(PLANETQUEST) -- NASA has announced the membership of two panels that will play pivotal roles in developing the mission concept and science requirements for the Terrestrial Planet Finder observatories.
TPF-C Science and Technology Definition Team
Twenty-one representatives from the astronomical community and two ex officio members were named to the TPF Coronagraph (TPF-C) Science and Technology Definition Team. The team will work in collaboration with the project, NASA headquarters and the astronomical community to help develop the mission concept during its pre-formulation phase (pre-Phase A). The duration of the appointments will be approximately one year.
The team members will help mature the project vision from an architecture concept into a complete mission concept. As representatives of the broad astronomical community, they will act as the science conscience of the project, ensuring that the TPF-C science goals are worthy of the mission and that the mission will be able to fulfill them.
The team will produce a joint report with the TPF-C project office, coordinated with the science community using the science advisory bodies, containing the following information:
- Science objectives,
- Operations concepts,
- Mission design architectures,
- Spacecraft concepts,
- Cost, schedule, and risk, and,
- Identification of required new technology.
Their report will form the
basis for the NASA announcement of opportunity (AO) for TPF-C mission instruments
and the documentation required for NASA approval for TPF-C to proceed.
Team list
TPF-I Science Working Group
Twenty-two representatives from the astronomical community and one ex officio member were named to the
TPF-Interferometer Science Working Group (TPF-I SWG). They will work closely with the TPF project to develop science rationale for the mid-IR observing program, help guide the appropriate technology, and interface with their counterparts on the European Space Agency's Terrestrial Exoplanet Science Advisory Team and Darwin project. As representatives of the broad astronomical community, the TPF-I SWG is expected to act as the science conscience of the project, ensuring that the broad TPF-I science goals are worthy of the mission and that the mission will be able to fulfill them. Specific tasks of the TPF-I SWG may include, but are not limited to:
1. Refining, as necessary, TPF-I science goals, as embodied in the Design Reference Mission, and assessing the impact of altering mission design parameters (orbit, mission duration, telescope size, instrument complement, etc.) on these science goals.
2. Assessing design concepts, technology and implementation plans relative to the overall scientific performance of the mission.
3. Assisting NASA in explaining the goals of TPF-I to the larger astronomy community and in preparing materials for review by external scientific advisory groups and oversight committees.
4. The TPF-I SWG will produce a Science Requirements document. This document will include the prioritized science objectives and requirements for the planet finding and characterization and general astrophysics aspects of the TPF-I mission.
The duration of the appointments will be approximately three years.
Working group list
