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Science Committee Presentation to NAC Plenary

October 16, 2008

Jack BurnsBrad Jolliff

Mark RobinsonByron Tapley

Owen Garriott*Charles Kennel

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Owen makes his apologies…

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Astrophysics Recent Results

Swift has found the most distant gamma-ray burst ever detected. The blast, designated GRB 080913, arose from an exploding star 12.8 billion light-years away. The burst occurred less than 825 million years after the universe began.

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The first all-sky view taken by Fermi (GLAST) reveals bright emission in plane of the Milky Way (center). bright pulsars and super-massive black holes.

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MESSENGER 2nd Mercury Encounter

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Planetary Science SubcommitteeOct 2008

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Under Study

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Solar Storms from Hinode

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Arctic Sea Ice Extent

Arctic sea ice coverage reached its lowest extent for the year and the second-lowest amount recorded since the dawn of the satellite era, according to observations from the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Daily Arctic sea ice extent for September 12, 2008, where the date of this year's minimum (white) is overlaid on September 16, 2007, last year's minimum extent (dark gray). Light gray shading indicates the region where ice occurred in both 2007 and 2008. Blue is open water; and mask is gray.

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A Busy Time for Science at NASA

THEMIS

AIM

Phoenix

Dawn

GLAST

IBEX

OSTM

CINDI

TWINS-B

Chandrayaan 1

SDO

NPP

Aquarius

ST-7

2007 2008 2009 2010

NASA Mission on STS

DoD Mission with Substantial NASA Contribution

International Mission with Substantial NASA Contribution

Joint NASA - International Partner Mission

Reimbursable for NOAA

2011

Juno

NuSTAR

GRAIL

LADEE

LWS SET-1

20132012

RBSP

LDCM

SMAP

SMEX

MAVEN

ILN 1/2

SMAP

JWST

GPM Core

ExoMars

NeXT

As of 10/1/08

MMS

ICESat II

GPM Const

Discovery

Venture 1

2014

= Successfully launched to date

* = Early science flight

NASA Mission on US ELV

JDEM

SMEX

Solar Orbiter

2015

Discovery

New Frontiers

Mars 2016

Venture 2

2016

ESMD mission with SMD participation

LRO/LCROSS

OCO

Glory

MSL

WISE

Kepler

SOFIA*

HST SM-4

GOES-O

GOES-P

NOAA-N’

Herschel

Planck

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Major Meeting Features & Topics• Invited participation from NAC Science Subcommittee Chairs and

corresponding SMD Division Directors

• SMD Overview by SMD Associate Administrator, Ed Weiler

• Will feature one science area in each of the next several meetings. This time: Earth Science

– ESS Chair/Daniel Jacobs, ESD Director/Mike Freilich, ES Techology Office Director/George Komar

• Worked on Transition white paper

• With the Space Ops Committee, heard a briefing on Space Communications and Navigation (ScAN) by SOMD Deputy AA / Badri Younes

• Reviewed Subcommittee recommendations

• Reviewed Mars Science Laboratory status with SMD Planetary Science Director/Jim Green

• Received briefing on LEAG’s Lunar Goals Roadmap with LEAG Chair / Clive Neal

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Earth Science• The first NRC decadal survey in Earth Science and Applications

from Space was released in January 2007– Identified an integrated slate of 15 new missions for NASA in

three time-phased cohorts between 2010-2020– Resources permit only about half of these to be accomplished in

the time frame recommended by the NRC– NASA and the science community will need a strategy to address

this disconnect– NASA has initiated formulation of the first two decadal survey

missions, with the next two in pre-formulation

• Continuity of Earth observation data is critical to global change research. NASA has taken steps to recover key measurements/sensors dropped from NPOESS, e.g. total solar irradiance, atmospheric ozone profile

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NASA Operating Earth Science Missions

OSTM/Jason 2

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Mars Science Laboratory

• In the NAC’s April meeting, we recommended that “NASA should continue to make every effort toward MSL mission success with a launch in 2009.”

• Since then, the MSL project has come forward with another large over-guideline budget request for FY09

• NASA has identified metrics that must be met to achieve a 2009 launch, e.g., key hardware deliveries this Fall

• NASA will review MSL’s progress in January to determine whether to continue working toward the 2009 launch or defer to the 2011 opportunity.

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Recommendations

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Near-term Access to Space• All four of NASA’s science areas face

challenges in obtaining reliable launch services for medium-class payloads given the pending retirement of the Delta-II

• New commercial vehicles in this class are under development, but it will be several years before they are available for routine purchase and use for NASA science missions

• DoD’s Minotaur 4/5 launch vehicles could be an important resource to fill the gap until new commercial vehicles are available

• NASA has arranged for launch of the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission on a Minotaur vehicle from Wallops Island

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Recommendation

• Short title of proposed recommendation: Obtain Minotaur launch vehicles as a gap-filler.

• Short Description of Proposed Recommendation:

– NASA should work with the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Department of Defense to obtain Minotaur launch vehicles to launch science missions. This capability would fill the gap until new commercial vehicles are available to provide launch services on a reliable, routine basis.

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LEAG Lunar Goals Roadmap• The Lunar Exploration Analysis Group has made excellent

progress in developing a Lunar Goals Roadmap.• Defined Themes, Goals, Objectives, Investigations, and

Priorities

Science Theme: Address fundamental questions about the solar system, the universe, and our place in them.

Feed Forward Theme: Use the Moon to prepare for future missions to Mars and other destinations.

Sustainability Theme: Extend sustained human presence to the Moon to enable eventual settlement.

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Recommendation

• Short title of proposed recommendation: Enhancing communication between NASA and the lunar science community in planning for science activities in lunar exploration planning.

• Short Description of Proposed Recommendation:

– A formal mechanism should be established to enhance communication between the OSEWG (Optimizing Science and Exploration Working Group) and the lunar science community through coordinated interaction with the LEAG (Lunar Exploration Analysis Group).

– The LEAG and OSEWG should coordinate a workshop in conjunction with a regular meeting of the LEAG or other appropriate conference to review NASA’s ongoing implementation of the lunar exploration architecture, including the development of Surface Science Scenarios and responses to previous recommendations of the Council