Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Virtual Meeting June 21)

June 21, 2024

3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (ET)

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

About

The open session will be livestreamed.

https://vimeo.com/event/4386196

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Rachel A. Osten
Alycia J. Weinberger
William N. Brandt
Ian J. Crossfield
Gabriela Gonzalez
Alyssa Goodman
Shaul Hanany
Robert C. Kennicutt, Jr.
Jeffrey R. Kuhn
Scott M. Ransom
Brant Robertson
Joseph Silk

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

Preparing for open session, preparing for next open session in 1 week.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

N/A

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

June 27, 2024

Contact

Linda Walker

lwalker@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics Closed Meeting February 27 2025

February 27, 2025

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

The committee is meeting in closed session.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Dr. Rachel A Osten
Dr. Alycia J Weinberger
Dr. William N Brandt
Dr. Wen-fai Fong
Dr. Larry Gladney
Dr. Alyssa Goodman
Dr. Robert C Kennicutt, Jr.
Dr. Elisa V Quintana
Dr. Brant Robertson
Dr. Kate Scholberg
Dr. Joseph Silk
Dr. Grant H Stokes
Dr. Yun Wang

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

Announcement of new staff officer, astronomy and astrophysics mid-decadal status update, committee membership rotations and balance of expertise, preparations for Space Science Week 2025

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

N/A

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

February 28, 2025

Contact

Linda Walker

lwalker@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Virtual Meeting June 28)

June 28, 2024

12:00 AM - 12:00 AM (ET)

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

About

The open session will be livestreamed.

https://vimeo.com/event/4339997

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Alycia Weinberger
Niel Brandt
Ian Crossfield
Gaby Gonzalez
Alyssa Goodman
Shaul Hanany
Ron Kennicutt
Elisa Quintana
Scott Ransom
Brant Robertson
Kate Scholberg
Joe Silk

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

Preparing for telecon, thanking rotating members for their service.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

N/A

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

July 05, 2024

Contact

Linda Walker

lwalker@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics Closed Meeting March 5 2024

March 5, 2024

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

The CAA conducted their annual bias and conflict discussion on March 5 2024.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Rachel Osten
Alycia J. Weinberger
William N. Brandt
Gabriela Gonzalez
Alyssa Goodman
Shaul Hanany
Elizabeth Hays
Robert C. Kennicutt Jr.
Elisa V. Quintana
Brant Robertson
Grant Stokes

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

Annual Committee Bias and Conflict Discussion

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

N/A

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

March 11, 2024

Contact

Linda Walker

lwalker@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Fall Meeting 2022)

December 1 - 2, 2022

Past

Materials

About

This is the fall meeting of the committee and will be virtual only. Please see attached agenda for details.

Livestream for December 1st: https://vimeo.com/event/2656425

Livestream for December 2nd: https://vimeo.com/event/2656489

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Christopher F. McKee, NAS, Chair
William Nielsen Brandt
Gabriela González, NAS
Shaul Hanany
Elizabeth Hays
Scott Ransom
Kate Scholberg, NAS
Joseph Silk, NAS
Alycia J. Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Committee reflected on presentations.
-Committee planning for future membership.
-Committee planning for March 2023 meeting.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

December 02, 2022

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #24)

September 1, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Thomas Greene, Co-Chair, Christopher F. McKee, Co-Chair, William Nielsen Brandt,
Daniela Calzetti, Ian Dell'Antonio, Peter Garnavich, Anthony Gonzalez, Gabriela González,
Shaul Hanany, Elizabeth Hays, Garth Illingworth, Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki, Eamonn Kerins, Christopher Kochanek, Joseph Silk, and Alycia J. Weinberger.

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

Response to review discussion.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

December 01, 2023

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #23)

August 18, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Thomas Greene, Co-Chair, Christopher F. McKee, Co-Chair, William Nielsen Brandt,
Daniela Calzetti, Ian Dell'Antonio, Peter Garnavich, Anthony Gonzalez, Gabriela González,
Shaul Hanany, Elizabeth Hays, Garth Illingworth, Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki, Eamonn Kerins, Christopher Kochanek, Joseph Silk, and Alycia J. Weinberger.

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

Response to review discussion.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

December 01, 2023

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #22)

August 4, 2022

12:30 PM - 1:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Thomas Greene, Co-Chair, Christopher F. McKee, Co-Chair, William Nielsen Brandt, Daniela Calzetti, Ian Dell'Antonio, Peter Garnavich, Anthony Gonzalez, Gabriela González, Shaul Hanany, Elizabeth Hays, Garth Illingworth, Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki, Eamonn Kerins, Christopher Kochanek, Joseph Silk, and Alycia J. Weinberger.

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

Response to review discussion.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

December 01, 2023

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #21)

July 21, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Thomas Greene, Co-Chair
Christopher McKee, Co-Chair
Daniela Calzetti
Ian Dell'Antonio
Peter Garnavich
Anthony Gonzalez
Shaul Hanany
Garth Illingworth
Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki
Christopher Kochanek Scott Ransom
Alycia Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

The committee discussed recent changes to the text in the report.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

July 21, 2022

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #20)

July 14, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Shaul Hanany
William Brandt
Daniela Calzetti
Ian Dell’Antinio
Anthony Gonzalez
Elizabeth Hays
Christopher McKee, Co-Chair
Eamonn Kerins
Christopher Kochanek
Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki
Joseph Silk
Alycia Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

The committee reviewed the current text and discussed it.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

July 15, 2022

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #19)

July 7, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Christopher McKee, Co-Chair
Shaul Hanany
William Brandt
Daniela Calzetti
Ian Dell'Antonio
Peter Garnavich
Anthony Gonzalez
Elizabeth Hays
Mustapha Ishak
Christopher Kochanek
Garth Illingworth
Joseph Silk

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

The committee reviewed the current text and discussed it.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

July 07, 2022

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #18)

June 30, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Shaul Hanany
William Brandt
Daniela Calzetti
Peter Garnavich
Anthony Gonzalez
Eamonn Kerins
Christopher Kochanek
Garth Illingworth
Joseph Silk
Alycia Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

The committee reviewed the current text and discussed it.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

June 30, 2022

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #17)

June 23, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Thomas Greene, Co-Chair
Christopher McKee, Co-Chair
William Neil Brandt
Daniela Calzetti
Ian Dell’Antonio
Peter Garnavich
Anthony Gonzalez
Elizabeth Hays
Garth Illingworth
Mustapha Ishak
Eammon Kerins
Christopher Kochanek
Joseph Silk
Alycia Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Discussion of status of report writing.
-Discussed next meeting and next steps.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

June 23, 2022

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #16)

June 16, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Christopher McKee, Co-Chair
William Neil Brandt
Daniela Calzetti
Peter Garnavich
Anthony Gonzalez
Shaul Hanany
Elizabeth Hays
Garth Illingworth
Mustapha Ishak
Eammon Kerins
Christopher Kochanek
Joseph Silk
Alycia Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Report writing.
-Homework and next steps.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

June 23, 2022

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference Meeting #15)

June 9, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Shaul Hanany, Elizabeth Hays, Alycia Weinberger, Christopher McKee, Gabriela Gonzalez, Christopher Kochanek, Daniela Calzetti, Eamonn Kerins, Garth Illingworth, Ian Dell’Antonio, Joseph Silk, Quinn Konopacky, Peter Garnavich, and William Neilsen Brandt.

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

The committee discussed the draft report and next steps.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

November 28, 2023

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference Meeting #14)

June 2, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Christopher F. McKee, NAS, Co-Chair
William Nielsen Brandt
Daniela Calzetti
Ian Dell'Antonio
Anthony Gonzalez
Shaul Hanany
Eammon Kerins
Christopher Kochanek
Joseph Silk
Alycia J. Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Reflected on today's presentation.
-Discussed report draft.
-Next steps and homework.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

June 02, 2022

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference Meeting #13)

May 26, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Chris McKee, Co-Chair
Shaul Hanany
W. Niel Brandt
Daniela Calzetti
Ian Dell'Antonio
Peter Garnavich
Anthony Gonzalez
Elizabeth Hays
Garth Illingworth
Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki
Christopher Kochanek
Quinn Konopacky
Joe Silk
Alycia Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-The committee reviewed and discussed the draft report.
-Homework assignments and next steps.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

May 27, 2022

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference Meeting #12)

May 19, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

MacKenty HST Perspectives on Roman Operations

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Thomas Greene, Co-Chair
Christopher McKee, Co-Chair
William Brandt
Daniela Calzetti
Ian Dell'Antonio
Peter Garnavich
Anthony Gonzalez
Shaul Hanany
Elizabeth Hays
Garth Illingworth
Mustapha Ishak
Eamonn Kerins
Christopher Kochanek
Quinn Konopacky
Alycia Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Reflected on presentation.
-Next steps.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference Meeting #11)

May 12, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope and will be closed in its entirety.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Christopher McKee, Co-Chair
Ian Dell’Antonio
Anthony Gonzalez
Alyssa Goodman
Shaul Hanany
Elizabeth Hays
Garth Illingworth
Mustapha Ishak
Eamonn Kerins
Christopher Kochanek
Joe Silk
Alycia Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Committee discussed if additional information is needed.
-Committee discussed report outline and next steps.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

May 12, 2022

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #10)

May 5, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

Bailey V Roman Coronagraph Instrument Overview

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Christopher McKee, Co-Chair
William Brandt
Daniela Calzetti
Ian Dell'Antonio
Peter Garnavich
Shaul Hanany
Elizabeth Hays
Garth Illingworth
Mustapha Ishak
Eamonn Kerins
Christopher Kochanek
Quinn Konopacky
Alycia Weinerger
Joe Silk

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Discussed presentation.
-Discussed next steps and report writing.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

May 05, 2022

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #9)

April 28, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available. A recording of the teleconference is available below.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Not Closed

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #8)

April 21, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

Paladini Galactic Plane Survey Proposal Presentation

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Not Closed

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Teleconference #6)

April 20, 2022

4:00 PM - 5:30 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

Hertz NASA Update

About

This is the sixth teleconference of the committee.

Please visit the project website for the agenda and additional information, as it becomes available.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Not Closed

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Teleconference #5)

April 15, 2022

12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (ET)

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

About

This is the fifth teleconference of the committee.

Please visit the project website for the agenda and additional information, as it becomes available.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Not Closed

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #7)

April 14, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Christopher McKee, Joseph Silk, Shaul Hanany, Mustapha Ishak, Christopher Kochanek, Eamonn Kerins, Ian Dell'Antonio, Daniela Calzetti, Garth Illingworth, William Nielsen Brandt, and Gabriela González.

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-The committee discussed the report.
-Homework assignments and next steps.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

November 16, 2023

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #6)

April 7, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Joseph Silk, Shaul Hanany, Daniela Calzetti, Eamonn Kerins, Ian Dell’Antonio, Peter Garnavich, Mustapha Ishak, Garth Illingworth, Christopher Kochanek, Anthony Gonzalez, Eammon Kerins, William Niel Brandt, Alycia Weinberger, Daniela Calzetti, and Quinn Konopacky.

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-The committee reflected on presentations.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

November 16, 2023

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #5)

March 31, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Not Closed

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Space Science Week) - Spring Meeting 2022

March 21 - 24, 2022

Past

About

Space Science Week 2022 will be held virtually, there will be plenary sessions and public lectures held on March 21-22. The Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics will be holding open sessions on March 23-24.

WATCH THE VIDEO RECORDING

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Thomas Greene, Co-Chair
Christopher F. McKee, Co-Chair
William Nielsen Brandt
Gabriela González
Alyssa A. Goodman
Shaul Hanany
Elizabeth Hays
Garth Illingworth
Jeff R. Kuhn
Scott Ransom
Kate Scholberg
Alycia J. Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Discussed the agenda and meeting flow.
-Conducted bias and conflict discussion for new membership.
-Reflected on presentations.
-Update regarding the Roman Space Telescope report.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

November 15, 2023

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #4)

March 17, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Chris McKee, Co-Chair
W. Neil Brandt
Daniela Calzetti
Peter Garnavich
Gabriela Gonzalez
Shaul Hanany
Elizabeth Hays
Garth Illingworth
Eammon Kerins
Christopher Konopacky
Joseph Silk
Alycia Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Committee reflected on today's presentations.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

March 17, 2022

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #3)

March 10, 2022

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

About

This teleconference is for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Shaul Hanany
Christopher McKee
W. Niel Brandt
Daniela Calzetti
Ian Dell'Antonio
Peter Garnavich
Anthony Gonzalez
Liz Hays
Garth Illingworth
Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki
Eamonn Kerins
Christopher Kochanek
Jeff R. Kuhn
Wanda Sigur
Joe Silk
Alycia Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Committee reflected on presentation.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

November 09, 2023

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #2)

March 3, 2022

12:30 PM - 1:30 PM (ET)

Past

About

This is the second teleconference for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope. The meeting is closed in its entirety.

Please visit the project website for additional information and upcoming meetings, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Shaul Hanany
W. Niel Brandt
Daniela Calzetti
Ian Dell'Antonio
Peter Garnavich
Anthony Gonzalez
Liz Hays
Garth Illingworth
Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki
Eamonn Kerins
Christopher Kochanek
Quinn Konopacky
Alycia Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Identified experts to have present at future telecons.
-Questions for NASA at the next meeting.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

March 03, 2022

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Roman Space Telescope Teleconference #1)

February 24, 2022

4:00 PM - 6:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

01 Hertz NASA Roman Space Telescope Study

About

This is the kickoff teleconference for the CAA's report on the Roman Space Telescope. Please visit the project website for the agenda and additional information, as it becomes available.

The statement of task for this report is as follows:

The 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (hereafter Pathways), concluded that the scientific landscape and the Roman Space Telescope’s capabilities have changed significantly since it was first envisioned by New Worlds, New Horizons (hereafter NWNH), and the currently planned balance of surveys and guest investigator-led observations may not be optimally suited to take advantage of new scientific opportunities. The Pathways report recommended (§7.7.1) that the NASA Astrophysics Division should hold a non-advocate review of the Roman Space Telescope’s science program to set the appropriate mix of survey time devoted to the 3 Core Community Surveys (which address the weak lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae, and microlensing programs in NWNH) relative to guest investigator-led observing programs during the primary five-year mission.

The NASA Astrophysics Division would like advice from the CAA on the philosophy for setting the mix of survey times and that this is responsive to the Pathways recommendation of a non-advocate review.

The charge to the CAA has two parts.

Part 1:

Background. Roman’s current observing plan constraint is that the three Core Community Surveys + 3 months of CGI tech demo observations take up no more than 75% of the available observing time. The remaining =25% is for General Astrophysics Surveys as proposed by the community. The baseline plan is to conduct an open community process in the 2022-2023 timeframe to maximize the overall scientific return from the Core Community Surveys, while also providing the observations needed to meet the cosmology and exoplanet demographics science requirements derived from Astro2010 and reiterated by Astro2020.

Question. Should this community process (1) continue as is and maximize the utility of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science while strictly maintain the constraint of =25% of available observing time for General Astrophysics Surveys; (2) focus the Core Community Surveys solely on cosmology and exoplanet requirements, and optimize for shortest possible surveys, thereby maximizing the time available for General Astrophysics Surveys; or (3) relax the =25% constraint to enable greater optimizations of the Core Community Surveys for general astrophysics science?

Part 2:

Background. Within the General Astrophysics Surveys, the Baseline plan allows for 30 selected proposals over the Roman prime mission lifetime across three proposal cycles. Experience with both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has demonstrated that peer reviews do not do a good job of comparing small programs to large programs. For both Hubble and Chandra, time is explicitly set aside for, and competed, to enable large programs.

Question. How should the Roman project the balance between the fractions of time allocated to large/medium/small General Astrophysics Surveys (i.e. allocate more time to large coherent observations, or allocate more time to a multitude of smaller independent ones)? How should the Roman project set the overall number of General Astrophysics Surveys (note that increasing the number of General Astrophysics Surveys, even holding total time constant, will come at increased cost to the mission)?

The Roman Project requires the advice of the non-advocate CAA as soon as possible in order to make the anticipated changes in the Roman observing plan. NASA plans to solicit wide field instrument science and infrastructure teams imminently (solicitation released in January 2022, proposals due in April 2022, selections in September 2022); these teams will work on a broad range of science preparation activities and to develop infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious science goals made possible with Roman surveys. The NASA Astrophysics Division requests that the CAA undertake the necessary research for providing this advice prior to the March 2022 meeting, discuss the question during the March 2022 meeting, and deliver a report to NASA before July 15, 2022.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Tom Greene, Co-Chair
Chris McKee, Co-Chair
William Nielsen Brandt
Daniela Calzetti
Ian Dell'antonio
Peter Garnavich
Anthony Gonzalez
Gabriela Gonzalez
Shaul Hanany
Elizabeth Hays
Garth Illingsworth
Mustapha Ishak
Eamonn Kerins
Christopher Kochanek
Scott Ransom
Wanda Sigur
Joseph Silk

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Reflections on NASA presentations
-Discussion of Statement of Task
-Planning for additional telecons and/or meetings.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Teleconference #4)

January 27, 2022

12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

About

Please visit the project website for updates and additional information. The agenda is subject to change.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Not Closed

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Teleconference #3)

January 18, 2022

1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (ET)

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

About

Please visit the project website for updates and additional information. The agenda is subject to change.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Not Closed

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Fall Meeting 2021)

November 8 - 9, 2021

Past

Materials

About

This virtual meeting will consist of both closed and open public sessions.

Please visit the website for the agenda and any additional updates.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Thomas Greene, Co-Chair
Christopher F. McKee, NAS, Co-Chair
William Nielsen Brandt
Gabriela González, NAS
Alyssa A. Goodman
Shaul Hanany
Elizabeth Hays
Jeff R. Kuhn
Scott Ransom
Kate Scholberg
Wanda A. Sigur, NAE
Joseph Silk
Alycia J. Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Membership.
-Reflections on Presentations from Day 1 and 2.
-Future work for the CAA.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

November 10, 2021

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Space Science Week Spring Meeting 2021)

March 23 - 25, 2021

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

Materials

About

Space Science Week 2021 will be held virtually, there will be a plenary session and public lecture held on March 23. The Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics will be holding open and closed sessions on March 24-25 (times subject to change, all times are Eastern).

SSW Showcase (all recordings) https://vimeo.com/showcase/8287575

CAA March 24 https://vimeo.com/showcase/8287575/video/537084283

CAA March 25 https://vimeo.com/showcase/8287575/video/537084505

Astro2020 Update: The Astro2020 steering committee is completing their deliberative process and continuing to work towards the completion of their report. We apologize for the last minute schedule change, but there aren’t further details of the steering committee’s work that can be shared publicly at this time.

Please see the agenda for additional information.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Thomas Greene, Co-Chair
Vassiliki Kalogera, Co-Chair
William Nielsen Brandt
Shaul Hanany
Elizabeth Hays
Jason Kalirai
Jeff R. Kuhn
Christopher F. McKee
Scott Ransom
Kate Scholberg
Joseph Silk
A. Thomas Young
Alycia J. Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Recap and reactions to presentations.
-Planning for the Fall meeting.
-Annual bias and conflict of interest discussion.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

April 05, 2021

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics: 2019 Fall

November 26, 2019

1:00 PM - 5:00 PM (ET)

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

Materials

About

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

1:00 - 5:00 PM Eastern

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics Fall Meeting via Zoom. Please click on the agenda link below for details.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Thomas Greene, Co-Chair
Vassiliki Kalogera, Co-Chair
Shaul Hanany
Elizabeth Hays
Jason Kalirai
Jeff Kuhn
Christopher McKee
Scott Ranson
Kate Scholberg
Joseph Silk
Alexey Vikhlinin
Alycia Weinberger

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

-Discussion of today's presentations
-Planning for Space Science Week Meeting

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee during closed session.

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics - 2018 Fall

October 29 - 30, 2018

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

About

Fall 2018 Meeting of the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (CAA). A dicsipline committee of the Space Studies Board and the Board on Physics and Astronomy.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Location

Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center

100 Academy Way

Irvine CA 92617, USA

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference Closed

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics - Teleconference #2

March 12, 2018

12:00 AM - 12:00 AM (ET)

Past

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Institution Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

MARCIA RIEKE, Co-Chair
STEVEN M. RITZ, Co-Chair
JEREMIAH K. DARLING
MEGAN DONAHUE
THOMAS GREENE
LEE W. HARTMANN
VASSILIKI KALOGERA
BRUCE MACINTOSH
CHRISTOPHER F. MCKEE
ANGELA V. OLINTO
ALEXEY VIKHLININ

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

*The Committee discussed the agenda for their next meeting.
*The Committee discussed the short report that will be produced following the March meeting.

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

March 13, 2018

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Tele Conference

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics - Teleconference #1

February 26, 2018

12:00 AM - 12:00 AM (ET)

Past

Additional Information

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics - 2017 Spring

March 28 - 30, 2017

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Partially Closed

The following committee members were present at the closed sessions of the event

Rieke, Marcia, Co-Chair
Ritz, Steven, Co-Chair
Darling, Jeremiah K. (via telecon)
Donahue, Megan
Greene, Thomas
Hartmann, Lee W. (via telecon)
Kalogera, Vassiliki (via telecon)
Macintosh, Bruce
McKee, Christopher F.
Phillips, Mark M. (via telecon)
Vikhlinin, Alexey (via telecon)
Wilcots, Eric M.
Young, A. Thomas

The following topics were discussed in the closed sessions:

Report content
Report writing assignments
Plans for the fall meeting

The following materials (written documents) were made available to the committee in the closed sessions:

No outside materials were distributed to the committee.

Date of posting of Closed Session Summary:

April 05, 2017

Contact

Dionna Wise

dwise@nas.edu

Location

National Academy of Sciences Building

2101 Constitution Ave NW

Washington DC 20418, USA

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics - 2016 Fall

October 31 - November 1, 2016

Past

Materials

About

Prior to 2017 the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics was a standing committee that was not subject to FACA requirements. Meetings posted from 2013-2016 are for information only.

Additional Information

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Location

Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center

100 Academy Way

Irvine CA 92617, USA

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics - 2013 Spring

March 6 - 8, 2013

Past

Materials

About

Prior to 2017 the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics was a standing committee that was not subject to FACA requirements. Meetings posted from 2013-2016 are for information only.

Additional Information

Contact

Dionna Wise

(202) 334-2447
dwise@nas.edu

Location

National Academy of Sciences Building

2101 Constitution Ave NW

Washington DC 20418, USA

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

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