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Responses to Findings from SBAG 22

Thomas S. Statler, Ph.D.NASA Planetary Science DivisionSmall Bodies Assessment GroupJune 1, 2020

SBAG encourages NASA to work with relevant stakeholders to ensure that future budgets support the Near-Earth Object Surveillance Mission (NEOSM) at a level sufficient to achieve the mission’s planetary defense goals as currently scheduled. SBAG congratulates NASA and its partners on bringing NEOSM to its present level of development. Past SBAG findings and the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Finding Hazardous Asteroids Using Infrared and Visible Wavelength Telescopes have emphasized the importance of a space-based near-infrared asteroid survey mission, and we reiterate that support here. NEOSM would provide a major contribution towards fulfillment of the George E. Brown Congressional goal of discovering 90% of the near-Earth asteroid (NEA) population larger than 140 meters in size, while characterizing the diameters of a significant fraction of that NEA population. Additionally, NEOSM would provide a dataset important for small-body science, human exploration, and resource utilization.

NASA Response: NASA is fully supportive of the National Academies’ study findings and appreciates the value of a space-based infrared survey. If it is included in future budgets, NASA would plan to pursue a NEO Surveillance Mission concept that is focused on Planetary Defense objectives. This concept would benefit from technology development and other work performed under NEOCam’sextended Phase A. The NASA submission for the FY 2022 President’s budget request to Congress currently is in preparation.

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SBAG urges NASA to continue its efforts to broaden participation in the field and to develop a workforce that supports and understands the benefits of a diverse community. SBAG strongly approves of the efforts of NASA's Planetary Science Division to support early career researchers and individuals from historically underrepresented groups in their pursuit of successful planetary science careers. Examples include the PI Launchpad workshop and the trialing of dual- anonymous peer review during ROSES-2020.

NASA Response: NASA strongly supports diversity across the planetary science community and strongly encourages all planetary scientists to participate in NASA programs such as mission teams, Research and Analysis (R&A), peer review and NASA advisory committees, regardless of an individual’s background, institutional affiliation, personal demographics, or career stage. A current example of SMD’s commitment to diversity is the in-progress pilot to assess dual-anonymous peer review in its R&A programs.

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SBAG expresses concern over insufficient investment by NASA on facilities and personnel essential to achieve the full benefit of analysis of samples returned by planetary missions. The recent report Strategic Investments in Instrumentation and Facilities for Extraterrestrial Sample Curation and Analysis from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine underlined the need for future investments in funding analytical facilities and training the next generation of planetary sample scientists in the areas of organic materials and ice- and gas-based materials. The impending return of samples from OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2 underscores the urgency of the situation. Training the next generation to analyze samples returned a decade or more in the future has become difficult given the low funding levels for operating and maintaining facilities. If appropriate action from NASA is not undertaken, the scientific goals set by sample return missions will be jeopardized.

NASA Response: NASA has been working on a strategic plan that properly responds to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) 2019 report on Strategic Investments in Instrumentation and Facilities for Extraterrestrial Sample Curation and Analysis and that fulfils the needs of PSD’s missions, teams, and their respective communities. In the near term, PSD intends to make selections from the ROSES-2018 cycle of the Planetary Major Equipment and Facilities (PMEF) program following Congressional approval of the agency Operating Plan. In the longer term, PSD is considering modifying the PMEF solicitation in ROSES-2020 and subsequent cycles to better accomplish the above goals.

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SBAG would like clarification of what targets will be permitted for the New Frontiers 5 call, particularly whether a comet nucleus sample return and a Trojan tour and rendezvous mission will remain options. Although the list of the most scientifically interesting targets will naturally change with time, there is confusion within the community about how the list of permitted targets was updated for the New Frontiers 4 call, and SBAG encourages NASA to establish and explain the procedure as early as possible.

NASA Response: This question was taken up by the National Academies’ Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science (CAPS) at their March 31 – April 2, 2020 meeting. The statement of task for this activity was as follows:In keeping with its charge to monitor the “implementation of the decadal survey’s recommended scientific and technical activities,” and, specifically, to draft short reports addressing topics relating to the “scientific impact of a change in the …. programmatic sequencing of one or more of the survey-recommended activities…..and the scientific impact of a course of action at a decision point described in the survey report,” the Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences will draft a short report that will answer the two questions below for the following four New Frontiers targets: Ocean Worlds, Trojan Tour and Rendezvous, Io Observer and Lunar Geophysics Network: (1) Has scientific understanding or external factors such as programmatic developments or technological advances, significantly changed since the release of the planetary science decadal survey or its midterm review? (2) Has scientific understanding or external factors, such as programmatic developments or technological advances, been sufficiently substantial to warrant reconsideration of the four targets for inclusion in the New Frontiers 5 announcement of opportunity, scheduled for release in early 2022.

NASA looks forward to the CAPS report resulting from this activity, and plans to develop an appropriate response thereafter.

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SBAG remains troubled by the overall funding profile of Arecibo Observatory and is increasingly concerned about the availability of klystron transmitters for Goldstone and Arecibo. SBAG reiterates its advocacy for planetary radar observations of small bodies and greatly appreciates NASA’s continued support of the Arecibo and Goldstone planetary radar systems. However, with National Science Foundation support of Arecibo decreasing substantially over the next three years and long-term replacement of those funds from federal or non-federal sources unclear, SBAG is concerned that Arecibo faces a dire shortfall in its annual budget by 2023. Meanwhile, at Goldstone, the 70-m DSS-14 antenna currently has no klystrons. A single klystron may be available to DSS-14 by summer 2020, allowing low- or half-power observations later in the year, after a roughly two-year procurement process. At Arecibo, two klystrons are now on hand (with no spares) after a more than two-year procurement process. There is no guarantee these klystrons will last through October 2022 when the planetary radars will be indispensable to the validation of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) technology demonstration. Therefore, SBAG encourages NASA to initiate procurement of additional klystron hardware for both sites at the earliest opportunity. Return of the Arecibo and Goldstone planetary radar systems to optimal condition, or as optimal as feasible, including the planned re-alignment of the Arecibo primary surface, is paramount for participation in DART as well as providing invaluable ground-based reconnaissance of the Janus target, binary asteroid (175706) 1996 FG3, in April/May 2022.

NASA Response: NASA agrees on the value of planetary radar to planetary science research and the characterization of potentially hazardous NEOs, and considers klystron procurements along with other priorities within the Planetary Defense Program budget constraints. Prospects for working klystrons exist in part because the PDCO has been prioritizing the procurement of klystrons for Arecibo and the development of a new klystron design for Goldstone above other program priorities. While desirable, beneficial to, and synergistic with other planned DART observations, radar observations actually are not “indispensable to the validation of the…DART technology demonstration,” as the DART project has determined that the Level 1 requirements will be met using only optical observations.

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SBAG supports the effort by NASA to adopt a policy enabling more than 50 civil servants and 50 contractors to attend international meetings. Travel to international meetings is essential for scientific discussions and dissemination of NASA’s research within the science and technology communities. We are grateful to James Green and his office for finding a solution for the 2019 DPS meeting in Geneva and for working to resolve this issue for foreign meetings in 2020 and beyond. However, we are concerned about both ensuring adequate attendance at foreign conferences and workshops as well as the compressed timeline for approval and notification of attendees, which occurred for DPS. SBAG supports NASA’s ongoing efforts to implement a permanent easing of limits on attendees to international meetings along with sufficient lead time, post-approval, to plan travel and requests an update on the status as soon as possible.

NASA Response: NASA hopes to be able to develop a long-term solution that will allow for increased attendance and timely approval; however, work on this issue has been put on hold because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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SBAG strongly supports NASA-funded Participating Scientist and Guest Investigator programs for US and non-US science and planetary defense missions to small bodies. The success of Participating Scientist programs in making science missions more accessible to early- career scientists, and in increasing the science return of those missions, is well-documented. We urge NASA to include similar, appropriate programs on US planetary defense missions such as DART, NEOSM, as well, and to reach out early to international partners for non-US small bodies missions (such as Comet Interceptor, Hera, MMX, and DESTINY+, among others) to discuss US participation. We recognize preparations for such programs are time-consuming and require funding, and so we further urge that plans for such programs be undertaken early to allow for full participation in mission planning.

NASA Response: NASA is aware and supportive of the various benefits of Participating Scientist Programs (PSP) to missions and the community. NASA’s Planetary Science Division considers it very desirable to have a PSP for every mission and intends to implement this practice to the extent that appropriated resources and other agency priorities permit.

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SBAG encourages NASA and NSF to support preparatory work dedicated to maximizing small-body science from both ground-based and space-based telescopes including analysis tools and specialized workshops, and to identify the programs in which such efforts will be supported. SBAG recognizes the historic and ongoing importance of astrophysics assets to small- body science, on the ground and in space, and thanks the NASA Committee for Planetary Science with Astrophysics Assets for its work aimed at optimizing future use of such assets. There is great near-term potential for small-body science with LSST, and longer-term prospects with TMT, GMT, WFIRST, and other facilities. We note that many of the tools that will allow the planetary science community to make full use of the data from these assets have not been developed, and there are insufficient plans to do so by these astrophysics projects.

NASA Response: NASA fully agrees that major advances in planetary science have emerged, and will continue to emerge, from ground-based and space-based telescopes, and strongly encourages the planetary community to take advantage of proposal opportunities on all appropriate facilities. Many specialized workshops have been and continue to be held, especially by the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) and James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) projects. Opportunities for community input for ground-based facility development arise intermittently; for example, the NSF-supported U.S. Extremely Large Telescope Program actively solicited community input for Key Science Programs, including “planets, satellites and small bodies throughout Solar System.” Solar System observing capabilities for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (formerly WFIRST) still are under discussion. Proposals to develop software tools for planetary science are within the scope of the Planetary Data Archiving, Restoration, and Tools (PDART) program. Proposals to hold workshops on telescope assets for planetary science are within the scope of the Topical Workshops, Symposia, and Conferences (TWSC) program.

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