10 June 2022
The Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 Decadal Survey (Astro2020) outlines an ambitious program of Future Great Observatories that will address fundamental questions about our universe in the coming years. Designing missions that will best address Astro2020’s audacious science goals requires clear and well-justified connections among science goals and objectives and mission technology and architecture. Future Great Observatory mission costs can be controlled by having well-defined science goals that minimize cost, scope, and risk. To enable this, NASA will invest in Precursor Science: science investigations that will inform mission architectures and trades, with the goal of reducing mission design and development cost, scope, and risk where possible.
NASA will hold a second Precursor Science Workshop from 2 – 4 August 2022, open to all, to continue conversation with the community about precursor science. NASA intends to fund precursor science through a new element of the Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences 2022 (ROSES-2022). The Precursor Science research element will fund precursor science investigations for all three great observatories recommended by Astro2020.
The three-day Precursor Science Workshop II will build upon output from the first workshop in April 2022. The goals for the second workshop are to connect Precursor Science ideas to technology and the concept of a Science Traceability Matrix, and to provide a venue for further collaborative development of precursor science ideas and science gaps related to the Future Great Observatories. We anticipate that this workshop will include substantial small-group discussion sessions (likely on Day 2) as well as limited presentations and summary sessions (likely on Days 1 and 3). This workshop and subsequent reports can serve as starting points for further community participation and analysis to develop the future great observatories, including through the Program Analysis Groups of NASA's Exoplanet, Cosmic Origins, and Physics of the Cosmos Programs.
The community precursor science discussions will inform the ROSES-2022 call, with details to be released later in Fall of 2022.
Please indicate your interest in attending, preferably before Tuesday 14 June 2022 at 3p Eastern/2p Central/1p Mountain/12 noon Pacific, and if you have a preference for all-virtual or in-person with virtual option, via this Google Form. We will be updating the Precursor Science website with results from the first Precursor Science Workshop and further details regarding the second workshop in the near future. We will email those who express interest in the second workshop as well.
We look forward to discussing precursor science with you over the next several months!