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What’s Ahead
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| NASA’s Space Launch System awaiting its first launch. (Image credit – Joel Kowsky / NASA) |
NASA Aims to Launch Artemis Lunar Exploration Mission
NASA called off the planned launch of the first mission in its Artemis lunar exploration campaign on Monday morning, but may be able to use backup launch windows on Friday and next Monday. Should those opportunities prove unviable, the next launch opportunities will be weeks from now. The launch scrub stemmed from difficulties encountered when fueling the Space Launch System, which is NASA’s most powerful rocket to date and has never before been launched. In its initial configuration, the SLS is designed to propel the new crew vehicle Orion into lunar orbit. Orion will launch aboard Artemis I, but without a crew, and if all goes well it will travel on a 42-day trajectory that includes two close orbits around the Moon. Also launching with the mission are 10 cubesats that will deploy from the SLS, variously to study the Moon, investigate space weather and cislunar radiation, and demonstrate technologies. However, the cubesats were installed as payloads a year ago and half employ batteries that may now be too drained to provide adequate power.
Future Artemis missions aim to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon and develop technologies for the eventual crewed exploration of Mars. The missions will also offer opportunities for astronaut-assisted scientific research, such as geologic sample collection campaigns. In addition, robotic missions that are expected to start launching later this year will markedly expand the reach of future lunar research. However, the most recent decadal survey for planetary science urged NASA to better coordinate the crewed and robotic aspects of the agency’s lunar activities, arguing that planning to date has been inadequate.
DARPA Kicks Off Regional Outreach Event Series
Through the end of this year, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is holding a series of six public conferences at universities across the country to raise awareness about its programs among researchers and spur regional partnerships. Called DARPA Forward, the series begins this week at Colorado State University, and the hosts for the subsequent conferences are Washington State University, Ohio State University, Georgia Tech, Texas A&M University, and the University of California, San Diego. DARPA Director Stefanie Tompkins explained in a recent interview that the agency has periodically held university symposia, but they tended to be held in coastal states and mainly attended by researchers with longstanding ties to the agency. “If you’re going to take the time, and you’re going to pay the money, and you’re going to travel, you have to have some sense that there is a real value for you. And my worry is always that there are amazing people with amazing ideas hidden across the country for whom we have not reached that threshold … and so it really feels like we need to find a way to come find them.”
NOAA Science Advisory Board Convenes
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In Case You Missed It
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| Image credit – The White House |
US to Require Immediate Public Access to Federally Funded Research
In a surprise move, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued a memorandum on Aug. 25 that directs all federal agencies to require peer-reviewed publications resulting from research they fund to be made freely available upon publication. This requirement is scheduled to take effect no later than the start of 2026 and also applies to data that are necessary to validate scientific findings reported in the publications. The memorandum updates a 2013 policy from OSTP that granted publishers a one-year embargo period before papers had to be made freely available. In an interview with Science, interim OSTP Director Alondra Nelson said the new policy is not meant to favor any particular publishing business models, such as journals that charge authors fees to make their articles freely available.
Alongside the memorandum, OSTP published an economic analysis of the publishing industry that argues the benefits of immediate access to research “greatly outweigh” the costs and that eliminating the embargo period will spur further innovation in publishing business models that have matured since 2013. Implementation of the new policy will be coordinated by a newly rechartered Subcommittee on Open Science within the National Science and Technology Council, an interagency body. Open-access advocates were quick to celebrate the embargo elimination while publishers had mixed reactions, with both groups cautioning that its ultimate impact will depend considerably on how agencies implement it. (FYI is published by AIP, a nonprofit federation of scientific societies. AIP is partially supported by revenues from AIP Publishing, a wholly owned but independently operated subsidiary that produces scholarly journals.)
Biden Creates Council to Steer CHIPS Act Initiatives
President Biden issued an executive order last week that creates a steering council for implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act’s semiconductor initiatives, led by the heads of the National Economic Council, National Security Council, and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The order also outlines six broad priorities for those initiatives: ensuring U.S. leadership in semiconductor R&D, reducing “reliance on vulnerable or overly concentrated foreign production for both leading-edge and mature microelectronics,” catalyzing private-sector investment, building up regional manufacturing and innovation centers, and ensuring programs “protect taxpayer dollars” and benefit disadvantaged communities. Implementation updates will be reported on CHIPS.gov, a new website hosted by the Department of Commerce, which is managing most of the $52 billion appropriated by the act.
Report Urges Expanding Data on NASA-Funded Researchers
The National Academies released a report last week to help NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) assess the “health and vitality” of research communities it supports and inform future decadal surveys’ assessments of the “state” of those communities. It identifies six key attributes that should be tracked: clear scientific goals, a diverse workforce, engagement with broader society, sufficient funding, the ability to adapt to new challenges, and shared standards of conduct. It specifically recommends NASA collect data on “demographic aspects beyond race and gender,” such as the type of higher education institutions its researchers attended, to better understand “cultural and opportunity differences” that they faced. To facilitate assessments of the funding available within a field, the report recommends creating a “dashboard of annual priorities and budget allocations” to enable “at-a-glance” assessments of program progress. It also suggests tracking trends in funding distribution across disciplines and locations, the ratio of directed to competed research dollars, grant application success rates per principal investigator, and hours per week expected to support specific research contracts, among other project attributes.
DOE Creates New Set of Energy Frontier Research Centers
The Department of Energy announced last week that it will provide $400 million to its latest round of Energy Frontier Research Centers, which includes 43 new and continuing centers. Managed by the Office of Science’s Basic Energy Science program, the four-year awards will support research at over 100 universities and national laboratories that addresses a broad spectrum of scientific challenges. Since the program launched in 2009, it has funded 88 centers, including 41 that are currently active. Seven centers whose awards are ending this year were not renewed in the latest funding round.
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Events This Week
All times are Eastern Daylight Time, unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement.
Monday, August 29
Tuesday, August 30
Wednesday, August 31
Thursday, September 1
Friday, September 2
No events.
Monday, September 5
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Opportunities US Meteorological Council Seeking Input
The White House is soliciting input to inform a decadal strategic plan for the Interagency Council for Advancing Meteorological Services. The council is especially interested in input on ways to “improve societal resilience in response to global climate change and other challenges,” as well as opportunities for federal agencies to improve coordination. Comments are due Oct. 3.
Mirzayan Science Policy Fellowship Applications Open
The National Academies is accepting applications for the 2023 Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program, which will run from March 6 to May 26. Fellows will work at the National Academies in Washington, D.C., supporting policy studies. Applicants must have earned a graduate degree in a STEM-related field within the last five years or be a current graduate student. Applications are due Oct. 31
European Fusion Group Hiring Director
Fusion for Energy, which oversees Europe’s contribution to the international ITER fusion experiment, is seeking a director. The director will be located at the organization’s headquarters in Barcelona and serve a five-year term, which can be renewed. Candidates must be citizens of an EU member state, with exceptions possible for citizens of the U.K. and Switzerland. Applications are due Sep. 23.
Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
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