26 September 2017
NASA and JAXA have jointly agreed to participate in the X-ray Astronomy Recovery Mission (XARM), in order to restore the soft X-ray spectroscopic capability lost with the Hitomi mission in March 2016. The key scientific objective of XARM is to "Pioneer a new horizon of the Universe with unprecedented high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy."
In order to optimize the scientific utilization of the mission, NASA, JAXA, and ESA will appoint a XARM Science Team. This team primarily consists of scientists involved in the development of, plus a small number of external Participating Scientists, the US members of which are solicited in this new ROSES element. A major objective of the XARM science team is to maximize the scientific use of XARM, particularly during the Performance Verification (PV) phase of the mission. The key tasks of the XARM Science Team are to:
As full members of the XARM Science Team, Participating Scientists will have access to all PV phase data. Participating Scientists will be appointed to the XARM Science Team in early 2018 and will serve a five-year term. This term is based upon the anticipated start of NASA mission implementation (Phase C) and ends with the anticipated publication of the PV phase data. Proposals from individuals at all career stages, from postdoctoral researchers to senior scientists, are encouraged.
This program element uses a two-step proposal submission process via the NSPIRES system in which the notice of intent is replaced by a required Step-1 proposal. Mandatory Step-1 proposals are due October 24, 2017, and Step-2 proposals are due December 13, 2017.
The full text of the solicitation may be found here: NASA Research Announcement: X-ray Astronomy Recovery Mission (XARM) Participating Scientists.
For more information, please contact Dr. Daniel Evans, the XARM Program Scientist (daniel.a.evans@nasa.gov).