*************************** ** THE GEM MESSENGER ** *************************** Volume 15, Number 50 August 17, 2005 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA ROSES 2005, LWS TR&T Research Opportunity Relevant to GEM GI Campaign - Proposal Deadline Sept 9th. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bob Strangeway This is to bring to the attention of the NSF GEM community the NASA ROSES 2005 Research Announcement, which includes an opportunity under the Living With a Star - Targeted Research and Technology (LWS TR&T) component. Elements of this opportunity are directly relevant to the GEM Global Interactions (GI) Campaign. This opportunity is described in more detail in Appendix A.21 of the ROSES announcement. (To see the announcement go to the NASA NSPIRES web site -- http://nspires.nasaprs.com, and check under the "open solicitations" section for the ROSES 2005 announcement.) The deadline for proposals is September 9, 2005. The announcement has some requirements above the usual requirements of the NASA ROSES opportunity. The proposals must address one of five science topics listed in the announcement. In addition, while the proposals will undergo the standard peer review process, the successful proposals will be combined under a team coordinator, who will be one of the successful Principal Investigators. The team coordinator will act to coordinate the individual research activities. While any prospective proposer should read the announcement, an edited extract from Appendix A.21 of the Research Announcement is included below. The extract includes the overview of the program (section 1.1), the introduction to the focused science topics (introduction to section 1.2.3), which will receive ~75% of the available resources, and the list of the 5 focused science topics. In addition, the detailed description of science topic "c" (solar wind plasma entry and transport in the magnetosphere) is included, as this topic is directly relevant to the goals of the GEM Global Interactions campaign. Attention is also drawn to science topic "d" (storm effects on the global electrodynamics and the middle and low latitude ionosphere). Extract from Appendix A.21 of the NASA ROSES 2005 research announcement. 1.1 Overview The goal of NASA's Living With a Star (LWS) program is to develop the scientific understanding needed for the United States to effectively address those aspects of the connected Sun Solar System that may affect life and society. The LWS Targeted Research and Technology (TR&T) program element solicits proposals leading to a physics-based understanding of the integral system linking the Sun to the Solar System both directly and via the heliosphere, planetary magnetospheres, and ionospheres. The TR&T program's objectives can be achieved by data analysis, theory, and modeling, and the development of tools and methods (e.g., software for data handling). LWS is a crosscutting initiative whose goals relate to many of NASA's exploration objectives, namely (and in no priority order): To understand and protect our home planet o Dynamic Earth System - LWS will provide understanding of the effects of solar variability on terrestrial climate change and of the causes of solar and magnetospheric disturbances on the Earth's technology infrastructures. o Aerospace Technology - LWS characterizes those aspects of the Earth's dynamic environment needed to design reliable electronic subsystems for use in air and space transportation systems. To explore the universe and search for life o Human and robotic exploration of the Moon and Mars - LWS will develop the knowledge needed to provide advance-warning space environment predictions along and at the path of robotic and human exploration. o Robotic exploration of the Solar System - LWS will quantify the physics, dynamics, and behavior of the Sun-heliophysical system over the 11-year solar cycle. To inspire the next generation of explorers o LWS will engage and motivate the public by supporting a lifetime of learning about the Sun and its effects on each element of the Solar System. 1.2.3. Focused Science Topics The stated goal of LWS, that of achieving an understanding of those aspects of the Sun-Earth system that have direct impact on life and society, poses two great challenges for the TR&T program. First, the TR&T must tackle large-scale problems that cross discipline and technique (e.g., data analysis, theory, modeling, etc.) boundaries; and second, the TR&T must identify how this new understanding will have a direct impact on life and society. To address these requirements, a set of five Focused Science Topics as further identified below have been chosen for emphasis in this solicitation (for further detail, also see the TR&T Steering Committee Report at http://lws-trt.gsfc.nasa.gov/trt_resources.htm). Therefore, while the primary evaluation criteria remain unchanged (see this NRA's Summary of Solicitation, Section V(a), and the NASA Guidebook for Proposers, Appendix C.2), the criterion for relevance includes relevance to one of these five Focused Science Topics as an essential requirement for selection within this component. In addition, NASA desires a balance of research investigation techniques for each Topic, including theory, modeling, data analysis, observations, and simulations. Given the submission of proposals of adequate number and merit, up to eight selections will be made for each Focused Science Topic. Once selected, these investigators will form a team in order to coordinate their research programs (similar to the PIs selected for a NASA hardware mission who form a coordinated science working group). These teams will define a plan for structuring their work into an integrated research program that ideally will address the Focused Science Topic in a much more complete way than any one investigation could by itself. These teams will also define success measures and deliverables for their integrated program, develop strategies for disseminating their results to the science community and NASA, and prepare an integrated final Team Report at the end of the three-year duration of the selected investigations. Based in part on the peer review, one of the PIs will be identified and asked to serve as the Team Coordinator for the Focused Science Topic for which he/she proposed. These Team Coordinators will take the lead role in organizing their teams, setting up appropriate meetings and interactions, and generally ensuring the success of the project as a whole. The Team Coordinators will also serve as the lead liaison with the TR&T Project Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and LWS Program Office at NASA Headquarters, which together will monitor and assist the progress of each team. The Team Coordinator will receive supplemental funding as necessary to support costs associated with these duties. Proposers are encouraged to propose to act as a Team Coordinator and if they do so, should include a brief section in their proposal describing how they would lead the team effort. Up to one extra page in the proposal is allowed for this proposed effort. All proposers for Focused Science Topics should include sufficient travel funds in their proposed budgets to cover two team meetings per year to be held on the U.S. coast furthest from their home institutions. The Focused Science Topics appropriate as the objectives for proposals to this LWS TR&T solicitation are as follows: a. Shock acceleration of solar energetic particles by interplanetary CMEs b. Determine the mechanisms that heat and accelerate the solar wind c. Solar wind plasma entry and transport in the magnetosphere Target description: Prolonged exposure to suprathermal magnetospheric plasmas has deleterious effects upon spacecraft. Examples include leakage, sputtering, and spacecraft surface charging. Determining the characteristics of the plasma population within the magnetosphere as a function of location, geomagnetic activity, solar wind conditions, and solar cycle is, therefore, a question of fundamental importance to spacecraft designers. Predicting the characteristics of the particle population requires knowledge of the locations and mechanisms by which solar wind plasma enters the magnetosphere, the processes by which plasma is energized and transported, and the interactions by which plasma is lost. Goals and measures of success: The ultimate objective of this targeted research area is a global model for the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction capable of accurately predicting the plasma environment within the Earth's inner magnetosphere (R < 10 RE) as a function of prevailing solar wind conditions. Steps towards this goal include (1) development of empirical models for the geospace plasma as a function of solar wind conditions, geomagnetic activity, and solar cycle; (2) models that incorporate the fundamental physics describing plasma entry at the magnetopause and energization/transport within the magnetosphere models; (3) validation of the simulations against a variety of observational case studies and empirical models; and (4) development of a quantitative understanding of the relative roles of solar wind and ionospheric plasma sources in populating the magnetosphere. Types of Solicited Investigations: Proposals that address this topic should address the mechanisms by which plasma crosses the magnetopause, the means by which plasma is energized and transported to the inner magnetospheric regions relevant to spacecraft operations, and the characteristics of the plasma within the magnetosphere. The research objectives of proposals include investigations that predict and quantify: (1) the amount of solar wind plasma entering the magnetosphere as a function of location on the magnetopause; (2) the processes by which plasma is transported from the magnetopause into the magnetosphere to form the plasma sheet; and (3) the mechanisms by which plasma is injected into the inner magnetosphere for different solar wind, geomagnetic, and solar cycle conditions. d. Storm effects on the global electrodynamics and the middle and low latitude ionosphere e. Determine the effects of changes in the atmospheric abundance of greenhouse gases on the temperature and dynamics of the upper atmosphere +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |To subscribe GEM Messengers, send an e-mail to | | with the following command in the body of your e-mail message: | | subscribe gem | |To remove yourself from the mailing list, the command is: | | unsubscribe gem | | | |To broadcast a message to the GEM community, please contact Peter Chi at | | | |Please use plain text as the format of your submission. | | | |URL of GEM Home Page: http://www-ssc.igpp.ucla.edu/gem/Welcome.html | |Workshop Information: http://gem.rice.edu/~gem | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+