate MINERVA-Australis collaboration or the proposer and the MINERVA-Australis collaboration member come to a mutual agreement regarding the proposed observations.
Observations will be made, on behalf of the NASA observers, in queue-mode by the MINERVA-Australis team.
The MINERVA-Australis team will deliver the proposer’s raw data, 1D extracted spectra, and radial velocities (if desired by the proposer).
Data obtained for US community observers will be archived at NExScI –through the ExoFOP service (https://exofop.ipac.caltech.edu/tess/). Archived data will have the option to have a maximum 12 month proprietary period.
Any publications arising from the utilization of NASA time on MINERVA-Australis are subject to the main MINERVA-Australis publication policy regarding the inclusion of the listed Architects and Builders [to be provided by the Collaboration] and must acknowledge the NN-EXPLORE Program.

* High Resolution Imaging on WIYN, Gemini-North and Gemini-South

NN-EXPLORE is supporting community observations with three high-resolution imagers - NESSI on WIYN, 'Alopeke on Gemini-North and Zorro on Gemini-South. In speckle mode they provide simultaneous two-color diffraction-limited optical imaging (FWHM~0.02" at 650nm) of targets as faint as V~13/17 over a 1.2" field of view. Wide-field mode provides simultaneous two-color imaging in standard SDSS filters over a 60" field of view. For further information see https://www.wiyn.org/Instruments/wiynnessi.html,https://www.gemini.edu/instrumentation/alopeke-zorro and contact the PI: Steve Howell (NASA Ames Research Center)steve.b.howell@nasa.gov. See also the paper on `Alopeke and Zorro by Scott et al. (2021, Fron. Astro. & Space Sci., 8, 138; https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021FrASS...8..138S/). The full 2023A Gemini call for proposals is at https://www.gemini.edu/observing/phase-i/standard-semester-program/2023a-call-proposals.

3) ROSES-22 Amendment 47: Release of Strategic Astrophysics Technology Final Text and Due Dates

The focus of the Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) program (https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=%7b14958525-AA09-111E-59C2-5BBF6585F7AA%7d&path=&method=init) is maturation of key technologies for incorporation into future strategic astrophysics flight missions. The SAT program is designed to support the maturation of technologies whose feasibility has already been demonstrated to the point where they can be incorporated into NASA flight missions. The search for and study of planets outside the Solar System, the origin and evolution of the Universe, and the birth of stars and galaxies are all represented within the SAT program. Compared to prior versions, this updated version of the text includes, in Section 1.3, a revision of the Specific Technology Development Exclusions.

ROSES-2022 Amendment 47 releases final text and due dates for D.7 SAT. Mandatory Notices of Intent are due October 21, 2022, and proposals are due December 15, 2022.

On or about September 12, 2022, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2022" (NNH22ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2022 and will appear on SARA's ROSES blog at:https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2022/

Questions concerning D.7 SAT (https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=%7b14958525-AA09-111E-59C2-5BBF6585F7AA%7d&path=&method=init) may be directed to mario.perez@nasa.gov, the main point of contact concerning this program, or to any of the points of contact for the three science themes:

Exoplanet Exploration: douglas.m.hudgins@nasa.gov
Physics of the Cosmos: valerie.connaughton@nasa.gov
Cosmic Origins: eric.v.tollestrup@nasa.gov

4) 2023A NASA IRTF Call for Proposals (deadline October 3, 2022)

The call for NASA Infrared Telescope Facility semester 2023A observing proposals has been released:http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/observing/callForProposals.php

Proposal Deadline for Semester 2023A (February 1, 2023 to July 31, 2023) is Monday, October 3, 2022, 5PM Hawaii Standard Time.

Available instruments are listed here: http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/instruments/. Remote observing is offered from any location with broadband Internet access for any project that utilizes IRTF facility instruments.

Click here (http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/observing/computer/) for information about IRTF Computer and Remote Observing Information.

Please see the announcement for available instruments and for further information. Please review the information and use our Online Application Form (http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/observing/applicationForms.php).

Released: September 1, 2022
Proposal Due: October 3, 2022
Other Documents: IRTF Home Page: http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/
NASA IRTF Newsletter: http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/information/newsletter.php?2022B
Questions may be directed to Miranda Hawarden-Ogata (hawarden@hawaii.edu)

5) 2023 Astrophysics Probe Explorer (APEX) DRAFT Announcement of Opportunity Released for Community Comment (Comments Due September 29, 2022)

Release Date: August 16, 2022
Comments Due: September 29, 2022
Identification Number: NNH22ZDA015J

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is announcing via this email the release of a draft text for community review and comment entitled “Draft Announcement of Opportunity (AO): 2023 Astrophysics Probe Explorer (APEX).” To find the full draft text visit http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ and select “Solicitations” at the top of the page and search on “NNH22ZDA015J” or use this direct link https://go.nasa.gov/Hertz15.

The National Academies’ 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s at https://www.nap.edu/catalog/26141/pathways-to-discovery-in-astronomy-and-astrophysics-for-the-2020s, recommends probe missions to be competed in broad areas identified as important to accomplish the survey’s scientific goals. For the coming decade, the Decadal Survey recommends a far-infrared mission or an X-ray mission. Responses to the Astrophysics Probe Explorer Draft AO will be limited to one of the two mission themes recommended by the Decadal Survey. These areas are:

A far infrared imaging or spectroscopy mission, and
An X-ray probe.

Proposals must be responsive to the preponderance of the mission theme's objectives as provided in Sections 7.5.3.2 through 7.5.3.4 of the Decadal Survey.

Participation is open to all categories of organizations or institutions, U.S. or non-U.S., including educational, industrial, and not-for-profit institutions, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs), NASA Centers, and other Government agencies.

The issuance of the 2023 APEX Draft AO does not obligate NASA to issue a final 2023 APEX AO that solicits proposals. Any costs incurred by prospective investigators in preparing submissions in response to any draft solicitation are incurred at the submitter's own risk.

Please address comments or questions on the draft AO only via email to the APEX Lead Program Scientist: Dr. Patricia M. Knezek (subject line to read "APEX DRAFT AO”) at: patricia.m.knezek@nasa.gov. Responses to individual comments may be given by email or posted in the Q&As (Questions and Answers) section of the Astrophysics Explorers Program Acquisition website:https://explorers.larc.nasa.gov/2023APPROBE/. Anonymity of persons or institutions submitting questions will be preserved. The comment period for the draft AO ends on September 29, 2022.

6) Rocky Worlds Discussions

"Dear all,

We are launching a new virtual meeting series "Rocky Worlds Discussions" (https://discussions.rockyworlds.org/) to bring together planetary scientists, astronomers, and earth scientists to pave the way for the next decade of interdisciplinary rocky exoplanet discovery and characterisation. Rocky Worlds Discussions aims to grow a globally connected community that meets for seminars followed by discussion on a monthly basis. We aim to foster a lively debate on the major questions cutting across the communities of exoplanet astronomy, planetary science, and astrobiology. All meetings are conducted virtually via Zoom. The meeting series is hosted by Tim Lichtenberg, Amy Bonsor, Oliver Shorttle, Robin Wordsworth, Sarah Hörst, Hiroyuki Kurokawa, and Rebecca Fischer. The first thematic meetings will be introduced by talks from the following speakers: 6 October 2022, 13.00 UTC: Anat Shahar (Carnegie EPL) – An Interdisciplinary (Preliminary) Understanding of Planetary Evolution 3 November 2022, 13.00 UTC: Simon Lock (U Bristol) – Impact-driven atmospheric loss from terrestrial planets 1 December 2022, 15:00 UTC: Sujoy Mukhopadhyay (UC Davis) – Volatile accretion and evolution in the terrestrial planets The up-to-date meeting schedule can be found at: https://discussions.rockyworlds.org/meetings. You can join the discussion mailing list and further community spaces at: https://discussions.rockyworlds.org/join. We look forward to seeing you at Rocky Worlds Discussions!

Amy Bonsor, Tim Lichtenberg, Oliver Shorttle, Sarah Horst, Robin Wordsworth, Hiroyuki Kurokawa, Rebecca Fischer"

ExoPAG News and Announcements (September 3, 2022)

NN-EXPLORE in 2023A: Time Available on the WIYN 3.5m, CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with CHIRON, MINERVA-Australis, and Support for Community Observing with High Resolution Imaging on WIYN, Gemini-North, and Gemini-South (Proposals due September 30, 2022)
NASA SMD Seeks Volunteer Reviewers for Research Proposals
Origins of Solar Systems Gordon Research Seminar: Constraining the Origin and Evolution of Planetary Systems Through a Multidisciplinary Approach (June 10-11, 2023) and Origins of Solar Systems Gordon Research Conference: Chemical and Dynamical Constraints on Planet Formation (June 11-16, 2023)

+ more

1) NN-EXPLORE in 2023A: Time Available on the WIYN 3.5m, CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with CHIRON, MINERVA-Australis, and Support for Community Observing with High Resolution Imaging on WIYN, Gemini-North, and Gemini-South (Proposals due September 30, 2022)

NN-EXPLORE proposals are invited for the WIYN 3.5m, CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with CHIRON, and MINERVA-Australis in semester 2023A (1 February 2023 – 31 July 2023.) through the NOIRLab call for proposals:

https://noirlab.edu/science/observing-noirlab/proposals/call-for-proposals
(see Sec 3.4 for NN-EXPLORE opportunities)
Proposal Deadline: 30 September 2022 at 11:59pm Mountain Standard Time (MST)
For further details on the NN-EXPLORE time and available instruments, see:
https://noirlab.edu/science/observing-noirlab/proposals/nn-explore/
NOIRLab proposals must be anonymized. Instructions for PIs can be found on the Anonymization page: https://noirlab.edu/science/observing-noirlab/proposals/anonymization-instructions
Update on status of Kitt Peak National Observatory after Contreras Fire
https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2213/

* WIYN 3.5m

The NNEXPLORE program continues on the WIYN 3.5m, with 35 nights available for exoplanet programs - including the precision RV instrument NEID: https://www.wiyn.org/Instruments/wiynneid.html and https://www.wiyn.org/Instruments/wiynneid_call2022b.html. WIYN selections come with modest monetary award for analysis, publications costs and incidental expenses. https://www.wiyn.org/

* CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m+CHIRON)

NNEXPLORE offers observing time on the CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with the precision radial-velocity spectrometer CHIRON, with 300 hours (equivalent to 30 nights of service observing) of observing time in 2023A. For more information on the SMARTS 1.5m telescope and CHIRON contact Todd Henry (thenry@astro.gsu.edu, http://www.astro.gsu.edu/~thenry/SMARTS/) and see the recent paper by Paredes et al. (2021, AJ, 162, 176): https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021AJ....162..176P/abstract.

* MINERVA-Australis

[NOTE: The MINERVA-Australis team will have a 1 hour-long information session on Wednesday, September 21, 2022 at 3pm PDT for anyone interested in learning more about M-A. Zoom connection information for the information session and updated information on spectroscopy and photometry with M-A will be posted around September 6th at the MINERVA-Australis NExScI website https://nexsci.caltech.edu/missions/Minerva/.]

(https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019PASP..131k5003A)

The photometric channel is capable of milli-magnitude precision and currently, the light from four telescopes can be combined onto one R=75,000 echelle spectrograph for radial velocity precisions of 1 -10 m/s depending on the target brightness and how many telescopes are combined.

Note on Restrictions to MINERVA-Australis Call

As the MINERVA-Australis is a scientific consortium, there are a set of restrictions by which proposers must abide:

• The MINERVA-Australis has listed a set of “Collaboration Targets,” which are a set of targets that the collaboration is observing (seehttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1M4ee7qRmhMoldLqbngZD7qXMOQSzZvhV/view?usp=sharing__;!!PvBDto6Hs4WbVuu7!bQiLiXo3BVwkHQbR0BcXUQQTSbPCmfGjwn_M_AxEcZRASVtWNWsoGnp5bhGUX7dS24dGjMrw$

“Collaboration Targets” can be proposed for observation through the NASA time if the proposal principal investigator forms a collaboration with the appropriate MINERVA-Australis collaboration or the proposer and the MINERVA-Australis collaboration member come to a mutual agreement regarding the proposed observations.

• Observations will be made, on behalf of the NASA observers, in queue-mode by the MINERVA-Australis team.

• The MINERVA-Australis team will deliver the proposer’s raw data, 1D extracted spectra, and radial velocities (if desired by the proposer).

• Data obtained for US community observers will be archived at NExScI –through the ExoFOP service (https://exofop.ipac.caltech.edu/tess/). Archived data will have the option to have a maximum 12 month proprietary period.

• Any publications arising from the utilization of NASA time on MINERVA-Australis are subject to the main MINERVA-Australis publication policy regarding the inclusion of the listed Architects and Builders [to be provided by the Collaboration] and must acknowledge the NN-EXPLORE Program.

* High Resolution Imaging on WIYN, Gemini-North and Gemini-South

NN-EXPLORE is supporting community observations with three high-resolution imagers - NESSI on WIYN, 'Alopeke on Gemini-North and Zorro on Gemini-South. In speckle mode they provide simultaneous two-color diffraction-limited optical imaging (FWHM~0.02" at 650nm) of targets as faint as V~13/17 over a 1.2" field of view. Wide-field mode provides simultaneous two-color imaging in standard SDSS filters over a 60" field of view. For further information see https://www.wiyn.org/Instruments/wiynnessi.html, https://www.gemini.edu/instrumentation/alopeke-zorro and contact the PI: Steve Howell (NASA Ames Research Center) steve.b.howell@nasa.gov. See also the paper on `Alopeke and Zorro by Scott et al. (2021, Fron. Astro. & Space Sci., 8, 138; https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021FrASS...8..138S/). The full 2023A Gemini call for proposals is at https://www.gemini.edu/observing/phase-i/standard-semester-program/2023a-call-proposals.

2) NASA SMD Seeks Volunteer Reviewers for Research Proposals

NASA's Science Mission Directorate is seeking subject matter experts to serve as external (email) and/or virtual panel reviewers of proposals to the "ROSES" research solicitation. All of the reviewer volunteer forms may be accessed on the main landing page at https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/volunteer-review-panels or just follow the links below to the volunteer review forms. Once on a form, click the boxes to indicate the topics in which you consider yourself to be a subject matter expert. If your skills match our needs for that review and there are not too many organizational conflicts of interest, we will contact you to discuss scheduling.

A wide range of volunteer reviewer web forms have been (re)posted recently including

Heliophysics Technology and Instrument Development for Science
Heliophysics Early Career Investigator Program
Weather and Atmospheric Dynamics
Emerging Worlds
Solar System Workings
Planetary Data Archiving and Restoration
Exobiology
Solar System Observations
Mars Data Analysis Program
Discovery Data Analysis
Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations (PICASSO)
Planetary Protection Research
Astrophysics Data Analysis Program
Astrophysics Research and Analysis
Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics Networks
Habitable Worlds
Earth Surface and Interior and Space Geodesy Programs
The New Frontiers Data Analysis Program
The Physical Oceanography Program

3) Origins of Solar Systems Gordon Research Seminar: Constraining the Origin and Evolution of Planetary Systems Through a Multidisciplinary Approach (June 10-11, 2023) and Origins of Solar Systems Gordon Research Conference: Chemical and Dynamical Constraints on Planet Formation (June 11-16, 2023)

Origins of Solar Systems Gordon Research Seminar:
Constraining the Origin and Evolution of Planetary Systems Through a Multidisciplinary Approach
June 10-11, 2023
https://www.grc.org/origins-of-solar-systems-grs-conference/2023/
Origins of Solar Systems Gordon Research Conference:
Chemical and Dynamical Constraints on Planet Formation
June 11-16, 2023
https://www.grc.org/origins-of-solar-systems-conference/2023/

ExoPAG News and Announcements (August 22, 2022)

Precursor Science Workshop II Delayed Until October 11-13, 2022
Call for ExoExplorers 2023 (Deadline September 22, 2022)
Call for ExoGuides 2023 (Deadline September 16, 2022)
Astrophysics Mission Design School (Duration: January 30-April 14, 2023; Application Deadline September 28, 2022)
Two Astrophysics Medium Explorer Missions and Two Explorer Missions of Opportunity Selected for Mission Concept Studies
2023 Kavli-IAU Astrochemistry Symposium. Astrochemistry VIII - From the First Galaxies to the Formation of Habitable Worlds (July 10-14, 2023, Traverse City, MI, USA)

+ more

1) Precursor Science Workshop II Delayed Until October 11-13, 2022

From NASA Astrophysics Division Director Dr. Mark Clampin:

“Due to conflicts with other meetings, the precursor science workshop will be rescheduled by 5 weeks from September 7-9 to October 11-13, 2022. With the appointment of a new Astrophysics Division Director this also provides the opportunity to re-assess the workshop’s priorities and alignment with planned GOMAP activities. The workshop will retain its all-virtual format.”

From Dr. Eric Smith and the rest of the workshop organizing committee:

"While the structure of the meeting has been decided, with the delay in the meeting dates we will need to re-confirm speakers for the new dates. The organizing committee will aim to post the updated agenda within the next two weeks. We ask those interested in attending, whether they previously registered or not, to please re-register athttps://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdSEWD3dNf1TsdQWu81wH4lK7vZr4HLe4ilDFef4tfQjoS3Vg/viewform. Thank you."

For further information and future updates, please see the Precursor Science Workshop II website:https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/astro2020-precursor-sci-workshop2/

2) Call for ExoExplorers 2023 (Deadline September 22, 2022)

Call for ExoExplorer Applications 2023

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/exoexplorers/exoexplorers-call/

Program Description

The ExoExplorers program, sponsored by NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program Office and the ExoPAG Executive Committee, will focus on the professional development of ~12 graduate student and/or postdoc researchers (“ExoExplorers”) at US and international[1] institutions. Each member of the cohort will be featured in a webinar that will be live-streamed to the exoplanet community, helping to increase their visibility within the field and build internal and external research networks. The cohort will also learn from the experiences of established exoplanet researchers and engineers in the field (“ExoGuides”) via a combination of tailored presentations and small group discussions.

Members of this cohort, which will run from January 2023 to June 2023, will each give one 30-minute presentation on their research to the broader exoplanet community. Each of the ExoExplorers will receive $1,000 for the purchase of one presentation of their research results, presented as a part of the Science Series.

In addition, the ExoExplorers will be invited to participate in:

Weekly interactions between members of the cohort
Monthly informal group discussions with prominent scientists (“ExoGuides”) in the fields of exoplanet science and engineering
One-on-one meetings with two to five researchers requested by the ExoExplorer, facilitated by the Organizing Committee
Two to four professional development events on topics to be decided by the cohort, such as proposal writing, establishing inclusive collaborations, career building, and public speaking
The development and/or execution of cohort-driven activities pertaining to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) and/or exoplanet science and engineering
Mentorship opportunities with the organizers of the ExoExplorers program.

The activities described above will largely be shaped by the unique interests and needs of the cohort. Therefore, we seek applicants who are actively seeking to enrich and enhance their exoplanet science and DEIA in the broader exoplanet community via engaging with each other, as well as with the ExoGuides and the ExoExplorer program organizers.

[1] NASA places restrictions on interactions with several countries: Iran, Syria, North Korea, and China. If you are a citizen of one of these countries or are currently affiliated with an institution in one of these countries, please see our FAQ page (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/exoexplorers/exoexplorers-faq/) for additional details/restrictions on applying.

Applications are due Thursday September 22, 2022 at 5 PM Pacific.

For further information, including application instructions, FAQ, Code of Conduct, please visit:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/exoexplorers/exoexplorers-call/

3) Call for ExoGuides 2023 (Deadline September 16, 2022)

ExoGuide Call 2023

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/exoexplorers/exoexplorers-exoguide-call/

This ExoExplorers program, sponsored by NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program Office and the ExoPAG Executive Committee, will focus on the professional development of ~12 graduate student and/or postdoc researchers (“ExoExplorers”) by raising their visibility in the exoplanet community via a series of public talks, helping them build internal and external research networks, and providing them with an opportunity to learn from the experiences of you and your fellow ExoGuides. Please see the following page for more details on the program (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/exoexplorers/exoexplorers-call/)

As an ExoGuide, we ask that you present a one hour-long seminar directly to the cohort that speaks to your experiences as a scientist or engineer, and that you participate in one hour-long informal discussion with the cohort. The ExoExplorer organizers are eager to showcase broad, diverse perspectives and therefore encourage you to suggest any topic you might find engaging to the exoplanet community.

ExoGuides should be faculty, staff, or equivalent career stage. We welcome both exoplanet and exoplanet-adjacent scientists and engineers (e.g., disks, stars, instrumentation) from any institution (US and international).

Nominations should be submitted by September 16, 2022. Self-nominations are welcome. The form is linked at: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/exoexplorers/exoexplorers-exoguide-call/

The organizers will review nominations and reach out to potential ExoGuides in November. A complete nomination submitted by the deadline will be considered by the Organizing and Steering Committees for three (3) years (i.e. for this year's cohort, next year's cohort, and the year after that). You are welcome to reapply after those three years.

4) Astrophysics Mission Design School (Duration: January 30-April 14, 2023; Application Deadline September 28, 2022)

NASA Science Mission Design Schools

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/intern/apply/nasa-science-mission-design-schools/

NASA Science Mission Design Schools are 3-month-long career development experiences for doctoral students, recent Ph.D.s, postdocs and junior faculty who have a strong interest in science-driven robotic space exploration missions. Participants learn the process of developing a hypothesis-driven robotic space mission in a concurrent engineering environment while getting an in-depth, first-hand look at mission design, life cycle, costs, schedule and the trade-offs inherent in each.

The Science Mission Design Schools are designed to prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers for participation and leadership in space science missions of the future. Experiences are focused on three distinct content areas:

The Astrophysics Mission Design School (AMDS) focuses on astrophysics science missions.
The Planetary Science Summer School (PSSS) focuses on planetary science and exploration.
The Heliophysics Mission Design School (HMDS) focuses on missions to study the Sun and its influence on the rest of the solar system.

Dates: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/intern/apply/nasa-science-mission-design-schools/#dates

Astrophysics Mission Design School 2023:

Application Deadline: September 28, 2022
Notice of Acceptance: By Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022
Duration: January 30 – April 14, 2023
Culminating Week: April 10-14, 2023

Note: Attendance at webinars is required.

Application portal: https://jpleducation-external.jpl.nasa.gov/smds/login

For further information on eligibility, details on the school, FAQ, dates, how to apply, please visit:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/intern/apply/nasa-science-mission-design-schools/

Contact Info:

Program Manager Program Manager: Leslie Lowes, Leslie.L.Lowes@jpl.nasa.gov, (818) 393-7734

Program Support: Joyce Armijo, Joyce.E.Armijo@jpl.nasa.gov, (818) 354-2337

5) Two Astrophysics Medium Explorer Missions and Two Explorer Missions of Opportunity Selected for Mission Concept Studies

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-proposals-to-study-stellar-explosions-galaxies-stars/

6) 2023 Kavli-IAU Astrochemistry Symposium. Astrochemistry VIII - From the First Galaxies to the Formation of Habitable Worlds (July 10-14, 2023, Traverse City, MI, USA)

"Dear All,

We are pleased to announce that the next IAU symposium on astrochemistry will be held in the week from July 10th to 14th 2023 in Traverse City, MI, USA. This symposium will be held as a Kavli-IAU symposium with particular emphasis on fostering interactions also with researchers not traditionally connected to our field. More information about the program and registration will follow soon, but for now please save the dates.

Looking forward to seeing all of you in Traverse City next year. On behalf of the organising committee,

- Paola Caselli, Ted Bergin & Jes Jorgensen

====

2023 Kavli-IAU Astrochemistry Symposium.
Astrochemistry VIII - From the First Galaxies to the Formation of Habitable Worlds.
https://events.mpe.mpg.de/event/14/

Astrochemistry is at the heart of many astrophysical fields, from the early Universe to local galaxies, to star- and planet-formation and evolution in our Milky Way, to exoplanet atmospheres, and to our Solar System. Decades-long concerted efforts of astronomers and theoretical/experimental chemists have provided a solid base for using molecules as powerful diagnostic tools of the physical and chemical structure, dynamics, and history of a multitude of astrophysical objects, allowing connections and glimpses into the life cycle of the interstellar medium, as well as into the growth of chemical complexity in space. The great sensitivity, high angular resolution and frequency coverage of telescopes such as ALMA have allowed unprecedented views of stellar and planet nurseries. JWST with its sensitive near- to mid-infrared spectrometers will soon open a new sensitive and sharp observing window into major molecular ingredients such as water, carbon dioxide as well as other key organic species. JWST will allow us to probe composition of ices on interstellar and planet-forming scales, enabling studies of the linked-chemistry of exoplanetary atmospheres and protoplanetary disks. It is therefore timely for the eighth IAU Symposium on Astrochemistry that will allow the ever-growing astrochemical community to meet and discuss recent achievements and future progress including the possibilities of new connections to other fields."

ExoPAG News and Announcements (August 17, 2022)

2023A NASA Keck Call for Proposals (Proposals due September 15, 2022)
Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2: Workshop Moved to Albuquerque + Virtual (November 2-4, 2022; Abstract Deadline August 25, 2022)
Input to ExEP Science Gap List (Input Requested by September 30, 2022)
2022 Sagan Exoplanet Summer Hybrid Workshop "Exoplanet Science in the Gaia Era": Presentations Online
Precursor Science Workshop II: Request for Community Input on Precursor Science Topics for the Future Great Observatories (Please Respond by August 29, 2022)
ROSES-22 Amendment 38: D.12 Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics Networks (TCAN) Change in Scope and New Due Dates: Update Regarding Theoretical Investigations That Would Significantly Improve our Understanding of Exoplanets and Exoplanet Formation (New NOIs due October 4, 2022; Proposals due November 4, 2022)
Call for a U.S. Scientist to Serve on ESA’s NewAthena Science Redefinition Team (Applications due September 16, 2022)
2023 Astrophysics Probe Explorer (APEX) DRAFT Announcement of Opportunity Released for Community Comment (Comments due September 29, 2022)
NASA Planetary Science Division Community Town Hall on Response to NASEM Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023–2032 (Thursday August 18, 2022)
The Fifth Workshop on Extremely Precise Radial Velocities (EPRV 5) (March 27-2023, Santa Barbara)

+ more

1) 2023A NASA Keck Call for Proposals (Proposals due September 15, 2022)

2023A NASA Keck Call for Proposals

https://nexsci.caltech.edu/missions/KeckSolicitation/gen-info.shtml

The NASA Exoplanet Science Institute is soliciting proposals to use NASA's portion of time on the Keck Telescopes for the 2023A observing semester (February 1-July 31, 2023). All proposals are due by September 15, 2022 at 4 pm Pacific.

NASA intends the use of the Keck telescopes to be highly strategic in support of on-going space missions and/or high priority, long-term science goals. Proposals are sought to support science goals and missions in all of the following discipline areas:

Our Own Solar System
Exoplanet Exploration
Physics of the Cosmos
Cosmic Origins
Mission Support Proposals in any of these areas are also encouraged

Please read the Call for Proposals (https://nexsci.caltech.edu/missions/KeckSolicitation/gen-info.shtml) for complete information, semester highlights, instrument availability, and application guidelines.

The opportunity to propose as a Principal Investigator for NASA time on the Keck Telescopes is open to all U.S.-based astronomers (i.e. who have their principal affiliation at a U.S. institution). Investigators from institutions outside of the U.S. may participate as Co-Investigators.

Advance Notice of Joint JWST/NASA Keck Programs

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Cycle 2 Call for Proposals will include the opportunity to propose for joint programs requiring JWST and NASA Keck observations. This does not affect this 2023A NASA Keck Call for Proposals. Click here for more information.

Call for proposals: https://nexsci.caltech.edu/missions/KeckSolicitation/

Questions: KeckCFP@ipac.caltech.edu

2) Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2: Workshop Moved to Albuquerque + Virtual (November 2–4, 2022; Abstract Deadline August 25, 2022)

Change in Workshop Location!

Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2
November 2–4, 2022
Albuquerque, New Mexico/Virtual
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/exoplanets2022/

The Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2 workshop scheduled for November 2–4, 2022, has been moved to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with virtual participation available.

The goal of the workshop is to examine and discuss exoplanet-solar system synergies on planetary properties, formation, evolution, and habitability. The workshop aims to foster and build new collaborations among scientists in the solar system and exoplanet communities and to help guide the direction of future exploration and observations of worlds in the solar system and beyond.

Workshop Topics

Comparative planetology on worlds near and far
Solar system studies as a baseline for studies of extrasolar planetary properties and evolution
Lessons learned on planetary statistics, demographics, and system architectures from extrasolar planetary systems

Call for Abstracts

Abstract submission deadline: August 25, 2022, 5:00 p.m. U.S. Central Daylight Time (GMT -5)

Important: To be added to the mailing list to receive additional information about this workshop, submit an indication of interest:https://www.hou.usra.edu/meeting_portal/iofi/?mtg=exoplanets2022

Meeting Portal Updates: We have modified the meeting portal to follow best practices that support inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility. We encourage you to log into the meeting portal before the conference to update your profile information. From the meeting portal home page, click on Edit Profile to get started.

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/exoplanets2022/

For more information, contact Meeting and Publication Services, USRA/Lunar and Planetary Institute: meetinginfo@hou.usra.edu

3) Input to ExEP Science Gap List (Input Requested by September 30, 2022)

The NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP) is seeking community input on the ExEP Science Gap List (SGL) through September 30, 2022, with the goal of providing an updated version in early 2023:

The current 2022 version of the SGL is posted on the ExEP Program Science page (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/science-overview/) at: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/system/internal_resources/details/original/2146_ExEP_Science_Gap_List_2022.pdf

The Science Gap List (SGL) tabulates program “science gaps”, which are defined as the difference between knowledge needed to define requirements for specified future NASA exoplanet missions and the current state of the art, or knowledge which is needed to enhance the science return of current and future NASA exoplanet missions. Making the gap list public signals to the broader community where focused science investigations are needed over the next 3-5 years in support of ExEP goals. The ExEP Science Gap List represents activities and investigations that will advance the goals of NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program, and provides brief summaries in a convenient tabular format. The ExEP Science Gap list is meant to assist proposers in describing the relevance of their work to Program goals as they respond to SMD ROSES and mission observing proposal solicitations. All ExEP approaches, activities, and decisions are guided by science priorities, and those priorities are presented and summarized in the ExEP Science Gap List.

Please contact ExEP scientists Karl Stapelfeldt (Karl.R.Stapelfeldt@jpl.nasa.gov) & Eric Mamajek (Eric.Mamajek@jpl.nasa.gov) with any input for revisions to the SGL.

Later this year, ExEP plans to update both the Science Gap List and Science Plan Appendix. The Science Plan Appendix is a more comprehensive document that lays out the scientific challenges that must be addressed to advance the goals of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program, however the most recent version (2018) pre-dates the Astro 2020 Decadal Survey. The updated Science Plan Appendix is also planned to be posted in early 2023.

The ExEP Exoplanet Program Science documents are available at:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/science-overview/

4) 2022 Sagan Exoplanet Summer Hybrid Workshop "Exoplanet Science in the Gaia Era": Presentations Online

The 2022 Sagan Exoplanet Summer Workshop "Exoplanet Science in the Gaia Era" hosted by NExScI is in the books.

Congratulations to the organizers and the 1073 attendees (127 in-person + 945 remote) who made this year's Sagan workshop a great success!

Sagan workshop presentation slides:
https://nexsci.caltech.edu/workshop/2022/agenda.shtml
Sagan workshop presentations on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIbTYGsIVYti7z5CHoiS5BJlT11gHUtgt
Sagan workshop hands-on session presentations and notebooks:
https://nexsci.caltech.edu/workshop/2022/handson.shtml
Sagan workshop posters:
https://nexsci.caltech.edu/workshop/2022/posters.shtml
Presentations from the previous Sagan summer workshops are posted at:
https://nexsci.caltech.edu/conferences/

5) Precursor Science Workshop II: Request for Community Input on Precursor Science Topics for the Future Great Observatories (Please Respond by August 29, 2022)

The Precursor Science Workshop II (“Precursors to Pathways: Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories” (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/astro2020-precursor-sci-workshop2/) will be held virtually September 7-9, 2022.

Community input from the Precursor Science Workshop I was incorporated into a "Merged Science Gap Worksheet" sorted by the future great observatory (FGO) topics (separate tabs for IROUV [exoplanets], IROUV [astrophysics], Far-IR, X-ray). Some comments and discussion by some Workshop I participants, facilitators, and organizers has produced some preliminary assessments of whether gaps sounded like they were precursor, preparatory or follow-up science. However, there are likely to be other candidate precursor science topics for the FGOs that have not yet been entered, and many of the current candidate precursor science gaps that have been entered are light on content – making assessment challenging.

With the aim to solicit additional polished input from the community on the existing gap topics (or fill in details on the previous gap topics) and to make the best use of breakout session times during the 2nd workshop, the organizers are inviting the community to submit their input via this Google form ahead of Workshop II:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYI64FfiNv2SJeotyQ8jRDdH2eU-EF1Og9_1xD53SLmawEdg/viewform

The new Google form asks for input following the same columns as in the "Merged Science Gap Worksheet.”

Feedback received ahead of the second workshop (7-9 September 2022) will be integrated into the worksheet. Please submit feedback by Monday, August 29, 2022.

Note that some gap lines in the spreadsheet may be combined by the organizers if there are multiple submissions on the same FGO precursor science topic.

The combined inputs from Workshops I and II will inform the ROSES proposal call D.16 Astrophysics Decadal Survey Precursor Science (ADSPS). The final text of the ADSPS ROSES call will go out this fall, with proposals due no fewer than 90 days later.

If you wish to attend (virtually) the workshop and receive email updates on it, please submit your contact information here. For more information on the workshops and ADSPS ROSES call, contact Eric Smith (eric.p.smith@nasa.gov) and Terri Brandt (t.j.brandt@nasa.gov).

6) ROSES-22 Amendment 38: D.12 Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics Networks (TCAN) Change in Scope and New Due Dates: Update Regarding Theoretical Investigations That Would Significantly Improve our Understanding of Exoplanets and Exoplanet Formation (New NOIs due October 4, 2022; Proposals due November 4, 2022)

ROSES-22 Amendment 38: D.12 Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics Networks change in Scope and New Due Dates

D.12 Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics Networks (TCAN) supports research networks that enable integrated and focused collaborative efforts across multiple institutions. TCAN proposals must:

Be directly relevant to space astrophysics goals by facilitating the interpretation of data from space astrophysics missions or by leading to predictions that can be tested with space astrophysics observations;
Address fundamental issues in theoretical and computational astrophysics, and display a depth and breadth of concept qualitatively beyond those typical of the Astrophysics Theory Program (ATP);
Consist predominantly of theoretical astrophysics studies and/or the development of theoretical astrophysics models and a significant computational component that involves more than just incremental enhancement of existing codes.

ROSES-2022 Amendment 38 changes the scope and resets the due dates for D.12 TCAN: Theoretical investigations that would significantly improve our understanding of exoplanets and exoplanet formation are solicited by D.12 TCAN. New NOIs may be submitted October 4, 2022, and proposals are due November 4, 2022.

On or about August 3, 2022, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2022" (NNH22ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2022 and will appear on SARA's ROSES blog at:https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2022/

Questions concerning D.12 TCAN may be directed to Sanaz Vahidinia at sanaz.vahidinia@nasa.gov.

D.12 Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics Networks (TCAN):

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=%7b833846F2-4535-ADEE-8CFF-746D141B0290%7d&path=&method=init

7) Call for a U.S. Scientist to serve on ESA’s NewAthena Science Redefinition Team (Applications due September 16, 2022)

Applications are due by Tuesday, Sep 16, 2022, at 8 pm EDT / 5 pm PDT. Only email applications of a single PDF file will be accepted. Please see the solicitation for applications below and submit via email to Dr. Kartik Sheth (kartik.sheth@nasa.gov).

"Dear Colleague,

NASA is soliciting applications and nominations for individuals affiliated with U.S. institutions to participate in a European Space Agency (ESA)-led NewAthena Science Re-definition Team (SRT).

Background: Athena is ESA’s next large X-ray astrophysics mission (see https://sci.esa.int/athena, https://www.the-athena-x-ray-observatory.eu/). ESA, with NASA as a partner, has been formulating the Athena mission since 2014. ESA recently noted that the mission, in its current form, has greater complexity (and associated costs) and therefore has become unaffordable within its science program. ESA wishes to define an affordable, yet ambitious X-ray observatory mission on a similar timeframe as the one originally envisioned for Athena. This revised mission is referred to as NewAthena.

The ESA Director for Science is convening a SRT to support the definition of the science objectives of NewAthena and to provide expert advice during the study activities necessary to define the NewAthena mission concept. In order for NewAthena to fit the clear cost constraints, the mission specifications will likely need to be less ambitious than Athena’s and the SRT will be asked to support the study activities in the necessary trade-offs among performance specifications, etc., with the goal of defining an affordable X-ray mission that would still deliver flagship science. The SRT will be asked to also propose possible new, fresh science goals for the NewAthena mission complementing the original science case for Athena, that might enhance the mission’s scientific output in the face of necessarily reduced mission specifications.

ESA has invited NASA and JAXA to appoint members for the SRT. With this Dear Colleague Letter NASA seeks to appoint one US science re-definition team member to bring in fresh perspectives for the NewAthena design. Applicants are asked to read the ESA Announcement of the SRT (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/call-for-newathena-science-re-definition-team), which includes links for the terms of reference for the SRT and other relevant documents. Please direct any questions to the POC at NASA HQ below.

Nomination / Application Letters:

Applications and nominations to serve as the NASA-nominated member of the SRT should consist of a single PDF which includes a cover letter, including a statement of expertise pertinent to serving on the SRT, a resume, and a statement of commitment. The cover letter should speak directly to the anticipated criteria for selection listed below. Please also include in the single PDF a one- or two-page resume / curriculum vitae and a brief statement of availability and commitment to serve on the SRT during its ~18 month lifetime. Applications and nominations will be accepted for candidates affiliated with U.S. institutions; there is no citizenship requirement.

Anticipated Criteria for Selection:

Expertise pertinent to serving on the SRT and its mission of advising ESA in science perspectives for the newAthena design as detailed in the documents linked above.

Ability to bring a diversity of thought and fresh perspectives relative to the legacy Athena mission architecture.

Evidence of commitment to creative and implementable solutions for difficult technical challenges.

Applications are due by Tuesday, Sep 16, 2022, at 8 pm EDT / 5 pm PDT. Only email applications of a single PDF file will be accepted. Please submit your application via email to Dr. Kartik Sheth (kartik.sheth@nasa.gov)

We anticipate regular remote meetings, and up to two in-person meetings requiring travel to Europe can be assumed. NASA will provide funding for travel to the NewAthena Science Re-definition Team meetings.

Applications will be reviewed at NASA Headquarters. The Astrophysics Division Director will select the U.S. scientist for nomination to ESA.

NASA Point of Contact:
Dr. Kartik Sheth
NASA Athena Program Scientist
Telephone: 202.573.1060
Email: kartik.sheth@nasa.gov"

8) 2023 Astrophysics Probe Explorer (APEX) DRAFT Announcement of Opportunity Released for Community Comment (Comments due September 29, 2022)

Release Date: August 16, 2022
Comments Due: September 29, 2022
Identification Number: NNH22ZDA015J

A far infrared imaging or spectroscopy mission, and
An X-ray probe.

Proposals must be responsive to the preponderance of the mission theme's objectives as provided in Sections 7.5.3.2 through 7.5.3.4 of the Decadal Survey.

9) NASA Planetary Science Division Community Town Hall on Response to NASEM Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023–2032 (Thursday August 18, 2022)

From Doris Daou, NASA Planetary Science Division liaison to ExoPAG:

"Please join us for a PSD community townhall, at which Dr Lori Glaze (PSD Director) will present the initial response to the NASEM Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023–2032. Thursday, August 18, 2022, 2 to 4 pm Eastern.

Public questions will be addressed at the end of the presentation. Questions can be submitted before, or during, the event at this link: https://nasa.cnf.io/sessions/y2xm/#!/dashboard.

The townhall will be recorded and posted online, along with the full written response to NASEM, following the event at: https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/documents."

10) The Fifth Workshop on Extremely Precise Radial Velocities (EPRV 5) (March 27-2023, Santa Barbara)

“Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that The Fifth Workshop on Extremely Precise Radial Velocities (EPRV 5) will take place March 27 - 30, 2023 at the Hilton Beachfront Resort in Santa Barbara, California.

Since the previous meeting in 2019, a new generation of Extreme Precision RV instruments has been deployed at sites around the world. Dedicated solar telescopes have provided new insights into the variability of Sun-like stars and an increased use of machine-learning-based data analysis has pushed RV planet sensitivity to new heights. EPRV 5 will allow the RV community to discuss the impact and implications of our advancements and failures over the past four years. The conference will cover all major aspects of EPRV science, from instrumentation and survey planning to spectral extraction and activity mitigation efforts, among other topics, and allow ample time for detailed discussion, both during and after talk sessions.

Later this fall we will send a detailed announcement with information about abstract submission deadlines, registration dates, and hotel room blocks. While we are planning for the meeting to be primarily in person, we are also looking into hybrid support to allow engagement from participants with COVID- and/or carbon footprint-related travel concerns.

In the meantime, we encourage the (E)PRV community to suggest specific topics you’d like to see featured at the conference and/or to comment on what types of hybrid support you’d like to see included using the e-mail address below!

Please see our website at https://conference.ipac.caltech.edu/eprv5/ for more information, and direct any questions or comments to eprv5@lists.astro.caltech.edu

Cheers,
Jennifer Burt & BJ Fulton
On behalf of the conference organizers”

ExoPAG News and Announcements (July 28, 2022)

A) Precursor Science Workshop II: Request for Brief Presentations on Facilities that Could be Made Available for Precursor Science Investigation Proposals (Please Respond by August 5, 2022)

B) Precursor Science Workshop II: Request for Community Input on Precursor Science Topics for the Future Great Observatories (Please Respond by August 29, 2022)
SMD Bridge Program Workshop (October 17-21, 2022; Virtual)
Presentations Posted for APAC Meeting (July 20-21, 2022)

+ more

1A) Precursor Science Workshop II: Request for Brief Presentations on Facilities that Could be Made Available for Precursor Science Investigation Proposals (Please Respond by August 5, 2022)

The Precursor Science Workshop II organizers are seeking brief presentations describing facilities that are currently, or could be made, available to community members interested in proposing precursor science investigations for NASA’s Future Great Observatories.

The aim for these presentations is to create new connections between scientists and facilities that can lead to more successful precursor scientific investigations. Presentations are expected to only be ~1-3 slides with talk length of <5 minutes. Facilities include observatories, laboratories, instruments, and any other facilities that are interested in partnering with or supporting scientists on precursor science investigations. Precursor science investigations are those that inform the design and architectures of the Future Great Observatories while reducing risk and/or cost. Precursor science proposals will be solicited through ROSES opportunity D.16 Astrophysics Decadal Survey Precursor Science later this year. Presentations will most likely be September 8 or 9 (TBD). In lieu of a brief presentation, community members are also welcome to submit the name of their facility, a brief description of capabilities and other relevant information, and contact information, which the organizers will include in a summary slide.

Note: Presentation of a facility at this workshop does not guarantee that NASA will be able to fund activities at the facility. Decisions to this effect will be made following a peer review process and all efforts will be made to provide additional information on types of facilities eligible for funding via the ROSES solicitation and FAQs.

Please respond by Friday August 5, 2022. Please submit using this form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1LiVV-5PE4RnhBGdhPkBfdzltQmrqWr6AGCAoRUe-tZA/edit

1B) Precursor Science Workshop II: Request for Community Input on Precursor Science Topics for the Future Great Observatories (Please Respond by August 29, 2022)

With the aim to solicit additional polished input from the community on the existing gap topics (or fill in details on the previous gap topics) and to make the best use of breakout session times during the 2nd workshop, the organizers are inviting the community to submit their input via this Google form ahead of Workshop II. The new Google form asks for input following the same columns as in the "Merged Science Gap Worksheet.”

Feedback received ahead of the second workshop (7-9 September 2022) will be integrated into the worksheet. Please submit feedback by Monday, August 29, 2022.

Note that some gap lines in the spreadsheet may be combined by the organizers if there are multiple submissions on the same FGO precursor science topic.

2) SMD Bridge Program Workshop (October 17-21, 2022; Virtual)

Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Bridge Program Workshop
October 17-21, 2022 (Virtual)
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/smdfall2022/

Purpose and Scope:

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is committed to a culture of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility where all employees feel welcome, valued, respected, and engaged. The SMD Bridge Program is a new initiative that aims to increase engagement and partnering between NASA centers and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs), and PhD-granting Universities, with a focus on paid research and engineering student positions at participating institutions. One goal of the SMD Bridge Program is to increase opportunities for student participants to transition from undergraduate studies into graduate schools and/or employment at NASA.

The purpose of the workshop is to bring all stakeholders in the NASA SMD Bridge Program together to build on the framework established by the Bridge Program Workshop Organizing Committee (BPWOC) and collaboratively co-create a program that increases the diversity of the NASA Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce. More details on the workshop goals can be found at https://science.nasa.gov/smd-bridge-program/workshop-organizing-committee-faq.

Registration:

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/smdfall2022/registration/

3) Presentations Posted for APAC Meeting (July 20-21, 2022)

Presentations for the Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC) meeting that was held July 20-21, 2022 are now posted at: https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/nac/science-advisory-committees/apac

The APAC meeting minutes will be posted at a later date.

ExoPAG News and Announcements (July 16, 2022)

New NASA Astrophysics Division Director Dr. Mark Clampin
Precursor Science Workshop II Rescheduled to September 7-9, 2022 and a Request for Community Input on Precursor Science Topics for the Future Great Observatories
NASA Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC) (July 20-21, 2022)
NASA Job Announcement: Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters (Deadline July 26, 2022)

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1) New NASA Astrophysics Division Director Dr. Mark Clampin

“Dear SMD Colleagues –

I am pleased to announce that I have made a selection to permanently fill the critical position of Astrophysics Division Director. Dr. Mark Clampin will join the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) on August 15. I want to extend my sincere appreciation to Paul Hertz, who has served as the Astrophysics Division Director for over 10 years. Paul’s efforts to SMD and the scientific community have brought us significant strides that will live on long after his tenure. Paul will continue in the SMD Front Office as a Senior Advisor.

Mark has more than 25 years of extensive scientific, technical, management and programmatic experience, which includes over seven years in leadership roles. He has worked at the directorate, division, and branch levels, gaining valuable experience in the areas of operations, scientific research, and development.

Currently, Mark serves as the Director of the Science and Exploration Directorate within the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). He leads one of the Agency’s largest science organizations spanning SMD’s science disciplines. Mark is also a seasoned leader who sets scientific priorities for the GSFC Science and Exploration Directorate, which informs the deployment of key resources such as research and strategic investments, labor, technical equipment, and facilities.  

Prior assignments include Director of the Astrophysics Division, and Deputy Director within the GSFC Science and Exploration Directorate. In recognition of his outstanding leadership and career achievements, Mark was recently recognized with a Presidential Rank Award. 

Prior to joining NASA, Mark began his career with the European Space Agency, Johns Hopkins University, and Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). His experience as a both as a leader and developer of astrophysics instruments and spacecraft uniquely qualify him for this critical leadership position with SMD.

Please join me in welcoming Mark to Headquarters!

Thomas H. Zurbuchen, PhD
Associate Administrator, NASA Science Mission Directorate
@Dr_ThomasZ “

2) Precursor Science Workshop II Rescheduled to September 7-9, 2022 and a Request for Community Input on Precursor Science Topics for the Future Great Observatories

The 2^nd Precursor Science Workshop is being rescheduled and will be held virtually 7-9 September 2022. Additional time is needed to collect further community input, finalize the agenda, and coordinate with speakers and facilitators.

Community input from the 1^st Precursor Science Workshop was incorporated into a "Merged Science Gap Worksheet"sorted by the future great observatory (FGO) topics (separate tabs for IROUV [exoplanets], IROUV [astrophysics], Far-IR, X-ray). Some comments and discussion by some Workshop I participants, facilitators, and organizers has produced some preliminary assessments of whether gaps sounded like they were precursor, preparatory or follow-up science. However, there are likely to be other candidate precursor science topics for the FGOs that have not yet been entered, and many of the current candidate precursor science gaps that have been entered are light on content – making assessment challenging.

With the aim to solicit additional polished input from the community on the existing gap topics (or fill in details on the previous gap topics) and to make the best use of breakout session times during the 2^nd workshop, the organizers are inviting the community to submit their input via this Google form ahead of the 2^nd workshop. The new Google form asks for input following the same columns as in the "Merged Science Gap Worksheet.”

Feedback received ahead of the second workshop (7-9 September 2022) will be integrated into the worksheet. Note that some gap lines in the spreadsheet may be combined by the organizers if there are multiple submissions on the same FGO precursor science topic.

The combined inputs from workshops #1 and #2 will inform the ROSES proposal call D.16 Astrophysics Decadal Survey Precursor Science (ADSPS). The final text of the ADSPS ROSES call will go out this fall, with proposals due no fewer than 90 days later.

3) NASA Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC) (July 20-21, 2022)

There will be a public meeting of NASA’s Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC) from Wednesday 20 July to Thursday 21 July 2022. APAC reports to the Director of the Astrophysics Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters. The meeting will be held for the purpose of soliciting, from the scientific community and other persons, scientific and technical information relevant to program planning. Due to current COVID-19 issues affecting NASA Headquarters occupancy, public attendance will be virtual only.

The agenda for the meeting will include the following topics: Astrophysics Division Update; Updates on Specific Astrophysics Missions; Reports from the Program Analysis Groups. The full agenda for the meeting can be found on the APAC webpage. A draft version is available here [PDF]. The public may submit and upvote comments/questions ahead of the meeting through the dashboard.

Times and connection details

Wednesday 20 July

Times: 10a - 5p Eastern/9a - 4p Central/8a - 3p Mountain/7a - 2p Pacific
WebEx address: https://nasaenterprise.webex.com/nasaenterprise/j.php?MTID= mc77ac80add65 be8709b618f203d38388
Meeting number: 2761 468 1003
Meeting password: APACsummer0720#.

Thursday 21 July

Times: 9a - 2p Eastern/8a - 1p Central/7a - 12 noon Mountain/6a - 11a Pacific
WebEx address: https://nasaenterprise.webex.com/nasaenterprise/j.php?MTID= m8324392b2 010732a13acad48a4615a8b
Meeting number: 2764 645 0187
Meeting password: APACsummer0721#

To join by telephone, the numbers are: 1-929-251-9612 or 1-415-527-5035, for each day.

For further information, contact Mrs. KarShelia Kinard, Science Mission

Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546, (202) 358–2355, or at karshelia.kinard@nasa.gov

4) NASA Job Announcement: Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters (Deadline July 26, 2022)

The Astrophysics and Heliophysics Divisions within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) are hiring one or more scientists each to serve as a civil servant Program Scientist at Headquarters in Washington, DC. The Program Scientist will work as part of a diverse and agile team whose core values encompass inclusion, excellence, integrity, transparency, teamwork and a growth mindset toward stewarding the nation’s space-based astrophysics program. The Science Mission Directorate is committed to a culture of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility where all employees feel welcome, valued, respected, and engaged. Applicants with all backgrounds and in all areas of astrophysics, including cosmic origins, exoplanet exploration, and physics of the cosmos, are encouraged to apply.

Responsibilities

NASA’s Astrophysics Division is responsible for the United States’ space-based astrophysics program (https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics). With an astrophysics budget exceeding $1.55 billion annually, NASA leads the nation to explore the universe, determine how it began and evolved, and search for extrasolar planets.
NASA’s Astrophysics Program Scientists have broad responsibility for advancing NASA’s astrophysics portfolio; serving as the Headquarters science leads for one or more missions; developing and shaping multimillion-dollar scientific research grants programs selected through competitive peer review; and leading NASA’s implementation of the recommendations of the 2022 Decadal Survey “Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s”. Program Scientists have substantial influence over high-level astrophysics strategic planning, as well as leading the long-term scientific direction of missions and programs that they oversee.

Specifically, a Program Scientist within the Astrophysics Division will:

Solve problems in implementing a balanced program across the breadth of astrophysics within technological, scientific, budgetary, and programmatic constraints. Provide solutions that are strategic and tactical, and are innovative as well as implementable, in alignment with the priorities of NASA.
Orchestrate peer reviews that evaluate the scientific merit of proposals in all areas of astrophysics research across the thematic areas of the program (Physics of the Cosmos, Cosmic Origins, Exoplanet Exploration).
Collaboratively define a long-term vision for the program and work as a team member to implement it in a fast-paced environment, while leading diverse teams using influence rather than supervisory authority.
Communicate, engage, and build consensus with multiple stakeholders, including the scientific community, external advisory committees, senior NASA leaders, programs and projects at NASA Centers, and the public.
Manage multiple responsibilities using effective time management and organizational skills.

NASA recognizes that candidates with non-traditional career paths, or individuals who are at earlier stages of their careers may have demonstrated experience in different ways. NASA encourages applications from such individuals.

Application Process

The job announcement will open for applications at https://USAJobs.gov/ on Friday July 22 and will close on Tuesday July 26. The announcement number will be HQ-22-DE-11497952-DS when the announcement opens for applications on July 22, 2022.

This is a fair and open competition that all U.S. Citizens and Status candidates can apply to. It will be a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) announcement through https://www.USAJobs.gov/, so it will only be open for 3 workdays. The short period that the announcement is open is due to the type of hiring authority, which streamlines the hiring process and assists with rapidly filling competitive positions. It is not a reflection of the openness of the position. Advance notice of the vacancy is being provided to allow interested scientists to prepare. To apply for this position, you will need to (i) submit your resume and a transcript and (ii) answer the screening questions and supplemental information through USAJobs.

Given the short period the announcement will be open, it is highly recommended to log into USAJobs well before the job announcement opens and build or update your resume to facilitate the timely submission of an application.

A transcript demonstrating that you meet the education requirements for a Federal physical scientist will be required at the time of application. Given the short period that the announcement will be open, it is a good idea to obtain a transcript in advance. While a transcript is the preferred proof of qualifying education, any of the following items will be accepted as proof of education:

An unofficial transcript,
A copy of an official transcript,
A copy of a degree (i.e. a picture or scan), or
A list of courses.

Candidates interested in being notified when this job opportunity is posted on USAJobs and opened for three days are encouraged to sign up for a notification using the features of the USAJobs website.

Further Information

If you would like to be considered for a position in the Astrophysics Division, please mention ‘Astrophysics Division’ in your application; if you would like to be considered for a position in the Heliophysics Division, please mention ‘Heliophysics Division’ in your application.

Candidates interested in this opportunity are encouraged, but not obligated, to contact NASA well in advance so they can make a well-informed decision on submitting an application during the short (3 day) window when the job opportunity will be open for applications. Questions about this anticipated opening for an Astrophysics Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters may be directed to Stefan Immler, Astrophysics Division, stefan.immler@nasa.gov, 202-531-9262.

ExoPAG News and Announcements (July 13, 2022)

NASA Job Announcement: Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters
Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2 (November 2-4, 2022, Pasadena; Abstract Deadline August 19, 2022)
Astrophysics Mission Design School (AMDS)
AGU 2022 Session: Atmospheres, Climate, and Potential Habitability of Rocky Exoplanets

+ more

1) NASA Job Announcement: Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters

Responsibilities

NASA’s Astrophysics Division is responsible for the United States’ space-based astrophysics program (https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics). With an astrophysics budget exceeding $1.55 billion annually, NASA leads the nation to explore the universe, determine how it began and evolved, and search for extrasolar planets.
NASA’s Astrophysics Program Scientists have broad responsibility for advancing NASA’s astrophysics portfolio; serving as the Headquarters science leads for one or more missions; developing and shaping multimillion-dollar scientific research grants programs selected through competitive peer review; and leading NASA’s implementation of the recommendations of the 2022 Decadal Survey “Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s”. Program Scientists have substantial influence over high-level astrophysics strategic planning, as well as leading the long-term scientific direction of missions and programs that they oversee.

Specifically, a Program Scientist within the Astrophysics Division will:

Solve problems in implementing a balanced program across the breadth of astrophysics within technological, scientific, budgetary, and programmatic constraints. Provide solutions that are strategic and tactical, and are innovative as well as implementable, in alignment with the priorities of NASA.
Orchestrate peer reviews that evaluate the scientific merit of proposals in all areas of astrophysics research across the thematic areas of the program (Physics of the Cosmos, Cosmic Origins, Exoplanet Exploration).
Collaboratively define a long-term vision for the program and work as a team member to implement it in a fast-paced environment, while leading diverse teams using influence rather than supervisory authority.
Communicate, engage, and build consensus with multiple stakeholders, including the scientific community, external advisory committees, senior NASA leaders, programs and projects at NASA Centers, and the public.
Manage multiple responsibilities using effective time management and organizational skills.

Application Process

An unofficial transcript,
A copy of an official transcript,
A copy of a degree (i.e. a picture or scan), or
A list of courses.

Further Information

2) Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2 (November 2-4, 2022, Pasadena; Abstract Deadline August 19, 2022)

Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2

November 2-4, 2022
Pasadena, CA/Virtual
A joint Assessment Group meeting by VEXAG, OPAG, ExoPAG, MEPAG, and MExAG

Meeting Location and Dates

We are happy to announce the Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2 workshop scheduled for November 2–4, 2022, in Pasadena, California, with virtual participation available.

Purpose and Scope

The goal of the workshop is to examine and discuss exoplanet-solar system synergies on planetary properties, formation, evolution, and habitability. Topics include comparative planetology on worlds near and far; solar system studies as a baseline for studies of extrasolar planetary properties and evolution; and lessons learned on planetary statistics, demographics, and system architectures from extrasolar planetary systems. This workshop aims to foster and build new collaborations among scientists in the solar system and exoplanet communities and help guide the direction of future exploration and observations of worlds in the solar system and beyond.

Abstract deadline: August 19, 2022

Program and abstracts available on website: September 19, 2022

Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2: November 2–4, 2022

#exoplanets2022

3) Astrophysics Mission Design School (AMDS)

NASA Science Mission Design Schools

We are offering a new Astrophysics Mission Design School (AMDS) in early 2023. See below for a program description, requirements, and session dates. Applications open the week of June 20.

We strongly encourage applications from a diverse group of eligible students. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are of utmost importance to us. We strive to create a welcoming environment where participants’ contributions and unique perspectives are valued.

The Astrophysics Mission Design School (AMDS) focuses on astrophysics science missions.
The Planetary Science Summer School (PSSS) focuses on planetary science and exploration.
The Heliophysics Mission Design School (HMDS) focuses on missions to study the Sun and its influence on the rest of the solar system.

See dates for each in the details section below.

Each Science Mission Design School begins with 10 weeks of online preparatory sessions (two per week) plus group and individual worktime, with an additional 3-hour architecture study during the final month. Participants act as a mission science team – assuming principal investigator and science team roles - and select their mission and science goals from options based on those defined as high priority by the scientific community. Guided by mentors, they begin the development of an early mission concept study in response to a recent NASA Science Mission Directorate a announcement of opportunity, including mission-science hypotheses, science traceability, instrumentation suites and data sufficiency requirements.

The full-time culminating week is typically hosted onsite at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where participants finalize their mission concept design and present it to a review board of NASA Headquarters and NASA center experts. Participants assume engineering roles, such as project manager and systems and subsystem engineers and work alongside mentors from JPL’s Advance Projects Design Team, or “Team X”.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/intern/apply/nasa-science-mission-design-schools/

Astrophysics Mission Design School 2023

Applications Open: Week of June 20, 2022
Application Deadline: September 28, 2022
Notice of Acceptance: By Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022

Session Dates:

Astrophysics Mission Design School 2023

Duration: January 30 – April 14, 2023
Culminating Week: April 10-14, 2023

Note: Attendance at webinars is required.

Contact Info:

Program Manager: Leslie Lowes, Leslie.L.Lowes@jpl.nasa.gov, (818) 393-7734

Program Support: Joyce Armijo, Joyce.E.Armijo@jpl.nasa.gov, (818) 354-2337

4) AGU 2022 Session: Atmospheres, Climate, and Potential Habitability of Rocky Exoplanets

Time and Location: 12-16 December 2022; Chicago, IL and online

Session ID: 158628

Abstract Submission Deadline: August 3, 2022

Exoplanet discoveries of the past decade have shown that every star hosts at least 0.1-1 roughly Earth-sized, or rocky, planets. Our galaxy therefore contains billions of rocky worlds, vastly outnumbering the four rocky planets of our own Solar System. What are these worlds like?

This session invites submissions that probe the nature of rocky exoplanets, including: What can our Solar System teach us about rocky exoplanets? How different are atmospheres and climates on rocky planets around other stars, on rocky planets in exotic orbital states, or on rocky planets with radically different formation histories? How can we characterize such planets via observations? And could the processes that kept Earth habitable over billions of years also occur elsewhere?

Submissions that use observation, experiment, or theory are all welcome.

To submit your abstract, visit: https://go.umd.edu/cSo

Invited Speakers: Wanying Kang (MIT), Martin Turbet (LMD/IPSL)

Conveners: Mark Hammond (mark.hammond@chch.ox.ac.uk), Daniel Koll (dkoll@pku.edu.cn), Thaddeus Komacek (tkomacek@umd.edu), Jun Yang (junyang@pku.edu.cn)

ExoPAG News and Announcements (June 30, 2022)

Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC) Virtual Meeting (July 20-21, 2022)
1st Precursor Science Workshop Summary Report and Worksheets Posted and Reminder of 2nd Workshop (August 2-4, 2022)
Input to ExEP Science Gap List (Deadline Sept. 30, 2022)
Inaugural NASA Sounding Rocket Symposium (August 17-19, 2022)
Latsis Symposium 2022: The Origin and Prevalence of Life (August 30-September 2, 2022)
ESA-Ariel ML Data Challenge (June 30, 2022 through Early October)

+ more

1) Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC) Virtual Meeting (July 20-21, 2022)

https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/nac/science-advisory-committees/apac

July 20, 2022: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. EDT
July 21, 2022: 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. EDT

Federal Register Notice: https://science.nasa.gov/files/science-pink/s3fs-public/atoms/files/Published%20APAC%20FRN%20July%2020-21%20Meeting.pdf

2) 1st Precursor Science Workshop Summary Report and Worksheets Posted and Reminder of 2nd Workshop (August 2-4, 2022)

A brief summary report for the 1st Precursor Science Workshop "Precursors to Pathways: Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories" (April 2022) is now posted on the workshop website (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/astro2020-precursor-sciws1/ ; report is at https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/internal_resources/2315_NASA_Astrophysics_Precursor_Science_Workshop1_Summary_Report.pdf ) along with links to two spreadsheets used at the workshop, summarizing community inputs on science gaps. The "Summary Science Gaps Worksheet" was organized by science and breakout session topic, while the "Merged Science Gap Worksheet" was organized by Decadal mission areas (IROUV-exoplanets, IROUV-astrophysics, FarIR, X-ray).

The 2nd Precursor Science Workshop will be held virtually August 2-4, 2022. Register now.

If you wish to attend virtually and receive emails on the workshop, please submit your contact information at this link.

Inputs on precursor science from workshops #1 and #2 will inform the ROSES proposal call D.16 Astrophysics Decadal Survey Precursor Science (ADSPS):

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId={916A49FB-D88F-3C76-5B06-6148E6748FE7}&path=&method=init

The scope of the ADSPS program is:

"The Astrophysics Decadal Survey Precursor Science (ADSPS) supports research in areas related to the National Academy of Science and Engineering report, "Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s" recommendation for a large Infrared/Optical/Ultraviolet space mission to search for biosignatures from nearby exoplanets and to perform transformative astrophysics investigations, a large Far- Infrared, and a large X-ray mission. Basic research proposals to ADSPS should describe how scientific progress in the areas being investigated will either reduce the design and development risk for one or more of these future large missions or help to define the requirements such missions must meet to enable transformative discoveries. Proposals to ADSPS will be evaluated using the dual-anonymous peer review process."

The final text of the ADSPS ROSE call will go out this fall (Oct/Nov), with proposals due no fewer than 90 days later.

For more information on the workshops and ADSPS ROSES call, contact Eric Smith (eric.p.smith@nasa.gov) and Terri Brandt (t.j.brandt@nasa.gov).

3) Input to ExEP Science Gap List (Deadline Sept. 30, 2022)

The NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP) is seeking community input on the ExEP Science Gap List (SGL) through September 30, 2022, with the goal of providing an updated version in early 2023:

The current 2022 version of the SGL is posted on the ExEP Program Science page at: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/system/internal_resources/details/original/2146_ExEP_Science_Gap_List_2022.pdf

Please contact ExEP scientists Karl Stapelfeldt (Karl.R.Stapelfeldt@jpl.nasa.gov) & Eric Mamajek (Eric.Mamajek@jpl.nasa.gov) with any input for revisions to the SGL.

The ExEP Exoplanet Program Science documents are available at:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/science-overview/

4) Inaugural NASA Sounding Rocket Symposium (August 17-19, 2022)

The website is now live for registration and abstract submission for the inaugural NASA Sounding Rocket Symposium to be held August 17-19, 2022 at the Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia. This 2.5-day event will be held in person, with virtual participation accommodated during the oral sessions. This is an opportunity for both new and experienced scientists and engineers interested and involved in sounding rockets across all disciplines — Astrophysics, Solar, and Geospace — to come together and share ideas and experiences focused on this unique research platform. The symposium will be preceded by a meeting of the NASA Sounding Rocket Working Group at Wallops, to which community members are welcome.

Please visit https://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810/Symposium/Sounding-Rocket-Symposium.html for important dates and information, to register for this event, and to submit your abstract. Registration is required for attendance, even for virtual participation.

Foreign National Registration Deadline**: July 1, 2022
Abstract Submission Deadline: July 15, 2022
US Citizen Registration Deadline (in-person): August 1, 2022
Virtual-only Registration Deadline: August 15, 2022

** Foreign nationals are required to provide additional information. See Registration page https://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810/Symposium/Registration.html for more information.

See https://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810/Symposium/Important-Dates.html specifically for important deadlines.

Contacts:

Michael Zemcov, RIT, Symposium Organizer (zemcov@cfd.rit.edu);

Sabrina Savage, MSFC, Symposium Chair (sabrina.savage@nasa.gov).

5) Latsis Symposium 2022: The Origin and Prevalence of Life (August 30-September 2, 2022)

"Dear colleagues

We are happy to announce that registration and abstract submission for the "Latsis Symposium 2022: The Origin and Prevalence of Life” taking place from August 30 to September 2, 2022, at ETH Zurich is now open. Feel free to share this information with interested colleagues.

Please note the following deadlines:

Abstract Submission: 4 July 2022

https://ethzurich.eventsair.com/PresentationPortal/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=%2FPresentationPortal%2Flatsis22%2Fsubmission

Registration: 30 July 2022

https://ethzurich.eventsair.com/latsis22/reg/Site/Register

These links, as well as additional information and a list of keynote speakers, are also accessible via the symposium website (https://latsis-origin-of-life.ethz.ch).

We recommend to register early as we have a large number of pre-registrations and we may run out of spots on the participant list quickly.

We look forward to seeing you in August!

Kind regards
Sascha Quanz & Cara Magnabosco
(for the SOC)

SOC: Taras Gerya, Cara Magnabosco (co-Chair), Joshua Payne, Joern Piel, Sascha P. Quanz (co-Chair), Didier Queloz, Markus Reiher, Roland Riek, Maria Schönbächler, Derek Vance, Julia Vorholt"

6) ESA-Ariel ML Data Challenge (June 30, 2022 through Early October)

"Dear all,

We are happy to announce the 3rd instalment of the ESA-Ariel ML Data Challenge. This year we are delighted to be hosting our competition alongside with NeurIPS 2022, one of the most prestigious Machine Learning conferences in the world.

The Ariel Space mission is a European Space Agency mission to be launched in 2029. Ariel will observe the atmospheres of 1000 extrasolar planets - planets around other stars - to determine how they are made, how they evolve and how to put our own Solar System in the galactic context.

Today we know of roughly 5000 exoplanets in our Milky Way galaxy. Yet, simple number counting does not tell us much about the nature of these worlds. This year we would like to invite YOU, our fellow challenger(s), to help us unveil the nature of these worlds. In particular, we would like you to infer six key physical characteristics of their atmosphere given a simulated observation from Ariel.

Interested? Please join the competition here: https://www.ariel-datachallenge.space/

The competition will run from 30th June to early October. There will be two tracks available, light and regular track. The first prizes for light and regular tracks are $1000 and $2000 respectively. The second prizes are $500 each.

The first prize winners will also be invited to attend our NeurIPS workshop.

Press release: https://arielmission.space

Regards,
Dr. Kai Hou (Gordon) Yip, Dr. Ingo Waldmann and Dr. Quentin Changeat
On behalf of the Ariel ML Data Challenge organising team."

Note: Ariel is a collaboration between ESA and the Ariel Mission Consortium (AMC - consisting of more than 50 institutes in 17 European countries and with NASA/JPL participation) which is responsible for the provision of the entire Ariel payload module.

ExoPAG News and Announcements (June 15, 2022)

ExoPAG SAG 23: Kick-off meeting, Thursday, June 23, 2022

ExoPAG 26 Finding Passed
ExoPAG 26 Presentation Slides Posted
SAG 23: The Impact of Exo-Zodiacal Dust on Exoplanet Direct Imaging Surveys
Input to ExEP Science Gap List (Deadline Sept. 30, 2022)
ExoExplorer Science Series Talks by Aarynn Carter (UCSC) & Aida Behmard (Caltech) (June 17, 2022)
Request for Community Feedback on the NASA Hubble Fellowship Review Recommendation (June 15, 2022)
Exoplanet Systems and Stellar Life Cycles: Late-Stage and Post-MS Systems (March 19-24, 2023, Aspen)

+ more

ExoPAG SAG 23: Kick-off meeting, Thursday, June 23, 2022

ExoPAG SAG 23: The Impact of Exo-Zodiacal Dust on Exoplanet Direct Imaging Surveys will hold a kick-off meeting on Thursday, June 23 at 1pm EDT (10am PDT). We will go over the goals of the SAG, the subject areas we will be studying and some expectations on what we will produce. Please invite any colleagues you think might be interested, especially early career researchers or researchers from underrepresented groups. We seek to make this an inclusive and rewarding experience with opportunities for all members to interact with NASA and the broader community on these topics.

We hope you can make it! If you can’t, please reach out to us so that we can keep you on our mailing list.

Subject Areas and Leads:

A Catalog of Dusty Systems around Nearby Stars (S. Ertel)
A Review of Host Dust Systems (S. Ertel, W. Danchi)
Pan-Chromatic Radiative Transfer of Exozodis (R. Anche)
Theory of Exozodi Sources and Dust Evolution (M. Wyatt)
Post-Processing and Detection of Extended Sources (E. Douglas, M. Millar-Blanchaer)
Prioritization of Precursor Observational Studies of Debris Disks/Exozodis (M. Millar-Blanchaer, W. Danchi)
Update and Prioritization of ExEP Science Gaps Relevant to Exozodis (E. Rickman)

Open Subject Areas (Contact us if you are interested in leading an area!):

Solar System Zodi Dust
Optimal Removal of Extended Sources to the Background Level
Prioritization of Precursor Theoretical Studies of Debris Disks/Exozodis

SAG Website: https://sites.google.com/view/sag23-exozodiacaldust/home

on behalf of the SAG23 team,
John Debes (STScI), Yasuhiro Hasegawa (JPL), and Isa Rebollido (STScI)

John H. Debes, PhD
Space Telescope Science Institute
3700 San Martin Dr.
Baltimore, MD 21218
(410)338-4782
www.stsci.edu/~debes
diskdetective.org
@JohnDebes

1) ExoPAG 26 Finding Passed

From ExoPAG chair Michael Meyer:

"The following finding passed at the ExoPAG 26 business meeting on June 12, 2022

(35 in favor, 0 against, 1 abstention)

Finding: On the benefit of increased funding for the Exoplanet Research Program

Whereas the Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 emphasizes exoplanet research and has identified as a priority science area the search for habitable worlds, and whereas the exoplanet research community has significantly grown over the past years and attracted many young scientists.

We find that the proposal success rate in the Exoplanet Research Program falls well below the success rate of other comparable programs which can potentially hurt the retention and training of young scientists, US leadership in exoplanet science, and the efficiency with which NASA can achieve its strategic goals."

2) ExoPAG 26 Presentation Slides Posted

PDF versions for most of the ExoPAG 26 presentation slides have already been posted on the ExoPAG 26 website: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/375/exopag-26/

The remaining presentation slides and videos will be posted soon.

3) SAG 23: The Impact of Exo-Zodiacal Dust on Exoplanet Direct Imaging Surveys

Motivation: The first SAG of the ExoPAG, entitled “Debris Disks & Dust”, was completed ten years ago and highlighted the fact that dust similar to that of the Zodiacal Cloud in the Solar System, so-called exozodis, could have a significant impact on missions that plan to directly image exoplanets and characterize Earth-like planetary atmospheres. Exozodi disks, as targets of study in their own right, can elucidate the architecture and chemistry of terrestrial planetary systems. In the intervening time from SAG 1, rapid advancements in instrumentation, theoretical understanding of debris disks and interplanetary dust, observational capabilities, and data reduction techniques have occurred that impact the detection of disks via thermal emission at mid-infrared wavelengths or via high contrast direct imaging in the visible and near-IR. The recent publication of the results from the HOSTS survey, which used nulling interferometric observations at 10 μm, demonstrated that exozodi systems exist around nearby stars to varying degrees and that the typical exozodi level is within a few orders of magnitude of the Solar System’s zodiacal dust, paving the way for current direct imaging exoplanet concepts. It is important then to identify the key questions that remain unanswered so that the astronomical community can make the most of the planned launch of a visible light coronagraph on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the construction of the next generation of ground-based instruments and telescopes, and any future direct imaging or mid-infrared interferometric missions (or both) as envisioned by the Astro2020 report and the ESA Voyage 2050 plan.

Goals: This SAG will bring together an interdisciplinary team of scientists who study dust in various forms throughout the Solar System and galaxy in order to review the current gaps in knowledge on exozodis and identify those areas of debris disk science that should be prioritized in the coming years. The goals that could be addressed by this SAG include:

Review the current state of knowledge for warm zodiacal dust in the Solar System, particularly its dust composition and origin, which may be useful for understanding exozodi systems that potentially host planets.
Review the current state of knowledge on the average exozodi level around potential targets of future exo-Earth imaging missions and create a prioritized target list for studies of exozodis.
Explore the limits of empirical and probabilistic models of thermal and scattered light emission from disks and prioritize the techniques and observations which will yield the largest improvement in their performance. Additionally, explore what components of a planetary system are most important for determining exozodi levels, ie. planetary architecture, the presence of outer debris disks, or the presence of inner hot dust.
Identify methods for extended source detection and image post-processing, that may be relevant for detecting exozodi disks with future missions or in archival data. Provide findings on what works best to retire risks to direct imaging exoplanet surveys, such as whether exozodi disks add more than photon noise in background limited observations.
Evaluate the merit of both theoretical and observational studies of debris disks and exozodiacal dust in support of future exo-Earth imaging missions. Prioritize which studies can be carried out based on anticipated data from those missions and which ones are needed sooner.
Identify near-term and long-term ground-based opportunities to fill in exozodi knowledge gaps relevant to future exoplanet and exozodi studies.

Leads: John Debes (STScI) [Lead], Yasuhiro Hasegawa (JPL/Caltech) [Co-Lead], Isabel Rebollido (STScI) [Co-Lead]

4) Input to ExEP Science Gap List (Deadline Sept. 30, 2022)

Please contact ExEP scientists Karl Stapelfeldt (Karl.R.Stapelfeldt@jpl.nasa.gov) & Eric Mamajek (Eric.Mamajek@jpl.nasa.gov) with any input for revisions to the SGL.

The ExEP Exoplanet Program Science documents are available at:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/science-overview/

5) ExoExplorer Science Series Talks by Aarynn Carter (UCSC) & Aida Behmard (Caltech) (June 17, 2022)

The ExoExplorer Science Series presents talks by cohort members Aaron Carter (UCSC) & Aida Behmard (Caltech) on June 17, 2022, from 11 AM - 12 PM Pacific / 2 PM - 3 PM Eastern. Abstracts and connection information are at:
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/368/exoexplorer-science-series-aarynn-carter-ucsc-aida-behmard-caltech/

Aaron Carter (UCSC)
"Kickstarting a New Generation of Exoplanet Observations: Early Release Science with JWST"
Aida Behmard (Caltech)
"A Survey of Planet Engulfment Amongst Planet Host Systems"

For more information on ExoExplorers:
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/exoexplorers/exoexplorers-welcome/

6) Request for Community Feedback on the NASA Hubble Fellowship Review Recommendation (June 15, 2022)

In the summer of 2021, the NASA Astrophysics Division conducted the first programmatic review of its NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP), intended to assist NASA in increasing the effectiveness of the program and bolstering its excellence. The review panel’s findings were summarized by the co-chairs in thirty-two recommendations. The report can be found at https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/documents, near the bottom of the page.

NASA is seeking immediate community input on these recommendations in two ways, a hybrid AAS Splinter Session, and a Community Survey.

1. AAS Splinter Session

At the 240th AAS meeting, on Wednesday June 15th at 10am PDT will be a splinter session consisting of a short overview by NHFP Program Scientist Patricia Knezek of where NASA is in developing an implementation plan responding to the report. There will then be a panel-moderated discussion focused on obtaining feedback from the community about the relative priority of the recommendations and thoughts about effective ways to address the recommendations. The community - especially early-career scientists - is encouraged to attend either in-person at the AAS, or remotely via WebEx:

https://nasaenterprise.webex.com/nasaenterprise/j.php?MTID=m35010c8e934409fa261306c63dd5e010

Wednesday, Jun 15, 2022 10am PDT, 1:00 pm EDT

Meeting number: 2764 106 6977 Password: DPmgGiE@335

Join by video system Dial 27641066977@nasaenterprise.webex.com

You can also dial 207.182.190.20 and enter your meeting number.

2. Community Survey

Whether you can attend the Splinter Session or not, we solicit your input via a form available from June 6th, 2022 linked at the NHFP website: https://www.stsci.edu/stsci-research/fellowships/nasa-hubble-fellowship-program

Prompt community input will help prioritize the Splinter Session discussions, but the survey in this form will remain available to the public until August 1, 2022.

7) Exoplanet Systems and Stellar Life Cycles: Late-Stage and Post-MS Systems (March 19-24, 2023, Aspen)

Exoplanet Systems and Stellar Life Cycles: Late-Stage and Post-MS Systems

Dates: March 19-24, 2023
Location: Aspen Center for Physics
https://sites.google.com/view/late-stage-exoplanets-2023/home
Applications open: August 2022.
Application deadline: September 30, 2022

Overview: The growing population of exoplanets and the expanding repertoire of instruments and analysis techniques have moved the astrophysical domain of exoplanets from an era of individual system discoveries to a golden age of population-level scientific advances. With new and expected instruments and methods, we can examine the entire life cycles of planets and planetary systems. This Aspen Winter Conference will bring together leading scientific experts to explore the relationship between exoplanet demographics, stellar evolution, and stellar dynamics. The conference will focus on late-stage exoplanetary systems, including evolved stars and white dwarf hosts. Conference attendees will address and summarize what these relationships reveal about the underlying processes of the formation and evolution of planetary systems.

In this one-week, interdisciplinary workshop, we will bring together experts in time-domain astronomy, dynamics, stellar evolution, stellar rotation, asteroseismology, and planetary science to address two major open questions related to late-stage exoplanetary systems.

What can we learn about planet formation and evolution from the demographics of exoplanets orbiting post-main-sequence stars?
What can we learn about the chemical history and bulk planetary composition from accretion signatures and post-MS planetary ingestion investigations?

Specific late-stage topics to be addressed:

Detection and follow-up of planets around late-stage stars
Accretion signatures and atmospheric mixing in white dwarfs
Rotational and abundance signatures in evolved stars that have ingested planets
Dynamical effects and the resulting orbital architectures
Tidal in-spiral and angular momentum transfer (uncertainties in the common envelope phase)
Models of the origins of polluting materials
Uncertainties in RBG/AGB stellar models

Organizers:

Scientific Advisor

Jason Steffen | University of Nevada, Las Vegas | jason.steffen@unlv.edu

ExoPAG News and Announcements (June 1, 2022)

Save the date! Precursors to Pathways (Part 2): Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories August 2-4, 2022

ExoPAG 26 - Draft Agenda Posted (June 11-12, 2022)
2022 Astrophysics Technology Gap List Released
Penn State SETI Symposium (June 27-30, 2022; Registration deadline June 3, 2022; Poster abstract deadline June 16, 2022)

+ more

Save the date! Precursors to Pathways (Part 2): Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories August 2-4, 2022

Please indicate your interest in attending, and if you have a preference for all-virtual or in-person with virtual option, via this google form.

“Dear Astronomy and Astrophysics community members,

The Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 Decadal Survey (Astro2020) outlines an ambitious program of Future Great Observatories that will address fundamental questions about our universe in the coming years.

Designing missions that will best address Astro2020’s audacious science goals requires clear and well-justified connections among science goals and objectives and mission technology and architecture. Future Great Observatory mission costs can be controlled by having well-defined science goals that minimize cost, scope, and risk. To enable this, NASA will invest in Precursor Science: science investigations that will inform mission architectures and trades with the goal of reducing mission design and development cost, scope, and risk where possible.

NASA will hold a second, Precursor Science Workshop August 2-4, 2022, open to all, to continue conversation with the community about precursor science. NASA intends to fund precursor science through a new element of ROSES. The Precursor Science research element will fund precursor science investigations for all three great observatories recommended by Astro2020.

The three-day Precursor Science Workshop II will build upon output from the first workshop this past April. The goals for the second workshop are to connect Precursor Science ideas to technology and the concept of a Science Traceability Matrix, and to provide a venue for further collaborative development precursor science ideas and science gaps related to the Future Great Observatories. We anticipate that this workshop will include substantial small-group discussion sessions (likely on Day 2) as well as limited presentations and summary sessions (likely on Days 1 and 3). This workshop and subsequent reports can serve as starting points for further community participation and analysis to develop the future great observatories, including through the Program Analysis Groups (PAGs) of NASA’s Exoplanet, Cosmic Origins, and Physics of the Cosmos Programs.

The community precursor science discussions will inform the ROSES 2022 call, with details to be released later in Fall of 2022.

Please indicate your interest in attending, and if you have a preference for all-virtual or in-person with virtual option, via this google form. We will be updating the Precursor Science website with results from the first Precursor Science Workshop and further details regarding the second workshop in the near future. We will email those who express interest in the second workshop as well.

We look forward to discussing precursor science with you over the next several months!

Wishing you all the best,
Eric Smith and Terri Brandt”

1) ExoPAG 26 - Draft Agenda Posted (June 11-12, 2022)

"Dear Colleagues,

Please join us for ExoPAG 26, to take place in hybrid format June 11-12, 2022 with the in person portion held in Pasadena, CA, preceding the 240th AAS meeting. More information about registration, meeting logistics, remote participation, and the draft agenda [attached] can be found on the meeting website: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/375/exopag-26/

We will have many important programmatic updates from NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program, particular in the context of the Astrophysics Division’s reaction to Astro2020, Science Updates including presentations from early career researches, a series of presentations on the State of the Profession, and our Business Meeting. In particular, we will be asking the community to consider the following finding:

Proposed finding: On the benefit of increased funding for the Exoplanet Research Program

"Whereas the Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 emphasizes exoplanet research and has identified as a priority science area the search for habitable worlds, and whereas the exoplanet research community has significantly grown over the past years and attracted many young scientists.

As per our procedures, we will take a vote on this finding, and if approved by a margin of at least 2:1 the finding, along with the results of the vote, would be passed on formally to the Astrophysics Division. Previously approved findings can be found at: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/exopagFoundingDocuments/exopag-findings/

Members of the ExoPAG are also invited to share ideas for future activities. Those can be posted in advance https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dam7D1yiMeazF_9IBtPlHgJ_NOg_iTLE9pVeWRl4Tas/viewform?edit_requested=true or shared synchronously at the meeting.

Following the 2nd day of ExoPAG 26 on June 12, 2022, there will be the traditional Joint PAG Session with Astrophysics Division Director, Paul Hertz at 3pm.

We look forward to seeing you there!
Sincerely,
Michael Meyer
(on behalf of the ExoPAG Executive Committee)"

2) 2022 Astrophysics Technology Gap List Released

The COR, ExEP, and PCOS Program Offices announce the completion of a new technology gap prioritization cycle, informed by the Decadal Survey, “Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s” and with contributions from the community.

The outcome of this exercise is a new joint Astrophysics Technology Gap List, which divides the 57 Astrophysics technology gaps into five priority tiers (https://apd440.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/tech/2022tiers.pdf).

Closing these technology gaps will enable and enhance the inspiring and ambitious program recommended by the Decadal Survey.

This gap list and updates on the current state of Astrophysics technology development and infusions are presented in the 2022 Astrophysics Biennial Technology Report (ABTR), now available through the Program Office technology webpage (https://apd440.gsfc.nasa.gov/technology.html).

For more information on exoplanet-specific technology needs, please see the ExEP Technology Website https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/technology/.

3) Penn State SETI Symposium (June 27-30, 2022; Registration deadline June 3, 2022; Poster abstract deadline June 16, 2022)

The First Penn State SETI Symposium

June 27–30, 2022 State College, PA
Regular registration deadline: June 3, 2022
Poster abstract submission deadline: June 16, 2022
https://sites.psu.edu/setisymposium2022/

"Dear SETIers,

Registration is now open for the First Penn State SETI Symposium this summer in State College, PA! The conference will primarily be in-person, but there will be a limited virtual participation option which will include access at least to a live stream of our plenary sessions (all talks) and to our Slack workspace.

Regular registration is open until June 3 here: https://register.outreach.psu.edu/portal/events/reg/participantTypeSelection.do?method=load&entityId=25757636

Please email cms324@psu.edu with any questions about the registration form and logistics. Other questions may be directed to pseti.symposium@gmail.com. Travel funding and child care are available, please contact us for more information.

While we have closed the submission form for breakout session proposals and talk abstracts, you may still submit a poster abstract here until June 16:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfukbphMkxQgN1jUql9N-TnVtqIS5c4rrnpXu7IlW02QKJErg/viewform

Our conference will be held at the Penn Stater hotel and conference center (https://thepennstaterhotel.psu.edu/). We have reserved a block of rooms at a discounted rate of $114/night. To take advantage of this room rate, attendees must make a reservation using the group code PSET21A by May 27, 2022 at the link above or by calling the hotel at 1-800-233-7505. Attendees traveling on government travel orders may request government room rates by calling the hotel directly.

See you in State College in June!
-Penn State SETI Symposium LOC
https://sites.psu.edu/setisymposium2022/"

ExoPAG News and Announcements (May 16, 2022)

ExoExplorer Science Series Talks by Kiersten Boley (Ohio State) & Alison Farrish (GSFC) (May 20, 2022, 2pm-3pm EDT/11am-12pm PDT)
Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC) Meeting (June 7, 2022)
Dear Colleague Letter to Solicit Members for Science Mission Directorate Bridge Program Workshop Organizing Committee (Deadline May 20, 2022)
ROSES-22 Amendment 14: Draft D.14 Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Research and Support Participation Opportunities for Community Comment (Feedback requested by May 31, 2022)
ROSES-22 Amendment 17: F.4 Habitable Worlds Step-2 Due Date Delay
ROSES-22 Amendment 18: Final Text and Due Dates for Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research (ICAR) (Step-1 Proposals Due September 15, 2022; Step-2 Proposals Due January 10, 2023)
Engaging the Public in Exoplanet Science Through the Legacy of TESS (June 11, 2022)
New Tool Alert Service for the NASA-GSFC Exoplanet Modeling & Analysis Center (EMAC)

+ more

1) ExoExplorer Science Series Talks by Kiersten Boley (Ohio State) & Alison Farrish (GSFC) (May 20, 2022, 2pm-3pm EDT/11am-12pm PDT)

Our next ExoExplorer Science Talks is Friday May 20, 2022, from 11 AM - 12 PM Pacific / 2 PM - 3 PM Eastern and features presentations by 2022 Cohort members Kiersten Boley (Ohio State; first speaker) & Alison Farrish (GSFC; second speaker).

You can find more information about the ExoExplorer program and upcoming talks here: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/exoexplorers/

Speaker: Kiersten Boley (Ohio State)

Title: "Impacts on Planet Formation: Planet Occurrence Rates around Metal-Poor Stars"

Abstract: Planet formation models predict that below a certain protoplanetary disk metallicity, the surface density of solid material is too low to form planets. Observationally, previous works have indicated that short-period planets preferentially form around stars with solar and super solar metallicities. Given these findings, it is challenging to form planets within metal-poor environments. Due to the target selection process of previous surveys, there is little constraint on planet occurrence rates below [Fe/H] ~ -0.5, which is still higher than the predicted metallicity at which planet formation cannot occur. Expanding upon previous works, we construct a large sample of ~100,000 metal-poor stars with spectroscopically-derived stellar parameters observed by TESS. With this sample, we constrain planet occurrence rates within the metal-poor regime (-1.0 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ -0.4) placing the most stringent upper limits on planet occurrence rates around metal-poor stars.”

Speaker: Alison Farrish (GSFC)

Title: "Modeling Exoplanet Host Star Magnetic and Coronal Activity"

Abstract: Exoplanet systems are of interest not only for their potential for habitability, but also in the opportunity they provide for the study of comparative heliophysics. In applying solar- and heliophysics-based modeling tools to exoplanet systems, we can expand our understanding of the influence of stellar behavior on planetary environments and processes such as atmospheric loss. I will discuss my work employing a surface flux transport (SFT) model to examine the dynamics of magnetic flux on the surfaces of cool stars like the Sun and exoplanet host stars of interest. This flux transport modeling approach has been used to examine stellar coronal X-ray emission and other asterospheric properties as a function of host star magnetic activity. I will provide an overview of current efforts to extend this modeling framework to investigate host star EUV emission and stellar wind parameters for a range of exoplanet host stars. Since stellar EUV emission is both a) a key driver of atmospheric loss processes and b) difficult to observe due to interstellar medium extinction, these simulations of energetic coronal emission could fill gaps in our understanding of exoplanet atmospheric evolution caused by this dearth of observational evidence.”

Connection information:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/365/exoexplorer-science-series-alison-farrish-gsfc-kiersten-boley-ohio-state/

2) Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC) Meeting (June 7, 2022)

The next meeting of the Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC) will be June 7, 2022 3pm-5pm EDT/12pm-2pm PDT (virtual). The agenda and connection information will be posted at: https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/nac/science-advisory-committees/apac.

3) Dear Colleague Letter to Solicit Members for Science Mission Directorate Bridge Program Workshop Organizing Committee (Deadline May 20, 2022)

"Dear Colleague Letter to solicit members for
Science Mission Directorate Bridge Program
Workshop Organizing Committee

Dear Colleagues,

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is committed to a culture of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility where all feel welcome, valued, respected, and engaged. The SMD Bridge Program is a new initiative to improve diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility within the NASA workforce and within the U.S. science and engineering community. It aims to increase engagement and partnering between Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), Community Colleges and Primarily Undergraduate-Serving Institutions (PUIs), with other PhD-granting Universities and NASA Centers. It will include paid research and engineering studentships with the goal of enabling and supporting the transition of science and engineering students from undergraduate studies into graduate programs and employment by NASA. SMD will be facilitating one or more community planning workshops to collaboratively create the Bridge Program with all stakeholders over the next several months.

In this letter, SMD is soliciting applications from interested individuals in the community for participation as members of the SMD Bridge Program Workshop Organizing Committee. Non-civil servant committee members will be compensated for their time through an honorarium. The Committee will help set workshop agenda(s), reach out to invited and contributed speakers, and provide guidance on the effective recruitment and engagement from potential stakeholders at all career levels, from student to institutional administrators.

The application material should consist of:

A two-page cover letter including (1) the reasons for the applicant’s interest in the SMD Bridge Program Workshop Organizing Committee, and (2) the skills, perspective and experience that the applicant brings to the Committee;
A short statement of commitment to perform the tasks assigned to the Committee within the allocated timeframe; and
A one- or two-page resume including relevant experience and/or interest in building long-lasting partnerships between students, mentors, MSIs/HBCUs/TCUs/PUIs and NASA Centers, or involvement in other programs whose goal is increasing diversity within the U.S. science and engineering communities relevant to the NASA workforce.

Applications are solicited from individuals at U.S.-based research and academic institutions, including HBCUs, MSIs, PUIs, and community colleges, Government laboratories, and industry, from participants or leaders from Minority Serving Organizations (e.g., SACNAS, NSBP) and from private individuals. Applicants in any NASA SMD science or mission area, STEM higher education, anthropology or sociology or any relevant discipline will be considered. Applicants at any career stage with expertise and drive to build long-lasting partnerships between students, mentors, HBCUs/MSIs and NASA Centers to increase diversity within the U.S. science and engineering communities, including the NASA workforce, are encouraged to apply. Applicants with backgrounds, training and/or certification in creating inclusive STEM work and learning environments are particularly encouraged.

SMD Bridge Program Workshop Organizing Committee members will be selected so that the committee has members at all career levels, with expertise in science areas relevant to all SMD Divisions, experience leading or participating in Bridge Programs or similar programs with consistent goals and building supportive student/mentor cohorts within and outside of academia.

SMD will accept additional suggestions for membership from the community at large, including NASA Centers. The SMD Bridge Program Director will appoint the members after consulting with other members of the Science Mission Directorate, as appropriate. The Committee Chair will be appointed from the Committee membership.

Applications for SMD Bridge Program Workshop Organizing membership are due no later than May 20, 2022. Only email applications of a single PDF file will be accepted. Please submit your application via email to padi.boyd@nasa.gov.

SMD reserves the right to cancel the “Dear Colleague Letter” at any time should programmatic and/or other reasons warrant it.

Questions about SMD Bridge Program Workshop Organizing Committee may be addressed to Dr. Padi Boyd, SMD Bridge Program Director, at padi.boyd@nasa.gov.

Contact information:
Dr. Padi Boyd
padi.boyd@nasa.gov
301-204-6503"

4) ROSES-22 Amendment 14: Draft D.14 Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Research and Support Participation Opportunities for Community Comment (Feedback requested by May 31, 2022)

When it is released as final text, D.14 Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Research and Support Participation Opportunities (https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=%7b1BD0AA55-40BB-1419-EEA1-64FF5B4269D3%7d&path=&method=init) will solicit proposals aimed at supporting the progress of and exploiting the scientific and technical data from the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, formerly known as the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope or WFIRST, the top-ranked large space mission recommended by the National Academies decadal survey of astronomy and astrophysics for 2012-2021, New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics (https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12951/new-worlds-new-horizons-in-astronomy-and-astrophysics). This opportunity will comprise three categories: Wide Field Science (WFS); Project Infrastructure Teams (PITs); and Coronagraph Community Participation Program (CPP).

ROSES-2022 Amendment 14 releases a draft version of program element D.14 for community comment. Comments and questions concerning this draft of D.14 Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Research and Support Participation Opportunities (https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=%7b1BD0AA55-40BB-1419-EEA1-64FF5B4269D3%7d&path=&method=init) are due by May 31, 2022, to Dominic Benford at Dominic.Benford@nasa.gov, with the subject line "D.14 Roman Feedback".

Technical questions concerning this program element may be directed to Julie McEnery, the Roman Project Scientist at julie.e.mcenery@nasa.gov.

On or about April 29, 2022, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2022" (NNH22ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2022 and will appear on SARA's ROSES blog at:https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2022/

5) ROSES-22 Amendment 17: F.4 Habitable Worlds Step-2 Due Date Delay

"The goal of the Habitable Worlds program is to use knowledge of the history of the Earth and the life upon it as a guide for determining the processes and conditions that create and maintain habitable environments (including transient environments) and to search for ancient and contemporary habitable environments and explore the possibility of extant life beyond the Earth.

ROSES-2022 Amendment 17 delays the due date for Step-2 proposals for F.4 Habitable Worlds (HW) to February 3, 2023. The due date for HW Step-1 proposals remains November 8, 2022.

On or about May 13, 2022, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2022" (NNH22ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2022 and will appear on SARA's ROSES blog at:https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2022/

Questions concerning F.4 HW (https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=%7bEAC639F1-9F40-413E-875B-FC4E63F2B93D%7d&path=&method=init) may be directed to Becky McCauley Rench at rebecca.l.mccauleyrench@nasa.gov."

Link to F.4 Habitable Worlds amended May 13, 2022:

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument?cmdocumentid=860807&solicitationId={EAC639F1-9F40-413E-875B-FC4E63F2B93D}&viewSolicitationDocument=1

6) ROSES-22 Amendment 18: Final Text and Due Dates for Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research (ICAR) (Step-1 Proposals Due September 15, 2022; Step-2 Proposals Due January 10, 2023)

A wide array of NASA Science Mission Directorate flight missions incorporate astrobiology goals and objectives. For this reason, with C.20 Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research (ICAR) (https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=%7bDD8F8E92-37BA-8A00-BB23-8851CE9A92DB%7d&path=&method=init) solicits proposals responding to both the long-term goals and objectives identified in the Astrobiology Strategy https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/research/astrobiology-at-nasa/astrobiology-strategy/ and focused on ensuring that the NASA Astrobiology community is prepared to respond to the challenge of planning and implementing these missions. Accordingly, proposals that place emphasis on research that will help prepare for current or future flight programs directed at astrobiological targets are encouraged. Proposals must describe an interdisciplinary approach to a single compelling question in astrobiology, and address at least one aspect of the current Science Strategy.

ROSES-2022 Amendment 18 releases final text and due dates for C.20 ICAR. This program element uses a two-step proposal submission process in which team members may not be added after Step-1. 6-page Step-1 proposals are due September 15, 2022, and 25-page Step-2 proposals are due January 10, 2023.

On or about May 16 2022, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2022" (NNH22ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2022 and will appear on SARA's ROSES blog at:https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2022/

Questions concerning C.20 ICAR may be directed to Mary Voytek at Mary.A.Voytek@nasa.gov

7) Engaging the Public in Exoplanet Science Through the Legacy of TESS (June 11, 2022)

"Engaging the Public in Exoplanet Science Through the Legacy of TESS”

Saturday, 11 June | 12:30 PM – 5:00 PM (in person workshop before AAS240 in Pasadena)

This workshop will provide attendees with good practices for successfully communicating exoplanet science to broad audiences (e.g., general public, citizen scientists, amateur astronomers, and professional astronomers not specializing in exoplanet research) and engaging the public and K12 students in the discoveries of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and other missions in time-domain astronomy. We will give the attendees interactive, hands-on experience with interpreting and communicating science results through pair and group activities and illustrate novel ways to use visualizations of TESS data effectively to engage public interest in exoplanets, with the intention of improving their exoplanet science communication and data visualization skills to support their outreach and teaching activities. Through the use of active learning strategies, the workshop will highlight main sources of public misunderstandings of exoplanet science and suggest visual materials and presentation skills to resolve them and make exoplanet science more accessible to the public. TESS is a spaceborne NASA mission that has been surveying nearly the full sky in the red-optical band to discover small, transiting exoplanets. Since its launch in April 2018, it has recharacterized hundreds of exoplanets, discovered more 140 exoplanets, and delivered more than 4500 exoplanet candidates. Findings in exoplanet science frequently engage the public interest. In particular, the results from the TESS mission have been extensively covered by media and a large effort is being made to articulate the exoplanet discoveries of the mission and make them accessible to the general public and amateur astronomers as well as to professional astronomers that don’t necessarily specialize in exoplanets. Improving the public understanding of science has broad impacts on the support and funding available for scientific research. In particular, successfully informing young students is important as they include near-future scientists, voters, and decision makers of the society. Furthermore, making scientific knowledge equally accessible to everyone democratizes science and makes it more inclusive. Thus, this workshop will aim to holistically support the mission of science communicators.

Dr. Tansu Daylan
TESS Postdoctoral Associate
Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University
Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
http://www.tansudaylan.com”

8) New Tool Alert Service for the NASA-GSFC Exoplanet Modeling & Analysis Center (EMAC)

“New Tool Alert Service for the NASA-GSFC Exoplanet Modeling & Analysis Center (EMAC) - Get timely updates on new tools in your topics of choice.

The NASA-GSFC Exoplanet Modeling & Analysis Center (EMAC; https://emac.gsfc.nasa.gov/) serves as a catalog, repository and integration platform for modeling and analysis software and web resources focused on the study of exoplanet characteristics and environments. The 150+ tools are organized into 11 categories with varying degrees of subcategories. To keep up with the new tools being added every week, users can now use our email subscription feature to receive updates on their favorite exoplanet science category(ies) on a daily or weekly basis. You can sign up at https://emac.gsfc.nasa.gov/subscriptions/.“

Thank you,
The EMAC Science Support Team at NASA Goddard
(Avi M., Eric L., Nick S., Cameron K., and Carlos C.-A)"

ExoPAG News and Announcements (May 2, 2022)

REMINDER: NASA Astrophysics Division Town Hall May 3, 2022

Welcome New ExoPAG Chair and Executive Committee Members
ExoPAG 26: Suggestions for Topics, Future Activities, Ideas, Findings (Submission deadline May 16, 2022)
Exoplanets IV Splinter Sessions - Remote Connection Information (May 3-5, 2022)
ROSES-22 Amendment 14: Draft D.14 Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Research and Support Participation Opportunities for Community Comment (Feedback requested by May 31, 2022)
AbGradCon22 (August 8-11, 2022; Application deadline May 15, 2022)
ExEP Exoplanet Meetings and Events Calendar Through End of 2022

+ more

REMINDER: NASA Astrophysics Division Town Hall May 3, 2022

The NASA Astrophysics Division will hold a virtual National Town Hall meeting on Tuesday 3 May 2022, at 1p Eastern/12 noon Central/11a Mountain/10a Pacific. The Division Director, Dr. Paul Hertz, will present an update on the James Webb Space Telescope, a report on the NASA Astrophysics budget request for FY2023, and a snapshot status of NASA’s plans for implementing the recommendations of the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey.

The meeting will be conducted via WebEx (see below for connect information). Members of the public may submit and upvote questions/comments ahead of the meeting through the Questions/Comments Portal: https://nasa.cnf.io/sessions/g663/#!/dashboard

Connection details:

WebEx
- Join from the direct WebEx meeting link.
- Meeting number (access code): 2761 906 2398
- Meeting password: AstroTH0503#
Join from a video system or application
- Dial 27619062398@nasaenterprise.webex.com
Join by phone:
- +1-929-251-9612 USA Toll 2
- +1-415-527-5035 US Toll

1) Welcome New ExoPAG Chair and Executive Committee Members

"Dear All,

We are very pleased to announce that Prof. Ilaria Pascucci has agreed to become the new chair of ExoPAG for a three-year term starting this summer. Ilaria is Associate Professor and Associate Department Head of the Lunar & Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, and she previously joined the ExoPAG Executive Committee in 2021. Prof. Michael Meyer will chair the ExoPAG 26 meeting and continue to contribute to the EC as chair emeritus.

And we are very pleased to announce the new members of the ExoPAG Executive Committee (EC) for 2022:

Diana Dragomir, University of New Mexico
Erin May, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Bertrand Mennesson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
John Wisniewski, The University of Oklahoma

They bring new expertise and diverse perspectives to the ExoPAG Executive Committee. Please join me in welcoming Diana, Erin, Bertrand, and John. We are grateful that they have accepted the invitation to join the EC and contribute for their three-year terms.

We are also grateful for the significant contributions of departing ExoPAG chair Michael Meyer and Executive Committee members Tiffany Kataria, Joshua Pepper, and Dmitry Savransky. Please join me in thanking them for their service over the years.

Sincerely,
Hannah Jang-Condell
ExoPAG Executive Secretary at NASA HQ
Deputy Exoplanet Exploration Program Scientist"

2) ExoPAG 26: Suggestions for Topics, Future Activities, Ideas, Findings (Submission deadline May 16, 2022)

ExoPAG 26 will be held June 11-12, 2022 in Pasadena, CA in hybrid format (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/375/exopag-26/). ExoPAG meetings offer an opportunity to participate in discussions of scientific and technical issues in exoplanet exploration, and a forum for community input on the prioritization of activities in NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP). All interested members of the space science community are invited to attend and participate. Suggestions for topics and/or speakers at the meeting along these lines are welcome and should be addressed to the ExoPAG EC (exopag-info@jpl.nasa.gov).

To support discussions at the Business Meeting, we invite members of the community to share ideas for future activities that the ExoPAG should consider. Ideas can be entered here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dam7D1yiMeazF_9IBtPlHgJ_NOg_iTLE9pVeWRl4Tas/edit

We invite community members to propose findings for consideration by the ExoPAG here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1S9kZEVfdutSaTvQcFuD3yMioFen_3UenmNgfu_59Z-4/edit

The ExoPAG EC will review these and structure a discussion of them at a future meeting.

We ask that the ideas and findings are submitted by May 16, 2022 if they wish for them to be discussed at ExoPAG 26.

3) Exoplanets IV Splinter Sessions - Remote Connection Information (May 3-5, 2022)

The Exoplanets IV conference in Las Vegas (May 1-6, 2022) is holding several splinter sessions, some of which will allow virtual participation, even if they have not registered for the main conference.

Exoplanets IV Meeting Website: https://aas.org/meetings/aastcs9/exoplanets

Exoplanets IV Block Schedule: https://submissions.mirasmart.com/ExoplanetsIV/itinerary/EventsAAG.aspx

These three splinter sessions have a remote participation option:

"Viva Las Velocities: Updates from the Field of Extreme Precision Radial Velocities"
- Tuesday, May 3, 2022 (2:30 PM PDT - 5:30 PM PDT)
- Room: Molise 1-2
- Agenda and zoom link:
- https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/internal_resources/2225_Exo4_EPRV_Splinter_Poster.pdf
- Join Zoom Meeting:
  https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87857745718?pwd=ZEViQzAvdUIydTROZlAzNDNSUWNZQT09
  Meeting ID: 878 5774 5718
  Passcode: 069805
  One tap mobile
  +16699006833,,87857745718# US (San Jose)
  +12532158782,,87857745718# US (Tacoma)

"Enabling Future Comparative Exoplanetology"
- Wednesday, May 4, 2022 (9:00 AM PDT - 12:00 PM PDT)
- Room: Milan 6,7,8
- https://submissions.mirasmart.com/ExoplanetsIV/itinerary/EventDetail.aspx?evt=3
- Splinter site: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eBMOJ4Kw6XJ7vDoluKSLY7UKr7JBHJEbMKIhSG-zLdQ/
- Note: "Attendees may join in-person or via Zoom; online-only participants are not required to register for the main conference."
- Agenda: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eBMOJ4Kw6XJ7vDoluKSLY7UKr7JBHJEbMKIhSG-zLdQ/edit?usp=sharing
- Join Zoom Meeting:
  https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88907650324?pwd=V1NDRUgwdUR6bjkvZzlFK3FibEJOdz09
  Meeting ID: 889 0765 0324
  Passcode: 562422
  One tap mobile
  +16699006833,,88907650324# US (San Jose)
  +12532158782,,88907650324# US (Tacoma)

"The Brown Dwarf to Exoplanet Connection in the Era of JWST"
- Thursday, May 5, 2022 (12:30 PM PDT - 3:30 PM PDT)
- Room: Molise 1-2
- https://submissions.mirasmart.com/ExoplanetsIV/itinerary/EventDetail.aspx?evt=4
- https://bdexoconcom.wordpress.com/
- Remote connection information will be emailed to those that register for the splinter at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScckRgRAEde4kvzCKeGS2dYLzQKKegV67ZoWRZCdkz4ozLBiw/viewform

4) ROSES-22 Amendment 14: Draft D.14 Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Research and Support Participation Opportunities for Community Comment (Feedback requested by May 31, 2022)

Technical questions concerning this program element may be directed to Julie McEnery, the Roman Project Scientist at julie.e.mcenery@nasa.gov.

On or about April 29, 2022, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2022" (NNH22ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2022 and will appear on SARA's ROSES blog at: https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2022/

5) AbGradCon22 (August 8-11, 2022; Application deadline May 15, 2022)

ABGRADCON22 will take place virtually August 8-11, 2022

https://www.abgradcon.org/

The Astrobiology Graduate Conference (ABGRADCON22) is a conference dedicated to the networking, interaction, and potential collaborations of Graduate Students and Early Career Scientists interested in Astrobiology-centered research. ABGRADCON22 will be the 18th year of the conference, which is always organized by Graduate Students and Post Docs. ABGRADCON22 is an ideal conference for the younger generations of career astrobiologists to connect, form long-lasting bonds, and discuss the issues that will affect the future of the field of Astrobiology.

If you have any questions about the conference, please feel free to contact us at abgradcon@gmail.com.

ABGRADCON22 Application (due May 15, 2022):

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfGxLGhaR95x5RwjvmToBdMC2iLLxwCU0Mt5aZmfJI9K6hvvg/viewform

6) ExEP Exoplanet Meetings and Events Calendar Through End of 2022

The NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP) maintains an Exoplanet Meetings and Events Calendar at https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/. If there are new meetings with a significant exoplanet-related component, please bring them to our attention at exopag-info@jpl.nasa.gov.

ExEP Exoplanet Meetings and Events Calendar through end of 2022:

May 1, 2022 - May 6, 2022
Exoplanets 4
Location: Las Vegas, NV
https://aas.org/meetings/aastcs9/exoplanets
May 15, 2022 - May 20, 2022
AbSciCon 2022
Location: Atlanta, GA
https://www.agu.org/abscicon
June 11, 2022 - June 12, 2022
ExoPAG 26
Location: Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, CA
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/375/exopag-26/
June 12, 2022 - June 16, 2022
240th AAS Meeting
Location: Pasadena, CA
https://aas.org/meetings/aas240
June 27, 2022 - June 30, 2022
The First Penn State SETI Symposium
Location: The Penn Stater Conference Center, State College, PA
https://sites.psu.edu/setisymposium2022/
June 27, 2022 - July 1, 2022
In the Spirit of Lyot 2022
Location: Hybrid-format - Leiden, the Netherlands and virtual
https://lyot2022.strw.leidenuniv.nl/
July 4, 2022 - July 9, 2022
COOL STARS 21
Location: Toulouse, France
https://coolstars21.github.io/
July 17, 2022 - July 22, 2022
SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2022
Location: Montréal, Québec, Canada
https://spie.org/conferences-and-exhibitions/astronomical-telescopes-and-instrumentation?SSO=1
July 25, 2022 - July 29, 2022
2022 Sagan Exoplanet Summer Hybrid Workshop: Exoplanet Science in the Gaia Era
Location: Pasadena and virtual
https://nexsci.caltech.edu/workshop/2022/
August 1, 2022 - August 2, 2022
Emerging Researchers in Exoplanet Science VII
Location: Penn State University - State College, PA
https://sites.psu.edu/eres2022/
September 7, 2022 - September 9, 2022
Thinkshop 2022: High-resolution spectroscopy for exoplanet atmospheres and biomarkers
Location: Potsdam, Germany
https://meetings.aip.de/event/16/
November 2, 2022 - November 4, 2022
Exoplanets in our Backyard 2.0
Location: Caltech, Pasadena CA
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/353/exoplanets-in-our-backyard-20/
November 7, 2022 - November 13, 2022
Forming and Exploring Habitable Worlds
Location: Edinburgh, UK
https://www.habitableworlds.co.uk

ExoPAG News and Announcements (April 19, 2022)

New Extreme Precision Radial Velocity (EPRV) Research Coordination Network & Science Seminar (April 26, 2022; 1pm-5pm EDT/10am-2pm PDT)
Attention Early Career Scientists, Postdocs and Graduate Students: Apply to Present at ExoPAG 26 (Deadline April 20, 2022, 8pm EDT/5pm PDT)
Release of Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032: Public Release of the Survey Report (April 19, 2022, 2pm-4pm EDT/11am-1pm PDT)
Time Domain and Multi-Messenger Astrophysics Workshop (August 22-24, 2022, Annapolis)
NASA SMD Town Hall (April 19, 2022)
Nominations Now Open for Membership on the Planetary Science Advisory Committee (Deadline April 22, 2022)
Exoplanets IV Splinter Sessions (May 3-5, 2022)
The First Penn State SETI Symposium (June 27–30, 2022; State College, PA; Abstract & breakout session deadline May 1, 2022)

+ more

1) New Extreme Precision Radial Velocity (EPRV) Research Coordination Network & Science Seminar (April 26, 2022; 1pm-5pm EDT/10am-2pm PDT)

"NASA ExEP is excited to announce the formation of a new Research Coordination Network focusing on Extreme Precision Radial Velocity (EPRV) science. Increasing RV precision to the level necessary to detect Earth analog planets is a major challenge facing the exoplanet community, especially in light of the ASTRO2020 decadal recommendation of a future direct imaging flagship mission. The EPRV RCN aims to bring together EPRV scientists from around the globe to work towards this goal, and to support increased communication, collaboration, and coordination between researchers.

The RCN is open to anyone who is actively engaged in EPRV science, and we encourage early career scientists to join and engage. Our debut science event will be a science seminar on April 26th featuring early results from the awardees of NASA’s first EPRV funding call that went out in 2021 (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/NNExplore/EPRV-RCN/EPRV-RCN-events/). In the coming months we plan to establish a regular seminar series, develop a set of workshops based around useful EPRV skills/software, and hold community town halls about key efforts and directions in EPRV science. We’re also setting up a Slack workspace for easier prolonged conversations and collaboration planning, and a shared google drive space where members can share resources.

If you are interested in joining the EPRV RCN, please use this Google form (https://bit.ly/EPRV_RCN_SignUp) to sign up and visit our website (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/NNExplore/EPRV-RCN/EPRV-RCN-welcome/) to learn more about the program. If you have any questions, please reach out at eprv-rcn-questions@jpl.nasa.gov.

We look forward to having you join the conversation as we continue developing new content / events, and work towards the capability to detect and characterize temperate, Earth-mass planets!

~Jennifer Burt

On behalf of the EPRV RCN Organizers"

EPRV Research Coordination Network (RCN): https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/NNExplore/EPRV-RCN/EPRV-RCN-welcome/

EPRV Fundamental Science Seminar (April 26, 2022; 1pm-5pm EDT/10am-2pm PDT): https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/NNExplore/EPRV-RCN/EPRV-RCN-events/

EPRV RCN Membership Request: https://bit.ly/EPRV_RCN_SignUp

2) Attention Early Career Scientists, Postdocs and Graduate Students: Apply to Present at ExoPAG 26 (Deadline April 20, 2022, 8pm ET/5pm PT)

NASA's Exoplanet Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) and NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP) Office invites early career scientists, postdocs and graduate students to consider presenting at the hybrid ExoPAG 26 meeting (June 11-12, 2022). We are particularly interested in attendance and presentations by postdocs and graduate students from diverse backgrounds.

As the ultimate users of future NASA facilities, early career scientists are encouraged to attend the ExoPAG meetings to:

Share their work with a broad audience of scientists, technologists, and program managers;
Learn about NASA's strategic goals and plans, and learn how to impact them through ExoPAG activities.

The presentations for early career scientists, postdocs and graduate students should have a focus on elements of the ExEP Science Gap List (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/system/internal_resources/details/original/2146_ExEP_Science_Gap_List_2022.pdf).

Travel reimbursement

Early career scientists who are requesting travel reimbursement should wait until they have been notified of their selection prior to making travel arrangements or paying registration fees. Failure to comply with this may prohibit reimbursement. Selected postdocs and graduate students will be contacted by the ExEP office to make travel arrangements after selection announcements have been made. Reimbursable travel expenses may consist of roundtrip airfare, lodging, car rental, per diem and conference registration based on approved government rates.

For questions regarding early career proposed talks, please contact student-travel@jpl.nasa.gov.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: April 20, 2022 8:00pm ET/ 5:00pm PT

Guidelines: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/talk-guidelines/

Applications: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/talk-application/

3) Release of Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032: Public Release of the Survey Report (April 19, 2022, 2pm-4pm EDT/11am-1pm PDT)

https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/planetary-science-and-astrobiology-decadal-survey-2023-2032

REPORT RELEASE AND PUBLIC BRIEFING ON APRIL 19, 2022

Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey

What new discoveries are on the horizon for the next decade of planetary exploration? The Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032 highlights key science questions, identifies priority missions, and presents a comprehensive research strategy that includes both planetary defense and human exploration. The report also recommends ways to support the profession as well as the technologies and infrastructure needed to carry out the science.

Learn more about the decadal survey by joining the National Academies for a public briefing on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 from 2-4pm ET. During the briefing, members of the committee will discuss the report's key findings and take questions from the audience.

Please note that this event will be held mostly online, but we are able to accommodate a limited number of in-person participants at our building in Washington, DC. Join the discussion on Twitter with #PlanetaryDecadal

Register to attend: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/planetary-science-and-astrobiology-decadal-survey-public-briefing-registration-310589320017

4) Time Domain and Multi-Messenger Astrophysics Workshop (August 22-24, 2022, Annapolis)

"As you may be aware, the NASA Physics of the Cosmos (PCOS) Program Office is organizing a Time Domain and Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (TDAMM) Initiative Workshop. The goal of the 3-day workshop, to be held in the Annapolis area on August 22nd–24th 2022, is to identify and prioritize the top science questions for TDAMM that need to be addressed to implement the recommendations of the Astro 2020 Decadal Report. NASA invites US and international members of the ground and space science community and of the astronomy and physics communities to attend the workshop and contribute to its final product, a publicly available report with findings for the NASA Headquarters Astrophysics Division. For more information and to register, please follow the link below.

https://pcos.gsfc.nasa.gov/TDAMM/

Wishing you the best,

Dr Jacob Slutsky

NASA PCOS Chief Scientist"

5) NASA SMD Community Town Hall (April 19, 2022)

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate will hold a community town hall meeting with Associate Administrator for Science Thomas H. Zurbuchen and his leadership team on Tuesday April 19 at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss updates to NASA’s science program and share current status of NASA activities.

Members of SMD, the science community, academia, the media, and the public are invited to participate by joining at

https://nasaevents.webex.com/nasaevents/j.php?MTID=m1468211a0d1c2dd1031a70c26dfdfbb1

If prompted, please use event number 2761 572 5402, followed by event password FPhHmMUs284.

Participants are invited to submit their questions below and/or vote up questions already posted. To ask a question, go to https://nasa.cnf.io/sessions/d434/#!/dashboard

Presentation materials will be available for download and a recording will be available later that day at:https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/virtual-townhall

6) Nominations Now Open for Membership on the Planetary Science Advisory Committee (Deadline April 22, 2022)

"The Planetary Science Advisory Committee (PAC) supports the advisory needs of the Planetary Science Division (PSD), the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), and other mission directorates as required, as well as the NASA Administrator. The advisory scope of the PAC includes all aspects of NASA's planetary science program, including scientific research; considerations of the development of near-term enabling technologies, systems, and computing and information management capabilities; and developments with the potential to provide long-term improvements in future mission operational systems.

Responsibility for biological planetary protection is outside the purview of the PAC. NASA's PSD is extending an invitation for nominations for service on the PAC. Interested members of the community are invited to review the charter and to submit nominations (including self-nominations) for consideration to fill vacancies on the Committee. Additional details can be found at:

https://science.nasa.gov/science-red/s3fs-public/atoms/files/PACnominations2022.pdf

More information on the PAC may be found at: https://science.nasa.gov/nac/science-advisory-committees/pac

Stephen Rinehart

Director, Planetary Research Programs"

7) Exoplanets IV Splinter Sessions (May 3-5, 2022)

The Exoplanets IV conference in Las Vegas (May 1-6, 2022) is holding several splinter sessions, some of which will allow attendees to join via Zoom, even if they have not registered for the main conference (noted below).

Meeting Website: https://aas.org/meetings/aastcs9/exoplanets

Block Schedule: https://submissions.mirasmart.com/ExoplanetsIV/itinerary/EventsAAG.aspx

"Viva Las Velocities: Updates from the Field of Extreme Precision Radial Velocities"
- Tuesday, May 3, 2022 (2:30 PM PDT - 5:30 PM PDT)
- Room: Molise 1-2
- https://submissions.mirasmart.com/ExoplanetsIV/itinerary/EventDetail.aspx?evt=2
- Splinter site: https://exoplanets-cms.jpl.nasa.gov/exep/NNExplore/EPRV-RCN/RCN-Events/
- Note: "Attendees may join in-person or via Zoom; online-only participants are not required to register for the main conference."

"Planetary Decadal Town Hall"
- Tuesday, May 3, 2022 (7:00 PM PDT - 8:30 PM PDT)
- Room: Milan 6,7,8
- https://submissions.mirasmart.com/ExoplanetsIV/itinerary/EventDetail.aspx?evt=64

"Enabling Future Comparative Exoplanetology"
- Wednesday, May 4, 2022 (9:00 AM PDT - 12:00 PM PDT)
- Room: Milan 6,7,8
- https://submissions.mirasmart.com/ExoplanetsIV/itinerary/EventDetail.aspx?evt=3
- Splinter site: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eBMOJ4Kw6XJ7vDoluKSLY7UKr7JBHJEbMKIhSG-zLdQ/
- Note: "Attendees may join in-person or via Zoom; online-only participants are not required to register for the main conference."

"Atmospheric Escape and Evolution"
- Wednesday, May 4th 2022 (1:00 PM PDT - 4:00 PM PDT)
- Room: Milan 6,7,8
- https://exoescape.github.io/splinter_2022/
- (see Registration form with deadline April 22, 2022)
- Note: "In order to participate in this splinter session, you have to be a registered attendee in the main conference."

"The Brown Dwarf to Exoplanet Connection in the Era of JWST"
- Thursday, May 5, 2022 (12:30 PM PDT - 3:30 PM PDT)
- Room: Molise 1-2
- https://submissions.mirasmart.com/ExoplanetsIV/itinerary/EventDetail.aspx?evt=4
- https://bdexoconcom.wordpress.com/

8) The First Penn State SETI Symposium (June 27–30, 2022; State College, PA; Abstract & breakout session deadline May 1, 2022)

The First Penn State SETI Symposium

Presented by the Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence Center
June 27–30, 2022
Penn State University
The Penn Stater Conference Center, State College, PA
https://sites.psu.edu/setisymposium2021/

"Dear SETI enthusiasts,

We are excited to share the research abstract and breakout session proposal submission form for the first Penn State SETI Symposium here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfukbphMkxQgN1jUql9N-TnVtqIS5c4rrnpXu7IlW02QKJErg/viewform?usp=sf_link

The form will close at 11:59pm ET on May 1, 2022.

We are accepting submissions for:

Breakout sessions, which might be workshops, reviews or short courses, hack sessions, or tutorials, and can span multiple days.
Contributed science talks
Contributed science posters
Posters describing future SETI-related meetings, job openings, workshops, and funding opportunities.

Multiple posters from the same presenter are allowed. You can find more details about the scope of the conference and topic prioritization here: https://sites.psu.edu/setisymposium2021/

Registration information and fees will be collected separately, and we will share more information about this soon.

See you in State College this Summer!

-The PSETI Symposium SOC"

ExoPAG News and Announcements (April 12, 2022)

NASA Astrophysics Division Town Hall (May 3, 2022; 1pm EDT/10am PDT)
ExoPAG 26: Suggestions for Topics, Future Activities, Ideas, Findings
Attention Early Career Scientists, Postdocs and Graduate Students: Apply to Present at ExoPAG 26 (Deadline April 20, 2022, 8pm EDT/5pm PDT)
ExoExplorer Science Series Talks by Julia Seidel (ESO) & Briley Lewis (UCLA) (April 15, 2022, 2pm EDT/11am PDT)
Exoplanets IV Splinter Session: "Enabling Future Comparative Exoplanetology" (May 4, 2022, 9am-12pm PDT, Hybrid)
Rocky Worlds II Conference (July 4-8, 2022, Oxford)
Thinkshop 2022: High-Resolution Spectroscopy for Exoplanet Atmospheres and Biomarkers (September 7-9, 2022, Potsdam)

+ more

1) NASA Astrophysics Division Town Hall (May 3, 2022; 1pm EDT/10am PDT)

NASA Astrophysics Division Town Hall May 3, 2022

The NASA Astrophysics Division will hold a virtual National Town Hall meeting on Tuesday May 3, 2022, at 1 PM Eastern Time. The Astrophysics Division Director, Dr. Paul Hertz, will present an update on the James Webb Space Telescope, a report on the NASA Astrophysics budget request for FY2023, and a snapshot status of NASA’s plans for implementing the recommendations of the 2020 Decadal Survey.

Please save the date.

The meeting will be conducted via WebEx (see below for connect information). Members of the public may submit and upvote questions/comments ahead of the meeting.

Join from the meeting link

https://nasaenterprise.webex.com/nasaenterprise/j.php?MTID=mabc49aa9f41fc62cc6d79e01f1da717b

Join by meeting number

Meeting number (access code): 2761 906 2398
Meeting password: AstroTH0503#

Join by phone

+1-929-251-9612 USA Toll 2
+1-415-527-5035 US Toll
Global call-in numbers

Join from a video system or application

Dial 27619062398@nasaenterprise.webex.com
You can also dial 207.182.190.20 and enter your meeting number.

Questions/Comments Portal: https://nasa.cnf.io/sessions/g663/#!/dashboard

2) ExoPAG 26: Suggestions for Topics, Future Activities, Ideas, Findings

We invite community members to propose findings for consideration by the ExoPAG here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1S9kZEVfdutSaTvQcFuD3yMioFen_3UenmNgfu_59Z-4/edit

The ExoPAG EC will review these and structure a discussion of them at a future meeting.

3) Attention Early Career Scientists, Postdocs and Graduate Students: Apply to Present at ExoPAG 26 (Deadline April 20, 2022, 8pm ET/5pm PT)

NASA's Exoplanet Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) and NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP) Office invites early career scientists, postdocs and graduate students to consider presenting at the hybrid ExoPAG meeting (ExoPAG 26, June 11-12, 2022, Pasadena, https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/375/exopag-26/) . We are particularly interested in attendance and presentations by postdocs and graduate students from diverse backgrounds.

As the ultimate users of future NASA facilities, early career scientists are encouraged to attend the ExoPAG meetings to:

Share their work with a broad audience of scientists, technologists, and program managers;
Learn about NASA's strategic goals and plans, and learn how to impact them through ExoPAG activities.

Travel reimbursement: Early career scientists who are requesting travel reimbursement should wait until they have been notified of their selection prior to making travel arrangements or paying registration fees. Failure to comply with this may prohibit reimbursement. Selected postdocs and graduate students will be contacted by the ExEP office to make travel arrangements after selection announcements have been made. Reimbursable travel expenses may consist of roundtrip airfare, lodging, car rental, per diem and conference registration based on approved government rates.

For questions regarding early career proposed talks, please contact student-travel@jpl.nasa.gov.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: April 20, 2022 8:00pm ET/ 5:00pm PT

Guidelines: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/talk-guidelines/

Application: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/talk-application/

4) ExoExplorer Science Series Talks by Julia Seidel (ESO) & Briley Lewis (UCLA) (April 15, 2022, 2pm EDT/11am PDT)

The next ExoExplorers science series will feature talks by Julia Seidel (ESO) & Briley Lewis (UCLA) on April 15, 2022 at 2pm EDT/11am PDT.

Speaker: Julia Seidel (ESO)
Title: “Observing Exoplanet Winds”
Speaker: Briley Lewis (UCLA)
Title: “Small Pieces of the Solar System: Dust, Ice, Pluto, and More”

Talk abstracts and the connection information are at:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/367/exoexplorer-science-series-julia-seidel-eso-briley-lewis-ucla/

5) Exoplanets IV Splinter Session: "Enabling Future Comparative Exoplanetology" (May 4, 2022, 9am-12pm PDT, Hybrid)

Enabling Future Comparative Exoplanetology Splinter Meeting @ Exoplanets IV
Wednesday May 4, 2022
9 AM – noon pacific

We invite participants in a splinter meeting on “Enabling Future Comparative Exoplanetology” to be held at the Exoplanets IV Conference on May 4, 2022 from 9 AM – noon pacific. Attendees may join in-person or via Zoom; online-only participants are not required to register for the main conference.

The motivation for this meeting is to explore how future Great Observatories in space and the upcoming extremely large telescopes (ELTs) on the ground can usher in a revolution in exoplanet studies. A series of talks will review the facilities, then discuss what advances they could achieve in key exoplanet science areas. The session will wrap up with open discussion & brainstorming about near-term preparations needed to realize that future. The detailed splinter meeting agenda is available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eBMOJ4Kw6XJ7vDoluKSLY7UKr7JBHJEbMKIhSG-zLdQ/edit

For details and updates about this splinter meeting, please provide your contact info via this google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd3jvXy79qmiargNBIERD7D8iw3v6THivnyRah9ihC7SUe4mg/viewform

Hope to see you in May!

From the meeting organizers,
Scott Gaudi, Aki Roberge, Chas Beichman, Karl Stapelfeldt, & Eric Mamajek

6) Rocky Worlds II Conference (July 4-8, 2022, Oxford)

ROCKY WORLDS II CONFERENCE
July 4-8, 2022
Oxford, United Kingdom
https://www.rockyworlds.org
In-person registration deadline: 15 April, 2022

The detailed understanding gleaned from the terrestrial planets in the Solar System is crucial in the interpretation of extrasolar planets. As the characterisation of these new planetary systems proceeds, it in turn improves our understanding of the Solar System, and in particular of how potentially habitable worlds form, evolve, and are distributed throughout the galaxy.

The Rocky Worlds conference series brings together planetary scientists, astronomers, and earth scientists to foster discussion and build collaborations that will pave the way for the next decade of rocky exoplanet discovery and characterisation.

Invited speakers:

Nathalie Carrasco, Rebecca Fischer, Sascha Quanz, Elishevah van Kooten, Allona Vazan, Masahiro Ikoma

Scientific organisers:

Tim Lichtenberg, Amy Bonsor, Vivien Parmentier, James Bryson, Oliver Shorttle, Colin Wilson, Jayne Birkby, Ray Pierrehumbert"

7) Thinkshop 2022: High-Resolution Spectroscopy for Exoplanet Atmospheres and Biomarkers (September 7-9, 2022, Potsdam)

https://meetings.aip.de/event/16/overview

"The AIP aims to bring together the astrophysics community to discuss exoplanet atmospheres in high spectral resolution in its Thinkshop series. We therefore invite scientists to come to Potsdam to discuss the latest techniques for observations, their analysis, and the next-generation instruments in September 2022.

Meeting information:

Dates: 07.-09. September 2022
Location: AIP, An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
Mode: primarily in-person, plus a limited number of online attendance slots will be made available
Workshop fee: 150 EUR for in-person attendance, including daily food & drink
Program: a mix of talks, discussions, hands-on sessions, and haikus to encourage collaboration.

Meeting registration and abstract submission will be opened shortly. The organizers can be contacted by email in the meantime: SOC chair (K. Poppenhaeger, kpoppenhaeger@aip.de), LOC chair (E. Keles, ekeles@aip.de).

Scientific Organizing Committee:

Katja Poppenhaeger (chair), Julián Alvarado-Gómez, Elena Gallo, Silva Järvinen, Laura Kreidberg, Matthias Mallonn, Lorenzo Pino, Heike Rauer

Local Organizing Committee:

Engin Keles (chair), Eliana Amazo-Gómez, Kathrin Böhrs, Thorsten Carroll, Laura Ketzer, Michael Weber and others from the AIP."

ExoPAG News and Announcements (April 4, 2022)

Attention Early Career Scientists, Postdocs and Graduate Students: Apply to Present at ExoPAG 26 (Deadline April 20, 2022, 8pm EDT/5pm PDT)
ExoExplorer Science Series Talks by Julia Seidel (ESO) & Briley Lewis (UCLA) (April 15, 2022, 2pm EDT/11am PDT)
Cosmic Milestone: NASA Confirms 5,000 Exoplanets
Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2 (November 2–4, 2022; Pasadena, CA/Virtual)
NASA Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC) Members Sought
EPRV Splinter Session "Viva Las Velocities: Updates from the Field of Extreme Precision Radial Velocities" at Exoplanets IV (May 3, 2022, 2:30pm-5:30pm PDT, Hybrid; Abstract Deadline April 8, 2022)
Release of Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032: Public Release of the Survey Report (April 19, 2022, 2pm-4pm EDT/11am-1pm PDT))
“Exoplanet Modelling In the JWST Era II: SubNeptunes and Terrestrial Planets” Royal Astronomical Society Specialist Discussion Meeting (April 8, 2022)
PLANET-ESLAB-2023: First Announcement (March 20-24, 2023)

+ more

1) Attention Early Career Scientists, Postdocs and Graduate Students: Apply to Present at ExoPAG 26 (Deadline April 20, 2022, 8pm ET/5pm PT)

NASA's Exoplanet Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) and NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP) Office invites early career scientists, postdocs and graduate students to consider presenting at the hybrid ExoPAG meeting. We are particularly interested in attendance and presentations by postdocs and graduate students from diverse backgrounds.

As the ultimate users of future NASA facilities, early career scientists are encouraged to attend the ExoPAG meetings to:

Share their work with a broad audience of scientists, technologists, and program managers;
Learn about NASA's strategic goals and plans, and learn how to impact them through ExoPAG activities.

Focus of proposed ExoPAG 26 talks

Travel reimbursement

Early career scientists who are requesting travel reimbursement should wait until they have been notified of their selection prior to making travel arrangements or paying registration fees. Failure to comply with this may prohibit reimbursement. Selected postdocs and graduate students will be contacted by the the ExEP office to make travel arrangements after selection announcements have been made.

Reimbursable travel expenses may consist of roundtrip airfare, lodging, car rental, per diem and conference registration based on approved government rates.

For questions regarding early career proposed talks, please contact student-travel@jpl.nasa.gov.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: April 20, 2022 8:00pm ET/ 5:00pm PT

Guidelines: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/talk-guidelines/
Applications: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/talk-application/

2) ExoExplorer Science Series Talks by Julia Seidel (ESO) & Briley Lewis (UCLA) (April 15, 2022, 2pm EDT/11am PDT)

The next ExoExplorers science series will feature talks by Julia Seidel (ESO) & Briley Lewis (UCLA) on April 15, 2022 at 2pm EDT/11am PDT (titles & abstracts TBA)

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/367/exoexplorer-science-series-julia-seidel-eso-briley-lewis-ucla/

3) Cosmic Milestone: NASA Confirms 5,000 Exoplanets

"Cosmic Milestone: NASA Confirms 5,000 Exoplanets" by Pat Brennan:
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1702/cosmic-milestone-nasa-confirms-5000-exoplanets/
NASA Exoplanet Archive Update "5000+ Alien Worlds and Counting":
https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/exonews_archive.html#21March2022
Youtube: "NASA confirms 5,000 Planets – and Counting"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qDg5uHk-4c&list=PLTiv_XWHnOZrNBx4W9OMDy7SPlPcKWUq_
Youtube: "5,000 Exoplanets: Listen to the Sounds of Discovery (NASA Data Sonification)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv4DbU1CWAY
New York Times: "Imagine Another World. Now Imagine 5,000 More" by Becky Ferreira:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/02/science/nasa-exoplanets-5000.html

4) Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2 (November 2–4, 2022; Pasadena, CA/Virtual)

Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2
November 2–4, 2022
Pasadena, CA/Virtual

The Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2 workshop is scheduled for November 2–4, 2022, in Pasadena, California, with virtual participation available. The Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG) meeting is scheduled two days after the Exoplanets workshop. As it becomes available, more information regarding the VEXAG meeting will be posted on the VEXAG website.

Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2 is a workshop hosted by the Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG), Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG), Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG), Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), and Mercury Exploration Assessment Group (MExAG). The goal of the workshop is to examine and discuss exoplanet-solar system synergies on planetary properties, formation, evolution, and habitability. Topics include comparative planetology on worlds near and far; solar system studies as a baseline for studies of extrasolar planetary properties and evolution; and lessons learned on planetary statistics, demographics, and system architectures from extrasolar planetary systems. This workshop aims to foster and build new collaborations among scientists in the solar system and exoplanet communities and to help guide the direction of future exploration and observations of worlds in the solar system and beyond.

Important: To be added to the mailing list to receive additional information about this meeting, submit an indication of interest (https://www.hou.usra.edu/meeting_portal/iofi/?mtg=exoplanets2022).

For more details, see: https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/exoplanets2022/

5) NASA Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC) Members Sought

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate solicits applications from individuals who are interested in serving on the NASA Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC). The membership term will be one to three years. Members will be required to attend meetings one to four times a year, either in person or via webex. Terms of reference and meeting minutes of the APAC may be found on https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/nac/science-advisory-committees/apac

Applicants must be employed by a U.S. organization or institution. NASA seeks applications from individuals who represent the broad diversity of the U.S. scientific and engineering community. NASA is committed to a culture of diversity, inclusion, and equity, where all participants feel welcome, respected, and engaged and where individuals can be authentic. Aligned with NASA’s core value of inclusion, Science Mission Directorate’s Science Plan seeks to increase the diversity of thought and backgrounds represented across the entire SMD portfolio through a more inclusive and accessible environment. We therefore strongly encourage nominations, including self-nominations, from scientists and engineers from under-represented and under-served groups who are interested in joining the NASA Astrophysics Advisory Committee.

To be considered by NASA, applicants must submit a vita or a link to a vita and a one-page statement on their motivation to serve on the committee. All nominations must be submitted electronically via email to Hashima Hasan (hhasan@nasa.gov) no later than April 30, 2022. Hard-copy nominations will not be considered.

6) EPRV Splinter Session "Viva Las Velocities: Updates from the Field of Extreme Precision Radial Velocities" at Exoplanets IV (May 3, 2022, 2:30pm-5:30pm PDT, Hybrid; Abstract Deadline April 8, 2022)

EPRV Splinter Session at Exoplanets IV

We are pleased to announce the organization of an Extreme Precision Radial Velocity (EPRV) Splinter Session (“Viva Las Velocities: Updates from the Field of Extreme Precision Radial Velocities”) to be held during the Exoplanets IV conference on Tuesday, May 3rd from 2:30p-5:30p PDT. This splinter session will be hybrid in format, allowing speakers and attendees to join in person or via Zoom, and does not require registration for the main Exoplanets IV conference. The session will be a combination of contributed talks and group discussions about new and evolving pathways towards achieving 10 cm/s RV detection capabilities.

We invite members of the EPRV community or related fields who are interested in presenting a talk during this splinter session to submit abstracts via this google form. Feel free to resubmit a main conference abstract if it was not selected for a talk. The deadline for abstract submissions for this splinter session is April 8th, 2022 at 11:59pm PDT.

We welcome presentations on all aspects of EPRV science, including but not limited to: observational efforts, instrumentation, data analysis techniques, solar studies, and stellar variability mitigation. We encourage talks that showcase the nuances of current EPRV efforts, and note that presentations describing work-in-progress efforts are of particular interest.

If you are interested in attending the session and would like to be added to the email list for future details & updates, please use the same google form and simply say ‘no’ to the question about submitting an abstract. If you have questions or suggestions please reach out to co-organizers Jennifer Burt (jennifer.burt@jpl.nasa.gov) and Johanna Teske (jteske@carnegiescience.edu).

7) Release of Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032: Public Release of the Survey Report (April 19, 2022, 2pm-4pm EDT/11am-1pm PDT)

https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/planetary-science-and-astrobiology-decadal-survey-2023-2032

REPORT RELEASE AND PUBLIC BRIEFING ON APRIL 19, 2022

Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey

Learn more about the decadal survey by joining the National Academies for a public briefing on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 from 2-4pm ET. During the briefing, members of the committee will discuss the report's key findings and take questions from the audience.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/planetary-science-and-astrobiology-decadal-survey-public-briefing-registration-310589320017

8) “Exoplanet Modelling In the JWST Era II: SubNeptunes and Terrestrial Planets” Royal Astronomical Society Specialist Discussion Meeting (April 8, 2022)

https://ras.ac.uk/events-and-meetings/ras-meetings/exoplanet-modelling-james-webb-era-ii-terrestrial-planets-and

The keynote presentations are:

Emeline Bolmont, University of Geneva
Understanding the runaway greenhouse transition using 3D modeling
Thad Komacek, University of Maryland
The effects of clouds on observable properties of temperate rocky exoplanets
Erin May, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab
Variability of SubNeptune and Terrestrial Planet atmospheres
Mark Hammond, University of Oxford
3D Atmospheric Dynamics of K2-141b

Note: there is a paid registration to attend the virtual meeting and sessions run between 10:30-15:35 BST (UTC+1), 06:30-11:35 EDT (UTC-4), 03:30-08:35 PDT (UTC-7)

9) PLANET-ESLAB-2023: First Announcement (March 20-24, 2023)

"Dear Colleagues,

ESA are pleased to announce the symposium "PLANET-ESLAB-2023 Understanding planets in the solar system and beyond", aimed at bringing together the communities involved in our fleet of planetary and exoplanetary science missions and exploring their synergies.

Themes to be covered in the symposium, for both solar system planets and exoplanets, will include:

Planetary formation & evolution
Planetary system architecture, dynamics, stability
Interior structure & processes
Surface geological & geophysical processes
Atmospheric dynamics & chemistry
Ionospheres, magnetospheres, plasma environment
Stellar/solar activity and interaction with planet
Habitability & exobiology

The symposium will be held on 20-24 March 2023 at ESA-ESTEC, in the Netherlands. We envisage a hybrid conference with both in person and virtual participation options; further details will be announced in autumn 2022.

ESLAB is an annual symposium organised by the Science and Operations Department in the European Space Agency's Directorate of Science. The ESLAB symposia have been held since 1966 having as main objective to foster scientific cooperation.

Please save the date! Further announcements will be posted at the symposium website:

https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/planet-eslab-2023

Best wishes,

Colin Wilson and Ana Heras"

ExoPAG News and Announcements (March 17, 2022)

ExoExplorers Science Series Talks (March 18, 2022, 2-3pm EST/11am-12pm PST)
SIG 3 Exoplanet/Solar System Synergies Tutorial Talk (March 17, 2pm EDT/11am PDT)
Precursors to Pathways: Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories (April 20-22, 2022)
NN-EXPLORE in 2022B: Time Available on the WIYN 3.5m, CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with CHIRON, MINERVA-Australis, and Support for Community Observing with High Resolution Imaging on WIYN, Gemini-North, and Gemini-South (Proposals due March 30, 2022)
Forming and Exploring Habitable Worlds (November 7-13, 2022, Edinburgh)

+ more

1) ExoExplorers Science Series Talks (March 18, 2022, 2-3pm EDT/11am-12pm PDT)

The next ExoExplorers science series will feature talks by cohort members Romy Rodriguez Martinez and Eckhart Spalding and take place this Friday, March 18th, at 2pm EDT/11am PDT.

Romy Rodriguez Martinez (Ohio State University):

“A reanalysis of the composition of K2-106 b, an ultra-short period super-Mercury candidate”

Eckhart Spalding (University of Notre Dame):

“The quest for exoplanet direct imaging with ELT apertures: A hunt for companions with the Large Binocular Telescope”

Connection details and abstracts can be accessed at the ExoExplorers website:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/363/exoexplorer-science-series-romy-rodriguez-martinez-ohio-state-eckhart-spalding-notre-dame/

As much of the continental USA changed from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time this past weekend (except Arizona & Hawaii), we list some start times in various time zones:

7pm CET (UTC + 1) [standard time through March 27]
2pm EDT (UTC - 4)
1pm CDT (UTC - 5)
12pm MDT (UTC - 6)
11am PDT (UTC - 7) = 11am MST [most of Arizona]
7am HST (UTC - 10)

2) SIG 3 Exoplanet/Solar System Synergies Tutorial Talk (March 17, 2pm EDT/11am PDT)

The next ExoPAG SIG3 (Exoplanet/Solar System Synergies) Tutorial Talk will be on Thursday, March 17 at 11am PT/2pm ET. Our speaker will be Shannon Curry (Space Sci. Lab), the PI of NASA's MAVEN mission. Her talk is titled "Solar System studies of atmospheric escape".

Zoom Meeting:

https://stanford.zoom.us/j/92586358061?pwd=MHpqOHJKZ1M2QjBGY0tpRVVPSytOUT09

Meeting ID: 925 8635 8061

password: 872742

3) Precursors to Pathways: Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories (April 20-22, 2022)

Update: there is now an online form to sign up for more information and further emails about the workshop:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/astro2020-precursor-sciws1/

“Dear Astronomy and Astrophysics community members,

NASA will hold a virtual Precursor Science Workshop April 20-22, 2022, open to the entire community, to engage the community on this new concept. NASA intends to fund precursor science through a new element of ROSES 2022. The Precursor Science research element will fund precursor science investigations for all three great observatories recommended by Astro2020.

The three-day Precursor Science Workshop will feature presentations from decadal survey panel members, large mission study teams, and other speakers to frame our current understanding. Breakout sessions on day two for each of the three recommended great observatories will help focus discussions appropriate to each mission. On day three we reconvene as a group to report on the focused discussions. This workshop and subsequent reports can serve as starting points for further community participation and analysis to develop the future great observatories. We currently anticipate holding a second, 2-day workshop in July 2022 to facilitate continued conversation.

The community precursor science discussions will inform the ROSES 2022 call, with details to be released later in September of 2022.

We will post further information on our website (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/astro2020-precursor-sciws1/) and will send updates to this list as relevant.

We look forward to discussing precursor science with you over the next several months!

Wishing you all the best,

Paul Hertz”

4) NN-EXPLORE in 2022B: Time Available on the WIYN 3.5m, CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with CHIRON, MINERVA-Australis, and Support for Community Observing with High Resolution Imaging on WIYN, Gemini-North, and Gemini-South (Proposals due March 30, 2022)

NN-EXPLORE proposals are invited for the WIYN 3.5m, CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with CHIRON, and MINERVA-Australis in semester 2022B (1 August 2022 – 31 January 2023) through the NOIRLab call for proposals:

https://noirlab.edu/science/observing-noirlab/proposals/call-for-proposals

Proposal Deadline: 31 March 2022 at 11:59pm Mountain Standard Time (MST)

For further details on the NN-EXPLORE time and available instruments, see:

https://noirlab.edu/science/observing-noirlab/proposals/nn-explore/

IMPORTANT CHANGE: Semester 2022B marks the beginning of the Dual Anonymous Review Process (DARP) for all observing proposals submitted to NOIRLab. Proposers, please take sufficient time to prepare your anonymous manuscript, especially if you are going to resubmit a proposal from a previous semester. Detailed anonymization instructions for PIs can be found at https://noirlab.edu/science/observing-noirlab/proposals/anonymization-instructions.

* WIYN 3.5m

The NNEXPLORE program continues on the WIYN 3.5m, with 35 nights available for exoplanet programs - including the precision RV instrument NEID: https://www.wiyn.org/Instruments/wiynneid.html andhttps://www.wiyn.org/Instruments/wiynneid_call2022b.html. WIYN selections come with modest monetary award for analysis, publications costs and incidental expenses. https://www.wiyn.org/

* CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m+CHIRON)

NNEXPLORE offers observing time on the CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with the precision radial-velocity spectrometer CHIRON, with 300 hours (equivalent to 30 nights of service observing) of observing time in 2022B. For more information on the SMARTS 1.5m telescope and CHIRON contact Todd Henry (thyenry@astro.gsu.edu,http://www.astro.gsu.edu/~thenry/SMARTS/) and see the recent paper by Paredes et al. (2021, AJ, 162, 176):https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021AJ....162..176P%252F/.

* MINERVA-Australis

As part of the NNEXPLORE program, NASA is continuing in a partnership with the MINERVA-Australis consortium that began in 2020B. That agreement continues in Semester 2022A, with 300 hours of observing time open to NNEXPLORE proposals. MINERVA-Australis is a dedicated exoplanet observatory operated by the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Queensland, Australia. The facility is located at USQ's Mt. Kent Observatory, and saw first light in quarter two 2018; commissioning of the facility was completed in mid-2019. MINERVA-Australis currently consists of 5 (0.7m) PlaneWave CDK700 telescopes; these telescopes have two ports, allowing each to be used for either spectroscopic or photometric observations. A summary of the facility and its capabilities can be found in the commissioning paper by Addison et al. 2019(https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019PASP..131k5003A)

NASA has made available to the US community 300 hours on the Minerva-Australis facility for the 2022B semester. The time is intended for exoplanet research, primarily of TESS targets but other exoplanet science will be considered. Proposed observing time will be allocated in hours and must include all science and calibration observations necessary to accomplish the science. More information can be requested by contacting David Ciardi at NExScI (ciardi@ipac.caltech.edu) or Rob Wittenmyer at University of Southern Queensland (Rob.Wittenmyer@usq.edu.au).

As the MINERVA-Australis is a scientific consortium, there are a set of restrictions by which proposers must abide:

The MINERVA-Australis has listed a set of “Collaboration Targets,” which are a set of targets that the collaboration is observing (see https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M4ee7qRmhMoldLqbngZD7qXMOQSzZvhV/view?usp=sharing__;!!PvBDto6Hs4WbVuu7!bQiLiXo3BVwkHQbR0BcXUQQTSbPCmfGjwn_M_AxEcZRASVtWNWsoGnp5bhGUX7dS24dGjMrw$) “Collaboration Targets” can be proposed for observation through the NASA time if the proposal principal investigator forms a collaboration with the appropriate MINERVA-Australis collaboration or the proposer and the MINERVA-Australis collaboration member come to a mutual agreement regarding the proposed observations.
Observations will be made, on behalf of the NASA observers, in queue-mode by the MINERVA-Australis team.
The MINERVA-Australis team will deliver the proposer’s raw data, 1D extracted spectra, and radial velocities (if desired by the proposer).
Data obtained for US community observers will be archived at NExScI –through the ExoFOP service. Archived data will have the option to have a maximum 12 month proprietary period.
Any publications arising from the utilization of NASA time on MINERVA-Australis are subject to the main MINERVA-Australis publication policy regarding the inclusion of the listed Architects and Builders [to be provided by the Collaboration] and must acknowledge the NN-EXPLORE Program.

* High Resolution Imaging on WIYN, Gemini-North and Gemini-South

NN-EXPLORE is supporting community observations with three high-resolution imagers - NESSI on WIYN, 'Alopeke on Gemini-North and Zorro on Gemini-South. In speckle mode they provide simultaneous two-color diffraction-limited optical imaging (FWHM~0.02" at 650nm) of targets as faint as V~13/17 over a 1.2" field of view. Wide-field mode provides simultaneous two-color imaging in standard SDSS filters over a 60" field of view. For further information see https://www.wiyn.org/Instruments/wiynnessi.html, https://www.gemini.edu/instrumentation/alopeke-zorro and contact the PI: Steve Howell (NASA Ames Research Center) steve.b.howell@nasa.gov. See also the paper on `Alopeke and Zorro by Scott et al. (2021, Fron. Astro. & Space Sci., 8, 138;https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021FrASS...8..138S/). The full 2022B Gemini call for proposals is at:https://www.gemini.edu/observing/phase-i/standard-semester-program/2022b-call-proposals

5) Forming and Exploring Habitable Worlds (November 7-13, 2022, Edinburgh)

https://www.habitableworlds.co.uk/

Forming and Exploring Habitable Worlds is a multi-discipline four to five day international scientific meeting taking place in Edinburgh, UK, in November 2022. This event is to accommodate up to 120 in-person delegates of all career stages based in a range of relevant employment sectors. A hybrid model is envisaged to be delivered so as to broaden participation by accommodating virtual attendance of additional delegates.

The welcoming atmosphere of this modest-sized event will foster friendly scientific exchange and shall help to promote networking beneficial to early, mid, and senior career scientists, space lawyers, educators, and space technology / mission innovators. Students and those in their early-careers are encouraged to attend and contribute their work in this friendly, relatively unintimidating, and specialist gathering.

The inaugural Forming and Exploring Habitable Worlds event will provide a forum for the exchange of new interdisciplinary findings and ideas in relation to two principal themes:

The origins of habitable bodies in and beyond our home Solar System
Space exploration and its governance: priorities, visions, concerns and ambitions

Registration is now open. The abstract submission and early-bird registration deadline is April 22, 2022.

https://www.habitableworlds.co.uk/registration

ExoPAG News and Announcements (March 10, 2022)

Precursors to Pathways: Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories (April 20-22, 2022)
NN-EXPLORE in 2022B: Time Available on the WIYN 3.5m, CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with CHIRON, MINERVA-Australis, and Support for Community Observing with High Resolution Imaging on WIYN, Gemini-North, and Gemini-South (Proposals due March 30, 2022)
2022B NASA IRTF Call for Proposals (Proposals due April 1, 2022)
Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC) Meeting (March 30-31, 2022, 11am-5pm EST)
IAU Symposium 370 "Winds of Stars and Exoplanets" (August 8-11, 2022, Busan)

+ more

1) Precursors to Pathways: Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories (April 20-22, 2022)

Update: there is now an online form to sign up for more information and further emails about the workshop: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/astro2020-precursor-sciws1/

“Dear Astronomy and Astrophysics community members,

The community precursor science discussions will inform the ROSES 2022 call, with details to be released later in September of 2022.

We will post further information on our website (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/astro2020-precursor-sciws1/) and will send updates to this list as relevant.

We look forward to discussing precursor science with you over the next several months!

Wishing you all the best,
Paul Hertz”

2) NN-EXPLORE in 2022B: Time Available on the WIYN 3.5m, CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with CHIRON, MINERVA-Australis, and Support for Community Observing with High Resolution Imaging on WIYN, Gemini-North, and Gemini-South (Proposals due March 30, 2022)

NN-EXPLORE proposals are invited for the WIYN 3.5m, CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with CHIRON, and MINERVA-Australis in semester 2022B (1 August 2022 – 31 January 2023) through the NOIRLab call for proposals:

Proposal Deadline: 31 March 2022 at 11:59pm Mountain Standard Time (MST)

For further details on the NN-EXPLORE time and available instruments, see:

https://noirlab.edu/science/observing-noirlab/proposals/nn-explore/

IMPORTANT CHANGE: Semester 2022B marks the beginning of the Dual Anonymous Review Process (DARP) for all observing proposals submitted to NOIRLab. Proposers, please take sufficient time to prepare your anonymous manuscript, especially if you are going to resubmit a proposal from a previous semester. Detailed anonymization instructions for PIs can be found at https://noirlab.edu/science/observing-noirlab/proposals/anonymization-instructions.

WIYN 3.5m

The NNEXPLORE program continues on the WIYN 3.5m, with 35 nights available for exoplanet programs - including the precision RV instrument NEID: https://www.wiyn.org/Instruments/wiynneid.html and https://www.wiyn.org/Instruments/wiynneid_call2022b.html. WIYN selections come with modest monetary award for analysis, publications costs and incidental expenses. https://www.wiyn.org/

CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m+CHIRON

NNEXPLORE offers observing time on the CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m with the precision radial-velocity spectrometer CHIRON, with 300 hours (equivalent to 30 nights of service observing) of observing time in 2022B. For more information on the SMARTS 1.5m telescope and CHIRON contact Todd Henry (thyenry@astro.gsu.edu, http://www.astro.gsu.edu/~thenry/SMARTS/) and see the recent paper by Paredes et al. (2021, AJ, 162,176) https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021AJ....162..176P/.

MINERVA-Australis

As part of the NNEXPLORE program, NASA is continuing in a partnership with the MINERVA-Australis consortium that began in 2020B. That agreement continues in Semester 2022A, with 300 hours of observing time open to NNEXPLORE proposals. MINERVA-Australis is a dedicated exoplanet observatory operated by the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Queensland, Australia. The facility is located at USQ's Mt. Kent Observatory, and saw first light in quarter two 2018; commissioning of the facility was completed in mid-2019. MINERVA-Australis currently consists of 5 (0.7m) PlaneWave CDK700 telescopes; these telescopes have two ports, allowing each to be used for either spectroscopic or photometric observations. A summary of the facility and its capabilities can be found in the commissioning paper by Addison et al. 2019 ( https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019PASP..131k5003A)

As the MINERVA-Australis is a scientific consortium, there are a set of restrictions by which proposers must abide:

The MINERVA-Australis has listed a set of “Collaboration Targets,” which are a set of targets that the collaboration is observing (see list). “Collaboration Targets” can be proposed for observation through the NASA time if the proposal principal investigator forms a collaboration with the appropriate MINERVA-Australis collaboration or the proposer and the MINERVA-Australis collaboration member come to a mutual agreement regarding the proposed observations.
Observations will be made, on behalf of the NASA observers, in queue-mode by the MINERVA-Australis team.
The MINERVA-Australis team will deliver the proposer’s raw data, 1D extracted spectra, and radial velocities (if desired by the proposer).
Data obtained for US community observers will be archived at NExScI –through the ExoFOP service. Archived data will have the option to have a maximum 12 month proprietary period.
Any publications arising from the utilization of NASA time on MINERVA-Australis are subject to the main MINERVA-Australis publication policy regarding the inclusion of the listed Architects and Builders [to be provided by the Collaboration] and must acknowledge the NN-EXPLORE Program.

High Resolution Imaging on WIYN, Gemini-North and Gemini-South

NN-EXPLORE is supporting community observations with three high-resolution imagers - NESSI on WIYN, 'Alopeke on Gemini-North and Zorro on Gemini-South. In speckle mode they provide simultaneous two-color diffraction-limited optical imaging (FWHM~0.02" at 650nm) of targets as faint as V~13/17 over a 1.2" field of view. Wide-field mode provides simultaneous two-color imaging in standard SDSS filters over a 60" field of view. For further information see https://www.wiyn.org/Instruments/wiynnessi.html, https://www.gemini.edu/instrumentation/alopeke-zorro and contact the PI: Steve Howell (NASA Ames Research Center) steve.b.howell@nasa.gov. See also the paper on `Alopeke and Zorro by Scott et al. (2021, Fron. Astro. & Space Sci., 8, 138;https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021FrASS...8..138S/). The full 2022B Gemini call for proposals is at: https://www.gemini.edu/observing/phase-i/standard-semester-program/2022b-call-proposals

3) 2022B NASA IRTF Call for Proposals (Proposals due April 1, 2022)

The due date for the 2022B semester (August 1, 2022 to January 31, 2023) is Friday, April 1, 2022. See our online submission form http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/observing/applicationForms.php, which is available for proposal submission from 12:00AM on March 01, 2022 until 5:00PM on April 01, 2022 HST. Available instruments include: (1) SpeX, a 0.7 – 5.3 micron cross-dispersed medium-resolution spectrograph (up to R=2,500) and imager; (2) MORIS, a 512x512 pixel Andor CCD camera (60"x60" field-of-view) mounted at the side-facing window of the SpeX cryostat that can be used simultaneously with SpeX; (3) iSHELL, a 1.1 – 5.3 micron cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph (up to R=75,000) and imager. Information on available facility and visitor instruments and performance can be found at:http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/instruments. Exposure time calculators for SpeX and iSHELL are available on the respective instrument webpages.

Please see http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/observing/callForProposals.php for the full text.

4) Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC) Meeting (March 30-31, 2022, 11am-5pm EST)

https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/nac/science-advisory-committees/apac

Astrophysics Advisory Committee

Upcoming Meeting:

March 30, 31, 2022

11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. EST

5) IAU Symposium 370 "Winds of Stars and Exoplanets" (August 8-11, 2022, Busan)

“Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the IAU Symposium 370 "Winds of stars and exoplanets", which will take place during the IAU General Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea, 8-11 August 2022.

This symposium is dedicated to “winds” — in particular, we would like to bring together researchers working on winds of close-in exoplanets (atmospheric escape), winds of low- and high-mass stars and the solar wind, to gain insight in the physics and the modelling tools used by different communities. Our goal is to foster communication between these different communities and drive advances in the field. The key topics of discussion will be:

Physical ingredients of winds
Observational evidence of winds
Relevance of winds on stellar/planetary evolution
Flow-flow interactions

More information on the symposium can be found at https://local.strw.leidenuniv.nl/iaus370

Important upcoming dates:

Abstract submission deadline: 31 March 2022
Early-bird registration deadline: 28 Feb 2022
KAS travel grant application: 28 Feb 2022
IAU travel grant application: 31 March 2022

Please, register and submit your abstract through the IAU GA website: https://www.iauga2022.org/

We are looking forward to your participation, either in person or virtually, at the IAUS370!

All the best
Aline Vidotto, on behalf of the SOC

SOC:

Aline Vidotto (The Netherlands) - Chair
Luca Fossati (Austria) - Co-chair
Jorick Vink (UK) - Co-Chair
Steve Cranmer (US)
Richard Ignace (US)
Moira Jardine (UK)
Kristina Kislyakova (Austria)
Tommi Koskinen (US)
Shazrene Mohamed (South Africa)
Takeru Suzuki (Japan)”

ExoPAG News and Announcements (February 17, 2022)

ExoPAG Science Interest Group #2: Exoplanet Demographics - Inviting Comments on Draft Report (by March 7, 2022)
ExoExplorer Science Series: Leonardo dos Santos (STScI) & Quadry Chance (U Florida) (February 18, 2022, 2pm EST)
Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences 2022 (ROSES-2022)
Precursors to Pathways: Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories (April 20-22, 2022)
ExEP Technology Colloquium: Dr. Gary Blackwood, "Choosing the Future: The Kepner-Tregoe Matrix for Complex Trades" (February 28, 2022, 2pm EST/11am PST)
Exoplanets IV (May 1-6, 2022, Las Vegas, NV)
Emerging Researchers in Exoplanet Science (ERES) VII (August 1-2, 2022, Penn State)
TESS Cycle 5 Pointings Available Now and Proposals Due (March 18, 2022)
CHEOPS Guest Observers Program (AO-3; Deadline March 15, 2022)

+ more

1) ExoPAG Science Interest Group #2: Exoplanet Demographics - Inviting Comments on Draft Report (by March 7, 2022)

“Dear Colleagues

SIG#2 (Science Interest Group #2: Exoplanet Demographics) invites comment on the draft report "Enabling Exoplanet Demographics Studies with Standardized Exoplanet Survey Meta-Data” by March 7th 2022, the end of the community comment period. The report finds that making the suggested exoplanet search and detection meta-data available would greatly enhance the community’s ability to perform robust, reproducible demographics analyses, and make progress on achieving the most important goals identified by the exoplanet and wider astronomical community. We would appreciate your input before we finalize the report.

The report can be found at: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/internal_resources/2108/

Feedback and comments can be emailed to Jessie Christiansen (christia@ipac.caltech.edu)

Best wishes
Jessie Christiansen, on behalf of SIG#2.
Jessie Christiansen (she/hers) | NASA Exoplanet Archive Project Scientist | Caltech/IPAC
Mail Code MR-100 | Pasadena CA 91125
She/her/hers”

2) ExoExplorer Science Series: Leonardo dos Santos (STScI) & Quadry Chance (U Florida) (February 18, 2022, 2pm EST)

Leonardo dos Santos (STScI)

"An open-source framework to plan and interpret observations of atmospheric escape in exoplanets"

Quadry Chance (U Florida)

"Toward a binary probability for every known exoplanet host star: a statistical framework with Gaia"

Connection information, abstracts:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/373/exoexplorer-science-series-leonardo-dos-santos-stsci-quadry-chance-u-florida/

ExoExplorers Science Series talks scheduled for 2022:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/exoexplorers/exoexplorers-events/

3) Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences 2022 (ROSES-2022)

ROSES-2022 Table of Solicited Research Programs (by due date):

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument/cmdocumentid=857810/solicitationId=%7B341BDCCE-1F95-D00C-38B3-D9CB183FFEEB%7D/viewSolicitationDocument=1/Table%202%20ROSES-2022.html

F.3 Exoplanets Research ("XRP"):

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId={0D14DDFD-D4F8-3D3C-0E3C-5C48EA50B512}&path=&method=init

Note new element:

D.16 Astrophysics Decadal Survey Precursor Science (due dates TBD)

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId={916A49FB-D88F-3C76-5B06-6148E6748FE7}&path=&method=init

4) Precursors to Pathways: Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories (April 20-22, 2022)

“Dear Astronomy and Astrophysics community members,

NASA will hold a virtual Precursor Science Workshop April 20-22, 2022, open to the entire community, to engage the community on this new concept. NASA intends to fund precursor science through a new element of ROSES 2022. The Precursor Science research element will fund precursor science investigations for all three great observatories recommended by Astro2020.

The community precursor science discussions will inform the ROSES 2022 call, with details to be released later in September of 2022.

We will post further information on our website (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/astro2020-precursor-sciws1/) and will send updates to this list as relevant.

We look forward to discussing precursor science with you over the next several months!

Wishing you all the best,
Paul Hertz
Director, Astrophysics Division
Science Mission Directorate, NASA HQ"

5) ExEP Technology Colloquium: Dr. Gary Blackwood, "Choosing the Future: The Kepner-Tregoe Matrix for Complex Trades" (February 28, 2022, 2pm EST/11am PST)

"Choosing the Future: The Kepner-Tregoe Matrix for Complex Trades"

Speaker: Dr. Gary Blackwood, Exoplanet Exploration Program Office, JPL/Caltech

Regardless if you’re trying to pick between home options, a new car, a new position/job, or down-selecting between different technical approaches, a good decision-making technique is indispensable. With the release of the 2020 Decadal Survey, NASA’s Astrophysics Division, along with the community, will need to make some important and challenging decisions over the next decade. Come hear Dr. Gary Blackwood (ExEP/JPL) talk about a technique that he has been using for over two decades called the Kepner-Tregoe Matrix (KTM). It was originally developed by Kepner and Tregoe from the Rand Corporation as a tool used to support organizational decision making. The technique is transparent, inclusive, quantitative, and captures risks. Gary has led a number of astrophysics teams through this process recently to make decisions between architectures, including the Lynx mission concept study, the Starshade working group, and the Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Instrument pre-project. Please join us to hear Gary give a tutorial on the KTM that will certainly be used in the years to come.

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/technology/tech_colloquium/

Monday, February 28, 2022

11:00 AM | (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) | 1 hr 30 mins

Meeting number (access code): 2761 265 2289

Meeting password: PrhpQvCP445

Join from the meeting link

https://jpl.webex.com/jpl/j.php?MTID=m3b98bdca15ecb0f90ee482e3151e8574

Join from a video system or application

Dial 27612652289@jpl.webex.com

You can also dial 207.182.190.20 and enter your meeting number.

Join by phone: +1-510-210-8882 USA Toll

Global call-in numbers

Local: 818-35(4-4044)

Toll Free: 844-JPL-WEBX (844-575-9329)

6) Exoplanets IV (May 1-6, 2022, Las Vegas, NV)

https://aas.org/meetings/aastcs9/exoplanets

Upcoming deadlines:

Thu, 24 Feb: Abstract deadline
Wed, 02 Mar: Splinter Meeting proposal deadline
Thu, 10 Mar: Early registration deadline
Fri, 11 Mar: Regular registration begins
Fri, 11 Apr: Hotel reservation deadline
Thu, 14 Apr: Regular registration deadline
Thu, 14 Apr: Presenter registration deadline
Fri, 15 Apr: Late registration begins
Mon, 25 Apr: Last day to register. No Onsite Registration!

7) Emerging Researchers in Exoplanet Science (ERES) VII (August 1-2, 2022, Penn State)

The Emerging Researchers in Exoplanet Science (ERES) conference series is aimed at early career scientists (graduate students, postdocs, advanced undergraduates) to present their research and to network with peers in order to enhance collaboration within the exoplanet community. Researchers of all career stages working in all branches of exoplanetary science and related disciplines are encouraged to attend – though if necessary, preference will be given to early-career participants (undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs) in the participant selection process. Thanks to generous funding from The Heising-Simons Foundation we intend to cover registration fee and travel costs for many of the accepted participants.

Dates: August 1-2, 2022, at Penn State University in State College, PA (*).

(*) NOTE: Subject to COVID restrictions, we may host a welcome/networking reception on July 31st, 2022.

Registration and abstract submission are now open!

https://forms.gle/Fgni5iiDvybvtbPf6

Deadline: April 15, 2022 11:59pm ET (for Abstract and Travel-Support Submission).

Please contact l-eres-2022-questions@lists.psu.edu if you have any questions or concerns.

For more information visit: https://sites.psu.edu/eres2022/registration/

8) TESS Cycle 5 Pointings Available Now and Proposals Due (March 18, 2022)

TESS Cycle 5 Call for Proposals:
https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=%7b5032D2F8-F5DF-692A-8E7C-15A801B08DE1%7d&path=&method=init
TESS Cycle 5 Pointings:
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/tess/second-extended.html
Web TESS Viewing Tool (WTV)
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/tess/webtess/wtv.py
TESS Science Support Center Website:
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/tess/proposing-investigations.html

9) CHEOPS Guest Observers Program (AO-3; Deadline March 15, 2022)

"Dear Colleagues,

I’d like to draw your attention to the Third Announcement of Opportunity (AO-3) for participation in ESA’s CHEOPS Guest Observers Programme. AO-3 solicits proposals for observations to be carried out in the period 1 July 2022 to 24 September 2023 and is open to scientists worldwide. The AO is now open, will be the last in the nominal mission.

Click here (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/cheops-guest-observers-programme/ao-3) for full details, including the Policies and Procedures document (master document for the AO), and all tools/manuals/information needed to prepare and submit observing proposals.

These two presentations provide an introduction to the CHEOPS mission and its capabilities (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/cheops-guest-observers-programme/is-cheops-for-you-).

The deadline for submission of proposals is 12:00 hrs GMT/13:00 hrs CET on 15 March 2022.

Please send any questions to cheops-support@cosmos.esa.int

Best wishes,
Kate Isaak
ESA CHEOPS Project Scientist
(kate.isaak@esa.int)"

ExoPAG News and Announcements (February 11, 2022)

ExoExplorer Science Series: Leonardo dos Santos (STScI) & Quadry Chance (U Florida) (February 18, 2022, 2pm EST)
TESS AAS Splinter Session (February 16, 2022)
TESS Cycle 5 Pointings Available Now and Proposals Due (March 18, 2022)

+ more

1) ExoExplorer Science Series: Leonardo dos Santos (STScI) & Quadry Chance (U Florida) (February 18, 2022, 2pm EST)

Leonardo dos Santos (STScI)
"An open-source framework to plan and interpret observations of atmospheric escape in exoplanets"

Quadry Chance (U Florida)
"Toward a binary probability for every known exoplanet host star: a statistical framework with Gaia"

Connection information, abstracts:
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/373/exoexplorer-science-series-leonardo-dos-santos-stsci-quadry-chance-u-florida/
ExoExplorers Science Series talks scheduled for 2022:
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/exoexplorers/exoexplorers-events/

2) TESS AAS Splinter Session (February 16, 2022)

Join us on February 16, 2022 from 2:00pm-4:00pm ET (11:00am-1:00pm PT) for our virtual TESS AAS Splinter Session! This session was originally slated to take place at the AAS meeting in Salt Lake City. With the cancellation of that meeting, we have converted this session to be virtual. The agenda is below. You can find some further details online, including the Zoom link to join the meeting:

https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/tess/tess-aas-splinter-session.html

3) TESS Cycle 5 Pointings Available Now and Proposals Due (March 18, 2022)

TESS Cycle 5 Call for Proposals:
https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=%7b5032D2F8-F5DF-692A-8E7C-15A801B08DE1%7d&path=&method=init
TESS Cycle 5 Pointings:
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/tess/second-extended.html
Web TESS Viewing Tool (WTV)
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/tess/webtess/wtv.py
TESS Science Support Center Website:
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/tess/proposing-investigations.html

ExoPAG News and Announcements (February 7, 2022)

NASA Astrophysics Town Hall Recording and Q&A Available
CAPS Study: Call for Community Input Standards of Evidence for Life Detection (Input Deadline February 18, 2022)
2022 Exoplanet Summer Program at the Other Worlds Laboratory, UC Santa Cruz (June 27-July 22, 2022)
Cool Stars 21 Splinter Session Surrounding Extremely Precise Radial Velocities (Deadline May 1, 2022; Session July 5, 2022)
Sunspot Solar Observatory Seeking Partners to Lead Sun as a Star Projects Using the Dunn Solar Telescope

+ more

1) NASA Astrophysics Town Hall Recording and Q&A Available

The NASA Town Hall planned for the AAS Winter Meeting took place virtually on Tuesday 11 January 2022. The Town Hall featured a Keynote presentation from NASA Astrophysics Division Director Paul Hertz, with an update on the status of NASA Astrophysics in light of the release of the Astro2020 Pathways to Discovery Decadal Survey (https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/decadal-survey-on-astronomy-and-astrophysics-2020-astro2020).

A recording of the Town Hall is now available, as well as the presentation slides, and answers to questions submitted via the chat and the pre-meeting Dashboard. All the above files may be found on the Division’s AAS Winter Meeting webpage (https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/events-at-aas239), under “NASA Town Hall”. This page also contains detailed information on other virtual sessions held in lieu of originally planned AAS sessions.

2) CAPS Study: Call for Community Input Standards of Evidence for Life Detection (Input Deadline February 18, 2022)

Dear Community,

The field of astrobiology has reached a point where framework and organization are needed to serve the science. NASA recently issued a call to action to the scientific community involved in life detection research to seek new levels of collaboration in how results are characterized and communicated, organized around standards of evidence. More so than continued ad hoc results, a clear system is needed that defines the confidence in those results and shines a light on next steps to progress them toward confirmation of life on another world.

Led by the Network for Life Detection, a community-based workshop was held in 2021 to advance thinking about such a system, and how it might be implemented in our work as astrobiologists. The draft white paper from the workshop can be accessed here.

Now, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science (CAPS) is involved in reviewing the draft white paper from the workshop, and seeks additional input from all stakeholders. If you would like to offer input, attributed or anonymous, please use this form and submit by February 18th:

CAPS COMMUNITY INPUT FORM:

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6688330/CAPS-Biosignature-Standards-of-Evidence-White-Paper-Review-Community-Input-Form

The deadline to submit input to the Committee is on Friday, February 18, 2022, after which this form will be closed.

3) 2022 Exoplanet Summer Program at the Other Worlds Laboratory, UC Santa Cruz (June 27-July 22, 2022)

“The Other Worlds Laboratory (OWL) at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) announces the fourth Exoplanet Summer Program (ESP), from June 27-July 22, 2022. Within the program we wish to foster new and existing research collaborations by outstanding visitors, with stays of 1 to 4 weeks. Funding is provided by the Heising-Simons Foundation.

https://owl.ucsc.edu/summer/

Program: The purpose of the program is to allow visitors to generate new ideas, nurture existing research projects and collaborations, and foster new ones. There is no theme or focus area -- in this fast-moving exoplanets field we want the participants to drive the discussion and work on areas they feel is most pressing and exciting. The ESP program is modest in terms of planned activities, besides a daily coffee and a seminar with active discussion. It is not a conference, and is mostly unstructured. It is a workshop to imagine and make progress on new ideas. Participants can expect access to shared offices on campus, discussion common areas, and of course immersion in Santa Cruz’s natural beauty.

Eligibility: Faculty, researchers, postdocs, and graduate students at any level are invited to apply. We expect to fully reimburse travel expenses for faculty, postdocs, and graduate student participants. We are particularly interested in supporting researchers from backgrounds and from regions of the world that are underrepresented in exoplanetary sciences today.

Apply: Please send a 2-page PDF that clearly covers the following areas:

The science that you would like to accomplish while in Santa Cruz, the proposed dates of your stay, and the science connections that you see with faculty, researchers, or students within the OWL.
Please also include a CV of up to 2 pages.
Graduate students should also arrange for a brief supporting letter from their PhD advisor.

The current roster of planetary investigators and research at UC Santa Cruz can be found at https://owl.ucsc.edu/summer/. We particularly welcome joint applications by small groups wishing to work together on projects. All application materials should be e-mailed to owlsummer2022@gmail.com.

Information: UC Santa Cruz has a campus vaccination requirement, and, currently, an indoor masking requirement. We will make future appropriate COVID-related safety decisions based on the state of pandemic in June 2022. On-campus housing is available for OWL Summer visitors. Please contact OWL administrative assistant Naomi Epps by e-mail at owlsummer2022@gmail.com, with additional questions about the ESP program.

Best wishes,
Jonathan Fortney”

4) Cool Stars 21 Splinter Session Surrounding Extremely Precise Radial Velocities (Deadline May 1, 2022; Session July 5, 2022)

Dear colleagues,

We are happy to announce our Cool Stars 21 splinter session surrounding extremely precise radial velocities: "Characterising stellar activity in the era of extreme radial velocity surveys of low-mass planets orbiting F-M stars", Toulouse, 5th July 2022.

During this splinter session, we will focus on the spectroscopic manifestation of stellar variability, covering a large range of spectral types (F-M), where similar processes are present but with different relative impacts on radial velocities. We will also focus on attempting to significantly improve our understanding of RV variability to enable the detection of very low-mass planets. We welcome abstracts for contributed talks (deadline 1st May 2022) and/or expressions of interest. The form can be found on the website below. We encourage students and early-career researchers to submit an abstract.

Website: https://cs21-eprv.sciencesconf.org/
Contact: cs21-eprv@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr

Best Regards,
N. Meunier, X. Delfosse, A. Mortier, C. Watson, R. Haywood, H. Cegla

Nadège Meunier
Astronome Institut de planétologie et d'astrophysique de Grenoble, Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble BP53, 414 rue de la piscine, 38041 Grenoble Cedex
Tel: (33)4 76 63 55 29"

5) Sunspot Solar Observatory Seeking Partners to Lead Sun as a Star Projects Using the Dunn Solar Telescope

Sunspot Solar Observatory is seeking partners to lead Sun as a Star projects using the Dunn Solar Telescope. We have already started a project to provide wide coverage optical spectroscopy mapping out multiple solar features at multiple viewing angles, both during quiet Sun and solar flares. We are now interested in opportunities to work with new partners to design, collect data, and acquire joint funding for new multi-year projects, where we can run the solar telescope in a full disk mode to

collect data that can assist with stellar decontamination for EPRV measurement
collect data that can assist with asteroseismology studies

We will collect Expressions of Interest until 30 March 2022. This 1-page document should be sent to Dr McAteer (mcateer@nmsu.edu) and include a brief discussion of the science goals, telescope time that may be required, and a brief description of potential funding streams that we could approach jointly.

ExoPAG News and Announcements (January 27, 2022)

Call for Nominations to the Executive Committee of the Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) (*Deadline Extended to January 31, 2022*)
Updated ExEP Science Gap List 2022
2022 Exoplanet Explorers (ExoExplorers) Science Series
Precursors to Pathways: Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories (April 20-22, 2022)
ExoPAG 26: Save the Date (June 11-12, 2022; Pasadena, before AAS240) and Presentations from ExoPAG 25
New Science Analysis Group (SAG) on Exozodi and Debris Disks (Call for Participation by February 11, 2022)
Job Announcement: NASA Astrophysics Division Director (Deadline to Apply: March 21, 2022)
Astrophysics Probe Announcement of Opportunity Community Announcement
Workshop: Debris Discs: At Home and Abroad (August 29-September 2, 2022; Jena, Germany)

+ more

1) Call for Nominations to the Executive Committee of the Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) (*Deadline Extended to January 31, 2022*)

"Dear Colleagues:

The Astrophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is pleased to issue this open call for nominations to serve on the Executive Committee (EC) of NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG). In the coming months, NASA anticipates making four new appointments to the ExoPAG EC, replacing three to four current members of the committee who have reached the end of their appointments. New appointments will start in the Spring of 2022 and will be for a period of three years.

The ExoPAG is an open, interdisciplinary forum that provides a conduit for community input into NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP, http://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/), and for conducting analyses in support of ExEP science objectives and their implications for planning and prioritization of Program activities. The ExoPAG is led by a Chairperson drawn from the membership of the Astrophysics Advisory Committee (APAC), and a volunteer Executive Committee, whose membership is chosen to reflect the broad range of scientific disciplines and interests represented in the field of exoplanet exploration. Together, the ExoPAG Chair and Executive Committee are responsible for capturing and organizing community input, overseeing ExoPAG analyses, reporting ExoPAG findings and inputs to the Astrophysics Division Director, and keeping the scientific community apprised of ongoing activities and opportunities within NASA’s ExEP. Detailed information about the structure and function of the ExoPAG, including the current and past membership of the EC, can be found at http://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exopag.

Nominations for the ExoPAG EC should be submitted via email to the address: hannah.jang-condell@nasa.gov. Nominations must include both a cover letter and a one-page CV summarizing the nominee’s relevant background. The cover letter should provide a description of the nominee’s area of expertise, qualifications for service, and anticipated contributions to the ExoPAG Executive Committee. Nominations will only be accepted for scientists who reside at a U.S. institution for the period of the service. There are no citizenship restrictions. Nominations from individuals at academic institutions— university, college, or non-NASA research laboratory—are strongly encouraged. Self-nominations are welcome. The deadline for nominations is January 31, 2022, with announcement of selections anticipated in April 2022. Selections will be announced by the ExoPAG mailing list (http://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/announcementList).

We look forward to working with all of our stakeholders to develop a robust and compelling Exoplanet Exploration Program.

Sincerely,
Dr. Hannah Jang-Condell, NASA Headquarters
Deputy Exoplanet Exploration Program Scientist, ExoPAG Executive Secretary"

2) Updated ExEP Science Gap List 2022

The ExEP Science Gap List (SGL) identifies science investigations that would advance NASA's exoplanet exploration goals, including the definition of future missions and maximizing the science return of missions currently operating. A new 2022 version of the SGL has been prepared by the Program Scientists and is now available for download at the link below. We thank the many members of the community and the ExoPAG Executive Committee for their thoughtful inputs which helped improve this document over the prior version.

ExEP Program Science page (home to latest ExEP Science Plan documents):

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/science-overview/

ExEP Science Gap List 2022:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/system/internal_resources/details/original/2146_ExEP_Science_Gap_List_2022.pdf

A presentation on the update of the ExEP Science Gap List was given by ExEP Program Chief Scientist Karl Stapelfeldt at ExoPAG 25 on January 12, 2022:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/internal_resources/2130_ExoPAG_25_20220110_1230_SGL_update.pdf

3) 2022 Exoplanet Explorers (ExoExplorers) Science Series

The ExoPAG is pleased to announce the continuation of the ExoExplorers Science Series, which will highlight the research of the 2022 ExoExplorers cohort.

The Exoplanet Explorers (ExoExplorers) Science Series, sponsored by the ExoPAG Executive Committee and by NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program, aims to enable the professional development of a cohort of graduate students and postdocs (“ExoExplorers”) in exoplanet research. The 2022 ExoExplorer cohort features 12 early career researchers, whose talks will be live and open to the entire exoplanet community.

The first presentations were held online on January 21st featuring Munazza Alam (Carnegie EPL; “The First Near-Infrared Transmission Spectrum of HIP 41378 f, a Low-Mass Temperate Jovian World in a Multi-Planet System”) and Matt Clement (Carnegie EPL; “Solar and extra-solar terrestrial planet formation: The bleak prospects for habitability around the smallest stars”). Presentations will be posted to the presentation page as soon as they are available (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/exoexplorers/exoexplorers-presentations/).

Future presentations will occur monthly, from 11a-12p Pacific / 2-3p Eastern and will include:

February 18th: Leonardo dos Santos (STScI) & Quadry Chance (U Florida)
March 18th: Romy Rodriguez Martinez (Ohio State) & Eckhart Spalding (Notre Dame)
April 15th: Julia Seidel (ESO) & Briley Lewis (UCLA)
May 20th: Alison Farrish (GSFC) & Kiersten Boley (Ohio State)
June 17th: Aaron Carter (UCSC) & Aida Behmard (Caltech)

For connection details, upcoming talk titles, and more information about the ExoExplorers program, please visit the program website at: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/exoexplorers

and join our mailing list by following the instructions at:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/exoexplorers/exoexplorers-announcements/

4) Precursors to Pathways: Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories (April 20-22, 2022)

“Dear Astronomy and Astrophysics community members,

The community precursor science discussions will inform the ROSES 2022 call, with details to be released later in September of 2022.

We will post further information on our website (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/astro2020-precursor-sciws1/) and will send updates to this list as relevant.

We look forward to discussing precursor science with you over the next several months!

Wishing you all the best,
Paul Hertz
Director, Astrophysics Division
Science Mission Directorate, NASA HQ"

5) ExoPAG 26: Save the Date (June 11-12, 2022; Pasadena, before AAS240) and Presentations from ExoPAG 25

The next meeting of ExoPAG (ExoPAG 26) will be held in Pasadena, CA immediately before the 240th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS240; https://aas.org/meetings/aas240) on Saturday June 11 and Sunday June 12, 2022.

Presentations from ExoPAG 25, held virtually January 10-12, 2022 are now posted at:
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/359/exopag-25-virtual-meeting/

6) New Science Analysis Group (SAG) on Exozodi and Debris Disks (Call for Participation by February 11, 2022)

"Dear ExoPAG Community,

At the recent ExoPAG 25 meeting, I presented a proposal for a new Science Analysis Group (SAG) on Exozodi and Debris Disks (https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/internal_resources/2122_ExoPAG_25_20220110_1620_Debes.pdf). The goal of the SAG is to analyze recent advances in our understanding of warm dust in the Solar System as well as around nearby stars, in order to improve assessment of the impact of such emission on future exoplanet direct imaging missions as envisioned by the Astro 2020 Decadal Survey. Additionally, the SAG will analyze how the study of such dust will lead to a better understanding of the dynamical and chemical history of terrestrial planet forming regions. The draft terms of reference for the proposed SAG is located at (https://stsci.box.com/v/ExoPAGSAGToR).

The ExoPAG EC is looking for expressions of interest from the exoplanet community to serve as part of the leadership team for this SAG. In the near term, that team will finalize the SAG terms of reference and submit them to the Astrophysics Division for approval. If they are approved, the leadership team will then organize this community effort, oversee its execution, and be responsible for making sure that a final report is submitted. Anyone interested in participating in this leadership effort or in joining the SAG in the hope it is approved should fill out this Google Form (https://forms.gle/5DF2UoPNQiGZeDmr8) by Feb. 11. After approval of the SAG, we will issue another call for community participation.

Best wishes,
John Debes
(on behalf of the ExoPAG EC)"

7) Job Announcement: NASA Astrophysics Division Director (Deadline to Apply: March 21, 2022)

Overview:

NASA leads the nation on a great journey of discovery, seeking new knowledge and understanding of our planet Earth, our Sun and solar system, and the universe out to its farthest reaches and back to its earliest moments of existence. The Science Mission Directorate (SMD) at NASA Headquarters is seeking a qualified individual to serve as the Director of the Astrophysics Division. The goal of the Astrophysics Division is to seek to understand the universe and our place in it.

Duties:

Reports directly to the SMD Associate Administrator (AA) and provides support in determining and presenting the Astrophysics Program to NASA senior management, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Executive Office stakeholders, and Congress.
Supports the AA in partnership with other SMD Directors in providing the overall guidance, strategy, focus advocacy, and budget for NASA's Science Program. The Astrophysics Division has an annual budget of around $1.6 billion dollars.
Leads a division of approximately 35 people, including scientists, engineers, and administrative professionals who help plan and manage NASA's Astrophysics Program, consistent with and leveraging interagency and international activities.
Provides scientific and technical leadership required to guide implementation of relevant activities and flight projects at the NASA Field Centers, other Government research laboratories, academia, and private industry.
Formulates future programs, develops a strategy for their implementation which is consistent with available resources, and establishes the feasibility of the flight mission portfolio, all in conjunction with a robust research and analysis program.
Ensures an effective and innovative portfolio of research and technology activities; serves as a liaison with the science communities through advisory committees and the National Academies of Sciences; communicates science results to the public.
Promotes diversity and inclusiveness within the workplace, within NASA appointed teams and committees, and within the science community.
Responsible for all aspects of organizational management, including selection of employees, assignment of duties, evaluation of performance, planning of training, and recommendation of awards, promotions, discipline and adverse actions.

How to Apply:

All applications for this position must be submitted at the following URL: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/628265700/. This web page contains full details of the eligibility requirements and submission process. Potential applicants should note that the required narratives for Senior Executive Service positions are lengthy, and so NASA encourages individuals to plan well in advance of the deadline.

Deadline: The deadline for applications is March 21, 2022.

Inquiries: Inquiries about this position may be sent to Dr. Daniel Evans, Asst. Dep. AA for Research, Science Mission Directorate, NASA (email: daniel.a.evans@nasa.gov)

8) Astrophysics Probe Announcement of Opportunity Community Announcement

https://explorers.larc.nasa.gov/2023APPROBE/

The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has released a Community Announcement www.SAM.gov notice ID NNH22ZDA008L concerning its intention to solicit investigations for the Astrophysics Probe Program.

The National Academies’ 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (https://www.nap.edu/catalog/26141/pathways-to-discovery-in-astronomy-and-astrophysics-for-the-2020s), recommends probe missions to be competed in broad areas identified as important to accomplish the survey’s scientific goals. For the coming decade, the Decadal Survey recommends a far-infrared mission or an X-ray mission designed to complement the European Space Agency (ESA’s) Athena mission.

Current planning calls for NASA SMD to release an Astrophysics Probe Announcement of Opportunity (AO) in January 2023 to solicit proposals for the Astrophysics Probe. The planned selection process has two steps. In Step 1, it is anticipated that approximately two or three mission proposals may be selected for nine-month Phase A concept studies. Each Probe concept study could be funded up to $5M in real year dollars. For Step 2, NASA will conduct a review of the Phase A concept study reports. As a result of this second evaluation, NASA expects to select one mission to proceed into Phase B and subsequent mission phases. A draft Astrophysics Probe AO is expected to be released for comment in June 2022 through the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) at https://nspires.nasaprs.com/.

The policies in this special notice or community announcement are estimated as among those having the most significant impact on proposers’ preparing responses to the AO. NASA will consider feedback to this announcement as part of the ongoing AO preparation process to refine these and other policies.

Mission Themes: Responses to the Astrophysics Probe AO will be limited to one of the two mission themes recommended by the Decadal Survey. These areas are

A far infrared imaging or spectroscopy mission, and
An X-ray probe to complement ESA’s Athena Observatory.

Proposals must be responsive to the preponderance of the mission theme's objectives as provided in Sections 7.5.3.2 through 7.5.3.4 of the Decadal Survey.

Cost Cap: The PI-Managed Mission Cost (PIMMC) for an Astrophysics Probe mission is expected to be capped at $1 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2023 dollars, not including any contributions, the cost of AO-provided access to space, or any General Observer (GO)/Guest Investigator (GI) program costs. NASA will provide standard launch services on a single launch vehicle outside the cost capped PIMMC. PI-provided alternative access to space may not be proposed.

Access to Space: The cost of standard launch services will be the responsibility of NASA. A standard launch performance capability will be defined and provided without charge to the PIMMC. The standard launch performance capability will be consistent with an intermediate class Commercial Launch Vehicle. The cost of mission specific and special launch services, such as for a higher performance launch vehicle, will be charged against the PIMMC.

Science Investigations and Data: (1) A pointed observatory will have the bulk of its observing time made available to the community for General Observers (GO). The NASA-managed GO program will be funded outside of the PIMMC. The PI-led science team will conduct science investigation(s) with a limited amount of Guaranteed Time Observing (GTO); the PI-led science investigations will be funded within the PIMMC. (2) A survey observatory will have all of its survey data made available to the community for Guest Investigators (GI). The NASA-managed GI program will be funded outside of the PIMMC. The PI-led science team will conduct science investigation(s) with the survey data; the PI-led science investigations will be funded within the PIMMC. (3) All data will be made public as soon as practical through a NASA-managed astrophysics data archive. There is no limited data use period, even for pointed data.

Contributions: Contributions, including contributions from foreign partners, are welcome and will not be counted against the PIMMC, but the value of such contributions is constrained. The sum of contributions of any kind to the entirety of the investigation is not to exceed one-third (1/3) of the proposed PIMMC, and the value of contributions to the science payload may not exceed one-third (1/3) of the payload.

Additional Opportunities: Proposals for Student Collaborations are welcome but optional, and their evaluation is deferred to the Step-2 mission concept study. Proposals for Science Enhancement Options other than GO/GI programs are welcome but optional, and their evaluation is deferred to the Step-2 mission concept study. Proposals for Technology Demonstrations are not solicited.

The current Astrophysics Probe Program planning budget is sufficient to select and execute one Astrophysics Probe mission.

Proposals in response to the forthcoming Astrophysics Probe AO will be due not less than 90 days after its final release. Participation will be open to all categories of U.S. and non-U.S. organizations, including educational institutions, industry, not-for-profit organizations, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers, NASA Centers, and other Government agencies. Participation by NASA Centers must be consistent with NASA’s Center Roles policies.

The schedule for the solicitation is intended to be:

Release of this special notice: January 2022
Release of draft AO: June 2022 (target)
Release of final AO: January 2023 (target)
Preproposal conference: ~ 3 weeks after final AO release
Proposals due: 90 days after AO release
Selection for competitive Phase A studies: Early 2024 (target)
Concept study reports due: Late 2024 (target)
Down-selection: Mid 2025 (target)

The Astrophysics Probe AO may contain provisions that differ substantially from this special notice, in which case the provisions in the AO will take precedence. The Astrophysics Probe AO will currently be based on the SMD Standard PI-led Mission AO Template available at http://soma.larc.nasa.gov/standardao/sao_templates.html. However, proposers must read carefully the Draft and Final Astrophysics Probe AO when they are released on NSPIRES, as things may be revised.

NASA has not approved the issuance of the Astrophysics Probe AO and this notification does not obligate NASA to issue the AO and solicit proposals. Any costs incurred by prospective investigators in preparing submissions in response to this notification or the planned Draft Astrophysics Probe AO are incurred completely at the submitter's own risk.

Further information, as it becomes available, will be posted on the Astrophysics Probe Acquisition website athttps://explorers.larc.nasa.gov/2023APPROBE/. Questions and feedback on the policies in this notice are due by March 15, 2022, in order to be considered as a part of the development of the Draft AO and may be addressed by email with “Astrophysics Probe” in the subject header to Dr. Patricia Knezek, Astrophysics Probe Program Lead Scientist, Astrophysics Division, patricia.m.knezek@nasa.gov. Questions and feedback will be acknowledged, and responses to inquiries will be posted at the Questions and Answers (Q&A) location on the Astrophysics Probe Acquisition website. Anonymity of persons or institutions submitting questions will be preserved.

9) Workshop: Debris Discs: At Home and Abroad (August 29-September 2, 2022; Jena, Germany)

We are happy to announce a small workshop on "Debris discs: At Home and Abroad". The workshop will be held in Jena, Germany, from 29 August to 2 September 2022. Room capacities limit the attendance to about 50 participants.

https://www.astro.uni-jena.de/~ddha2022/

The meeting is part of the series "Current and future trends in debris disc science". Following the spirit of the previous very stimulating meetings (Victoria 2018, Budapest 2019, virtual EAS 2021), the goal is to strengthen collaboration and discussion among scientists working on extrasolar and solar debris discs. Most importantly, this workshop is aimed at inspiring and intensifying the dialogue between researchers using various approaches – observations, theory, and laboratory studies. Students and postdocs are encouraged to present their results and to use the opportunity to learn more about the main questions and most recent results.

The workshop is neutral in terms of funding. This implies that no registration fee is charged and that no financial support is offered to the participants. In exceptional cases, the organisers will try to arrange some support from the funds provided to us by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the meeting organization.

Registration and abstract submission: open from January 2022 to May 2022
Final announcement: August 2022
Workshop: 28 August to 2 September 2022

ExoPAG News and Announcements (January 6, 2022)

ExoPAG 25 ***UPDATED Dates/Times/Agenda*** (January 10-11-12, 2022)
NASA Astrophysics Virtual Town Hall (January 11, 2022; 2:45pm EST)
Call for Nominations to the Executive Committee of the Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) (Deadline January 21, 2022)
Exoplanet Early Career Highlight Seminar (January 13-14, 2022)
The Next Generation Mid/Far-IR Space Missions – Formulating a European Perspective (***RESCHEDULED*** to January 19-21, 2022; Paris)

+ more

1) ExoPAG 25 *** UPDATED Dates/Times/Agenda *** (January 10-11-12, 2022)

The revised agenda and connection information for ExoPAG 25 is in an attached PDF and on the website: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/359/exopag-25-virtual-meeting/

Monday (Jan. 10th) and Wednesday (Jan. 12th) will feature a mix of ExoPAG updates (SIGs and SAGs), NASA ExEP programmatic talks, and exoplanet science talks. Both days start at 12:00pm EST/9:00am PST.

Tuesday (Jan. 11th) now features an "Overview of Astro2020 from an Exoplanet Perspective" presentation by Keivan Stassun and Bruce Macintosh (1:00pm EST/10:00am PST), followed by a moderated ExoPAG discussion on Astro2020. This will be followed by the NASA Astrophysics Town Hall Meeting with a keynote presentation from APD Division Director Paul Hertz (2:45pm-4:15pm EST/11:45am-1:15pm PST; see 2nd news item).

Many thanks to the ExoPAG speakers and panelists who were able to accommodate the shuffling of the agenda on short notice.

2) NASA Astrophysics Virtual Town Hall (January 11, 2022; 2:45pm EST)

The NASA Astrophysics Town Hall that was to be held during the AAS winter meeting in Salt Lake City will take place as a WebEx session at the originally scheduled time, Tuesday January 11 at 12:45 MST (14:45 EST). Links to the WebEx and a platform for questions of the Division Director in advance of the Town Hall appear below.

The Q&A portal is: https://nasa.cnf.io/sessions/nkqc/#!/dashboard

The WebEx information is:

https://nasaenterprise.webex.com/nasaenterprise/j.php?MTID=me46dc0470a814121ac58be323d46134a
Tuesday, Jan 11, 2022, 2:45 pm (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada) | Duration 90 minutes |
Meeting number: 2763 383 2584
Password: NASAapd21$

Join by video system

Dial 27633832584@nasaenterprise.webex.com
You can also dial 207.182.190.20 and enter your meeting number.

Join by phone

+1-929-251-9612 USA Toll 2
+1-415-527-5035 US Toll
Access code: 276 338 32584

3) Call for Nominations to the Executive Committee of the Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) (Deadline January 21, 2022)

"Dear Colleagues:

The Astrophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is pleased to issue this open call for nominations to serve on the Executive Committee (EC) of NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG). In the coming months, NASA anticipates making four new appointments to the ExoPAG EC, replacing three to four current members of the committee who have reached the end of their appointments. New appointments will start in the Spring of 2022 and will be for a period of three years.

Nominations for the ExoPAG EC should be submitted via email to the address: hannah.jang-condell@nasa.gov. Nominations must include both a cover letter and a one-page CV summarizing the nominee’s relevant background. The cover letter should provide a description of the nominee’s area of expertise, qualifications for service, and anticipated contributions to the ExoPAG Executive Committee. Nominations will only be accepted for scientists who reside at a U.S. institution for the period of the service. There are no citizenship restrictions. Nominations from individuals at academic institutions— university, college, or non-NASA research laboratory—are strongly encouraged. Self-nominations are welcome. The deadline for nominations is January 21, 2022, with announcement of selections anticipated in April 2022. Selections will be announced by the ExoPAG mailing list (http://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/exopag/announcementList).

We look forward to working with all of our stakeholders to develop a robust and compelling Exoplanet Exploration Program.

Sincerely,
Dr. Hannah Jang-Condell, NASA Headquarters
Deputy Exoplanet Exploration Program Scientist, ExoPAG Executive Secretary"

4) Exoplanet Early Career Highlight Seminar (January 13-14, 2022)

Exoplanet Early Career Highlight Seminar (Virtual)

Thursday, January 13, 2022, 11:00am EST - 5:30pm EST
Friday, January 14, 2022, 11:00am EST - 5:30pm EST
Agenda: http://champs.jhuapl.edu/Seminar-Series/Agenda/index.php?id=2

Due to the cancellation of the in-person 239th AAS meeting in January 2022, the CHAMPs (Consortium on Habitability and Atmospheres of M-dwarf Planets) ICAR (Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research) team is hosting a two-day seminar to highlight the research accomplishments of early career exoplanet astronomers.

To sign up to get updates on the event please visit: http://champs.jhuapl.edu/Seminar-Series/

and register at: http://champs.jhuapl.edu/Seminar-Series/register.php?id=2.

Connection information will only be sent to registered participants.

5) The Next Generation Mid/Far-IR Space Missions – Formulating a European Perspective (***RESCHEDULED*** to January 19-21, 2022; Paris)

An update to the workshop "The Next Generation Mid/Far-IR Space Missions – Formulating a European Perspective" listed in the December 26, 2021 ExoPAGannounce email:

"In light of the recent ESA call for Medium-size (M7) and Fast (F) mission proposals the SOC has made the decision to reorient and reschedule the workshop. The workshop has now been brought forward to January, in order to discuss potential next generation mid/far-IR space missions well in advance of the ESA M7/F Phase-1 proposal deadline of 14 February 2022. The workshop is open to the global community interested in mid/far-IR space astrophysics.

The workshop will take place as a fully online meeting during 19 - 21 January 2022. The SOC thanks everyone who had already saved the original dates, and we very much hope that you will be able to make the new dates. The scope of the workshop has been revised in order to make this workshop as useful a forum as possible, for potential proposers and the general community alike."

The workshop website has moved to: https://spaceir.sciencesconf.org/

ExoPAG News and Announcements (January 3, 2022)

ExoPAG 25 will be virtual and has been rescheduled
NASA Astrophysics Town Hall

+ more

1) ExoPAG 25 will be virtual and has been rescheduled to:

Monday, January 10, 2022: 12:00-5:00pm EST/9:00am-2:00pm PST
Wednesday, January 12, 2022: 12:00-5:00pm EST/9:00am-2:00pm PST

The exact start and end times are "to be confirmed".

The agenda is being modified to reflect the new times, and will be soon posted to the ExoPAG 25 site:

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/events/359/exopag-25-virtual-meeting/

As the dates are new and the times will need to be adjusted slightly to split the sessions over the two days, ExoPAG speakers and panelists should bring any schedule constraints/conflicts to our attention as soon as possible.

2) NASA Astrophysics Town Hall

The NASA Astrophysics Town Hall featuring a keynote presentation from NASA Astrophysics Division Director Paul Hertz (who will be providing an update on the status of NASA Astrophysics in light of the release of the Astro2020 Pathways to Discovery Decadal Survey) is scheduled for:

Tuesday, January 11, 2022: 2:45pm EST/12:45pm MST/11:45pm PST

“Dear NASA Astrophysics Community Member,

You are invited to a special Town Hall meeting featuring a keynote presentation from NASA Astrophysics Division Director Paul Hertz. This presentation will feature an update on the status of NASA Astrophysics in light of the release of the Astro2020 Pathways to Discovery Decadal Survey.

This meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 11 January 2022, 12:45 pm MST (the same date and time of the Town Hall meeting that was originally scheduled as part of the American Astronomical Society meeting).

This meeting will take place online via WebEx. Questions can be submitted in advance.

This is a save-the-date announcement. Further details will be provided.

Warm regards,
Peter
(on behalf of organizers at NASA HQ and in the three Program Offices)