National Academies Committee Seeking Input on Future Opportunities

The NASA Astrophysics Division Director, Paul Hertz, is requesting that the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (CAA) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which advises the government on the national astronomy and astrophysics portfolio, provide advice about the following question:

Is there still sufficient compelling science in a Small Explorer-sized (SMEX) mission to justify a SMEX Announcement of Opportunity (AO) in 2018 or 2019? SMEX is defined by two things: (i) a cost cap (which was $125M in the 2014 AO), and (ii) the launch capability, which currently is Pegasus-class (note there are other small launch vehicles being developed that might compete with Pegasus in the future).

This is not a question about the value of Explorer missions, which is well understood and appreciated — rather, it is a question about SMEX-sized opportunities. The CAA will be discussing this question at its upcoming face-to-face meeting in March. We are writing to ask for your brief input. In particular:

1. If you have proposed in previous SMEX rounds, or are considering proposing in an upcoming round, do you see sufficient opportunities now, given the SMEX scope as currently defined?
2. Which is more constraining, the cost cap or the launch capability? Why?
3. Are there any specific, small modifications to the scope definition that would enable you and your team to propose a feasible mission?
4. Is there anything else you think should be considered in answering this question?

Please send your input to [email protected] by Friday, 24 March. Input should be in DOC, PDF, or TXT format. Please note that due to Federal Advisory Committee Act regulations all input must be made publicly available and will be attributed to the individual who sends the input.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

For the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics,
Marcia Rieke and Steve Ritz
CAA co-chairs
sites.nationalacademies.org/BPA/BPA_048755