As many of you know, the Beyond Einstein mission line is being sent to Thunderdome to see who survives a meeting of the Dreaded NRC Committee To Be Named At A Later Time.
Apparently the mission teams may have to present their case in as little as three weeks, which is causing some interesting consternations, especially since what they have to present is not yet defined, which makes sense since no one seems to know yet who the committee members are. Or if they know, they haven't told me (HINT!).
But... I learned The Critical Piece of Information:
the cost of the committee is split 50:50 between NASA and the DoE.
Huh?
That is a Very Interesting way to run a NASA science prioritization committee.
Now, if I were a wiley DoE administrator, and obviously I am not. I would only agree to such a deal if I got to name half the members of the committee...
Which brings us back to the First Rule of Committees
So, any one know who is on the committee yet? Seriously.
- Log in to post comments
No clues about the committees. If anyone here has been asked, they've been very quiet about it.
Cripes. Thanks for the word on the NASA/DOE cost splitting, hadn't heard that yet. Will keep listening for word about the committee composition.
In his Saturday morning talk, Harvey Tananbaum of CON-X emphasised:
Constellation-X is the next priority after JWST.
CON-X and LISA are approved projects (unlike JDEM?)
Roger Blandford spoke before him and nearly avoided mentioning "dark energy." The HEAD crowd was on the side of CON-X.
Well, the HEAD crowd was Con-X.
Don't think I've seen that many GSFC people in Goddard!
Saw your poster, didn't get a chance to meet you.
If you saw a blur chasing a small fast munchkin then the odds were about 1/3 that it was me.
What did Michael Salamon say about NASA Astrophysics (as he was listed as doing so on the HEPAP agenda)? He's had a hard time at NASA HQ, since he's a serious scientist, respected by astrophysicists, and yet was yanked from his position as a Director of Physics at the White House, by NASA HQ, for essentially political grounds. Coincidently, he went to the same high school as Lisa Randall and Brian Greene.
I wasn't at HEPAP
Babe in the Universe summarises
He made the interesting point that NASA had in fact prioritised Beyond Einstein already; the launch order is LISA, Con-X and then the competition between JDEM/BHF/IP (ie SNAP vs EXIST)
It is SNAP which is pushing for JDEM to be moved up, in front of the already pipelined major missions, which are currently pre-phase A.
JDEM is not yet selected, never mind piped.
My understanding is that LISA is at a higher tech review level than Con-X, but I could be wrong. I've heard arguments that LISA decision should wait the data from LISA Pathfinder, ie be postponed, but that is bullshit.
Con-X has a known time lag of five year - they can't get the mirrors formed faster - so their launch date is at best decision time + 6 years.
Bottom line is: DoE vs ESA vs Field Center support. IMNSHO.