Quote from: Star One on 01/08/2017 07:40 pmMy latter point is financing this cooperation with ESA is financially going to impact the decadal survey as there is only so much money to go around.But that's not what you actually wrote. You wrote about what the next astro decadal survey will be about, not what is going on leading up to the next DS. The DS prioritizes for the next decade. Stuff that is already in development does not get re-prioritized.
My latter point is financing this cooperation with ESA is financially going to impact the decadal survey as there is only so much money to go around.
But you're going to be rather hampered prioritizing anything if you're short of money. As it said in the article look what happened to the projects from the last one because of financial issues with existing projects.
As astrophysicists prepare to begin their next decadal survey, other scientists and members of Congress endorsed the overall process even as they suggested some changes.At a town hall meeting during the 234th meeting of the American Astronomical Society here June 11, leaders of the latest astrophysics decadal survey, dubbed Astro2020, said they’re ready to begin work identifying scientific priorities in the field for the coming decade and what spacecraft and ground-based observatories are best suited for them.Robert Kennicutt, an astronomer at the University of Arizona and Texas A&M University who serves as co-chair of Astro2020, said the National Academies, which oversees the decadal survey, received more than 450 nominations to serve on the steering committee Astro2020 decadal survey. Ultimately the National Academies selected 20 people, counting Kennicutt and fellow co-chair Fiona Harrison of Caltech, to serve on the committee.
Organized by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, six Decadal Surveys have set the course of U.S. astronomy since they began in the 1960s. The results of the seventh, dubbed Astro2020, will soon be announced after two years of exhaustive deliberations led by a 20-member steering committee. And just like its predecessors, Astro2020 will reveal where major new investments and discoveries are most likely to be made—and where neglect, disinterest or even fear may block progress for generations to come.
“We are right now on a knife-edge,” says John O’Meara, chief scientist of the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. “I do believe this Decadal is existential for astronomy in the United States. When you consider the facilities and the science topics that are under discussion, it will influence whether or not we become a second-place player in global astronomy…. When the [federal] agencies and Congress receive the Decadal report, they will hold in their hands the decision of whether or not we wish to have leadership in this field of science.”
Astronomers have named the four likeliest outcomes of the Astro2020 deliberations: “Scenario one, we call ‘the shit sandwich,’ which is if they recommend no flagships,” says one senior scientist. “Most of us think that would be disastrous. The ‘shit sandwich with a side of pickle’ is when they choose no flagships but recommend technology development for whatever could come next—which is close to what happened with Astro2010. The ‘nice lunch’ is what we get if they pick a true flagship. And the ‘perfect meal’ is their picking a flagship and setting priorities for technology development to enable a few more.”
This Report Could Make or Break the Next 30 Years of U.S. Astronomy....
I did a lot of work on Astro 2020. Kinda depressing to see somebody compare our work to a poop sandwich.
Yeah, even the Roman telescope had an F bomb thrown via it's old WFIRST acronym.
Having now worked two planetary decadals and one astrophysics decadal, I've learned that their respective science communities have different attitudes towards the flagship missions (which we tried a few years ago to try and get people to refer to as "large strategic missions," but that has not caught on). In astrophysics, flagship missions have a greater importance than in planetary science because flagship missions are shared by many more members of the community. A lot of people can sign up for observing time on a big mission and can use the data that it generates. This means that a researcher at a small university astrophysics department can get observing time and therefore is more likely to support the flagship mission. The smaller missions in astrophysics don't offer those kinds of opportunities unless you are on the mission team itself, and the mission teams tend to be only a few dozen people at most.
I wrote an absurdly long-winded and overly dramatic elegy for #Astro2020.It’s part personal therapy session, part funeral pyre, and mostly a big-hearted thank you to the whole communityThe end is in sight.https://www.granttremblay.com/blog/astro2020
Hertz [NASA astrophysics division director Paul Hertz] says everyone is "eagerly" awaiting the astrophysics Decadal Survey, but NASA had to move on w/o it. Had to formulate FY2023 budget req already, so it obviously doesn't contain $ for anything it. Hope it's out in time to guide next call for tech proposals in mid-Dec.Q-if Decadal recommends new flagship can it launch in 2030s?Hertz-priority is launching the 2 flagships we already have, JWST and Roman, & demonstrate to stakeholders we can do these missions. Then will decide right time to start a new one. Don't know what'll be recommended.
Is the decadal survey waiting to see what the results are of JWST's launch and deployment?