Universities Space Research Association



OPAG Meeting February 9-11, 2021 FindingsIntroduction, acknowledgement and thanks. OPAG thanks Lori Glaze, Louis Barbier and June Zakrajsek for their frank discussions and responses to OPAG Findings. OPAG supports continued funding for the Juno and New Horizons missions. OPAG also supports NASA's decision to release a request for proposals (RFP) for launch vehicles for Europa Clipper to enable them to remain on track for launch in 2024.?OPAG would like to congratulate the Dragonfly mission for implementing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) efforts as a foundational principle for the mission. This is a groundbreaking effort serving as a model for all NASA-led missions. We also applaud NASA’s efforts to hold Guest Observers programs for student and early career participation at mission Project Science Group (PSG) meetings. Additional conversations, especially related to uncompensated work on diversity and inclusion, will be developed in collaboration with the cross-AG IDEA group.OPAG applauds acceptance of Juno’s extended mission and congratulates the team on the excellent science that continues to be produced. We support NASA’s announcement that there will be a Juno Participating Scientist Program (PSP) and look forward to seeing the upcoming PSP call for the Juno extended mission.Conversations at OPAG on the Arecibo observatory will be communicated via a cross-AG Finding, so while OPAG supports these efforts it is not explicitly mentioned as a Finding here.OPAG noted a concerning lack of transparency in the ongoing Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey (PSADS) work - the OPAG chairs have communicated OPAG’s? concerns to the PSADS chairs; a copy of that letter is attached as an appendix to this document, and the letter will also be posted on the OPAG website.OPAG also provided feedback regarding the New Frontiers 5 Community Announcement to Curt Niebur, including comments on the cost cap, technology incentives, foreign contributions, launch vehicle potential cost savings, and the continued development of a diverse, equitable and inclusive planetary science community. A copy of this letter is attached as an appendix to this document, and it will be posted on the OPAG website.Finding 1. Dragonfly Mission Launch DelaysBackground:? The OPAG community notes that the Dragonfly launch has been delayed twice as a result of NASA Headquarters’ resources prioritization, and not as a consequence of any mission underperformance. We recognize NASA HQ must make adjustments in light of unforeseen developments, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, OPAG is concerned that Dragonfly appears to be considered a lower priority compared to other missions that have not had similar launch date delays.? What are the prospects that there will be additional delays imposed on Dragonfly? OPAG is also concerned that further delays of the Dragonfly launch could have cascading impacts on the next New Frontiers mission (NF-5) and lead to conflicts in developmental resources and budgetary timeline. More transparency on decisions that result in launch delays would help alleviate the community concerns.?Finding:? NASA Headquarters-imposed launch delays on Dragonfly have the potential for substantial adverse consequences. OPAG requests answers to the following questions:? (1) Why is Dragonfly’s prioritization such that the mission was slipped twice compared to others? (2) Where are the cost savings from the Dragonfly delays going? (3) What is NASA’s plan to prevent further delays of Dragonfly’s launch? (4) What is the trade space which NASA HQ uses to set its priorities among the flight missions, and where does Dragonfly fall in those priorities?Finding 2. Collecting and reporting on demographic data for NASA proposalsBackground: OPAG applauds NASA for collecting demographic data via NSPIRES and thanks Dr. Louis Barbier for presenting to the OPAG community on this topic as a representative of the Office of the Chief Scientist. We invite Louis or a member of his team to provide regular updates at OPAG. These data are critical in providing a more complete picture of participation in our field and its diversity along multiple axes, as well as identifying areas of underrepresentation in our community. OPAG would like to emphasize that demographic data as it relates to race, ethnicity, non-binary gender, and disability status are important to report, along with binary gender and career stage, in order to pinpoint areas where representation of certain groups is still lacking in our community. OPAG notes from the presentation that the members of racial and ethnic minority groups make up a small number of proposers and proposal awardees. The significant underrepresentation of these groups in the NASA community is a serious concern that requires leadership from NASA to address through initiatives and programs to further engage members of these groups. In engaging members of these and other underrepresented groups, we also request that NASA consider an intersectional analysis of these data to determine how individuals belonging to more than one underrepresented identity fare within NASA’s proposal system. For example, multiple unconscious biases, such as those related to both gender and race, may affect the success rates of women of color and non-binary people of color. OPAG encourages NASA to use these data and to work with scientists from multiple underrepresented identities, along with social scientists, to better elucidate these effects.Finding:? We encourage NASA to continue to collect demographic data in NSPIRES, and invite Dr. Louis Barbier and his team to provide regular outbriefs at OPAG meetings. NSPIRES demographic questions should be posed in a way that allows mutliracial and non-binary members of our community to provide responses. We also suggest that NSPIRES periodically prompt all users to fill out or update their responses to the demographic questions (e.g., when joining a proposal team or submitting a review). We also ask that NASA share details of the initiatives and programs that will be implemented to further engage members of racial and ethnic minority groups and employ intersectional analyses to determine career impacts on those belonging to more than one underrepresented identity.Finding 3. Implementation of Inclusion, Diversity,? Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) principles across all missionsBackground: OPAG would like to congratulate Dragonfly for implementing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) efforts as a foundational principle for the mission. Planetary science as a discipline is woefully underrepresented even when compared to the National Civilian Labor Force (see Decadal white paper by Rivera-Valentin et al., 2020). Many of the noted concerns with increasing diversity within the planetary science community have been centered on the lack of access to missions for diverse populations. Having recognized this lack of accessibility and diversity in NASA mission teams along multiple axes, especially as it relates to scientists from underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups, stemming in many ways from lack of diversity in the field, the Dragonfly team created the Dragonfly Student & Early Career Investigator Program (1). This innovative program was designed to provide students and early career researchers that are not affiliated with Dragonfly science team members a pathway to mission experience, which is highly beneficial for providing lasting career opportunities in space science. These students/early career researchers have the interest and the skills to support planetary mission work, but they are often not enrolled at schools or programs where the mission team members reside; this is especially the case for students/early career researchers at smaller colleges/universities, schools that may have no planetary science, geology or astronomy department, and at Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). Hence, this program is groundbreaking as it takes concrete steps to address the workforce concerns identified by the Rivera-Valentin study (2) and will have a long-term impact on the field. This set of efforts should serve as a model for all NASA-led missions.?Finding: OPAG would like to see NASA encourage all missions to follow Dragonfly’s example of tangible action in implementing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) as a fundamental principle of the mission design and execution. The Dragonfly Student & Early Career Investigator Program is a groundbreaking program that will take concrete steps to broadening participation in NASA missions.(1) (2)? 4. Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators: Planning for future outer planet mission needsBackground: OPAG thanks June Zakrajsek and the NASA-DoE joint Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) program office for providing regular updates on the current status of NASA’s plan to provide Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) to support future missions. We also appreciate NASA’s concerted and ongoing efforts to inform the community on this important matter at multiple open sessions of the currently ongoing decadal survey. As of 2020, NASA was working with DoE to furnish and fuel the following RTGs:?- x2 MMRTGs for Discovery in 2025?- x1 MMRTG for Dragonfly in 2026?- x1 DRPS (2-GPHS modules) in 2025?- x1 NextGen RTG (16-GPHS modules) in 2030At the OPAG meeting, we also heard that NASA is building a second NextGen RTG unit that will be ready to be fueled by 2026. Through recent mission concept studies, OPAG recognizes that a Flagship mission to an Ice Giant will require at least two units of RTGs, each producing about 300 W or more of electrical power such as the NextGen RTGs. Thus, NASA’s effort to prepare a second NextGen unit is critical to enabling an Ice Giant flagship mission in the 2030s; however, NASA has not announced a plan to fuel the second NextGen RTG unit.??Finding: OPAG also supports continued funding for the radioisotope power source (RPS) program and is pleased to see the continued progress in the constant-rate production of plutonium.? OPAG also appreciates NASA and DoE for their continuing efforts to furnish, improve, and fuel RTGs needed for future missions. OPAG is concerned that the single unit of NextGen RTG included in the NASA-DoE “2020 Mission Set” is not sufficient to power a Flagship mission; consequently, OPAG applauds NASA for planning to make a second unit ready to be fueled by 2026. OPAG supports NASA continuing to work with DoE to ensure that the plutonium production is planned accordingly to fuel those two units on a schedule consistent with a potential Flagship mission to an Ice Giant planet to be launched in the early 2030s. OPAG will continue to request updates about NASA’s plan to fuel the two NextGen units at future OPAG meetings.?Attachments:OPAG letter to Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey Co-ChairsOPAG response to New Frontiers 5 Community AnnouncementWhite paper Rivera-Valentin et al., 2020 Link: ? ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download