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First Announcement for Third MSL Landing Site Workshop September 15-17, 2008 You are invited to participate in the third landing site workshop for the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). The process of selecting the MSL landing site continued at the second workshop held in October 2007 when the number of sites remaining under discussion was narrowed to six. These landing sites have received considerable additional scrutiny by MRO and the MSL Project and much new data is available for each of the six sites and it is time to schedule the third MSL landing site workshop, to be held in the vicinity of Pasadena, California, on September 15-17, 2008 (Monday through Wednesday). The venue will be announced in a subsequent mailing and the meeting precedes the MEPAG meeting (starting on Thursday) also to be held in the Pasadena area. The third workshop will include presentations on the physical attributes of the sites as well as presentations on scientific themes related to the MSL science objectives. There will be ample time for discussion of the sites. The goal of the third workshop will be to produce a summary of the characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the remaining sites. Science presentations will be expected to emphasize specific criteria that are related to the science potential of the proposed sites. A future announcement will list these criteria and solicit presentations from the community. A future workshop is planned that would further narrow the list of sites under consideration to a recommended landing site. A number of websites provide access to more information on the MSL mission, relevant engineering requirements, landing site selection process, and available data for the proposed sites. Websites where this information is posted include: Descriptions of the MSL mission and a summary of NASA's Mars exploration
strategy are available at: Information on the MSL landing site selection process and sites discussed
at the first two workshops along with supporting image data can be found
at the websites supporting MSL landing site selection activities: Additional images and derived data products can be viewed at: Thanks to the folks at MSSS (MOC), THEMIS (ASU and Hawaii), HiRISE (U of A), and HRSC (DLR) who have made these data available to the community in support of landing site activities. All members of the scientific community are encouraged to participate in this important activity. Input from the science community is critical to identification of optimal landing sites for the MSL. We look forward to your continued involvement in these activities! Sincerely, Lessons Learned Workshop The Science Mission Directorate (SMD) at NASA Headquarters has initiated an effort to simplify NASA Announcements of Opportunity (AOs). To support this effort, SMD is planning a Proposers Lessons Learned Workshop for proposers to the recent Discovery, Mars Scout, and Small Explorer (SMEX) AOs. The workshop is planned to be held in Dallas, Texas on February 28-29, 2008. Dr. Michael New For further information on the workshop or AO Simplification, see: Mars Exploration Science Monthly Newsletter Announcement from the Mars Exploration Program,
NASA Headquarters Mars Scout Selection Update In preparing for the evaluation of Mars Scout Concept Study Reports for the final selection, NASA identified an organizational conflict of interest. NASA determined action had to be taken to resolve the conflict in order to maintain a fair competition. Among several actions deemed necessary to address the conflict, the most significant is that NASA will reconstitute the evaluation team with new members, thereby eliminating the organizational conflict of interest. In order to minimize the impact to the teams’ proposed mission schedules, NASA will expedite the reconstitution and evaluation processes. However, this action will delay the evaluation and announcement of the selection of the next Mars Scout mission by a few months. The teams will be notified when the new schedule is final. Announcement from Alan Stern & Jim Green,
NASA Headquarters Dear Colleagues: We are very happy to announce that MARDI and ChemCam's cost issues have been solved and both instruments are going forward to launch on MSL. Malin Space Science Systems has agreed that there will be no additional
costs to NASA for the completion of the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI). Furthermore,
funds returned to the Mars Exploration Program from the unfortunate elimination
of MARDI operations on Phoenix will be used to support MARDI integration
on MSL. This outcome is even better than we had imagined possible in September, when MARDI was descoped and ChemCam was cost capped to save money so that MSL itself could complete development without raiding other missions or R&A. We thank MSSS, LANL, and JPL for their diligence and hard work in finding solutions to these payload issues. We also thank the community for their support of the Mars Exploration Program, the MSL mission, and for the concept of containing costs on one mission so as not to jeopardize others. The support of the NAC in commending our cost control efforts in SMD is also very much appreciated. MSL's launch is now just 21 months away! Though there remain many challenges ahead, the mission remains as exciting as ever, and we can celebrate that that highly anticipated return will not come at the expense of other SMD projects or R&A grants. Sincerely, Summary of the meeting between Alan Stern and
MEPAG representatives at NASA HQ See: http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/Announcements/Stern_MEPAG_Summary.pdf See: http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/Announcements/STERN-MEPAG.pdf Mars Science Laboratory Project Changes Respond
to Cost Increases, Keep Mars Program On Track See: http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/Announcements/MSL_Project_Changes.html MARS Journal open for submissions The MARS Journal, a new online peer reviewed open access journal, is now open for submission of manuscripts. The MARS Journal will publish scholarly papers in three general categories: Mars Science: Observations, data, theory, models, and reviews of scientific
literature The presentations and papers from the Principle Investigator Lessons Learned workshop are now available on the Science Mission Directorate website: http://science.hq.nasa.gov/research/041106.html |
