PCOS Mission Studies
NASA-ESA Athena Study
NASA is working with ESA to define the possible NASA contribution to this ESA-led X-ray mission.
The ESA Athena page, which should be consulted for information about the mission, is here: http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/athena
One U.S. scientist, Randall Smith of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been selected for the SST. Robert Petre of GSFC and Michael Garcia of NASA/HQ are ex-officio members. The full membership of ESA's Athena SST is given in the list below (see http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/athena/team-membership).
ESA's Athena Science Study Team
Xavier Barcons (IFCA, ES)
Didier Barret (IRAP, FR)
Anne Decourchelle (CEA Saclay, FR)
Jan-Willem den Herder (SRON, NL)
Andrew Fabian (Cambridge, UK)
Hironori Matsumoto (Nagoya U, JP)
Kirpal Nandra (MPE, DE)
Luigi Piro (INAF, IT)
Randall Smith (CfA, U.S.)
Richard Willingale (Leicester, UK)
January 5, 2017: AAS Athena Splinter Meeting
December 14, 2015: Athena SST/SWG/US Co-Chairs Reports
In November 2015, the Athena Science Study Team re-opened applications for membership to the Community Working Groups. US scientists should apply directly via the ASST web site (rather than via NASA) by the Dec 31, 2015 deadline. More information is available on ESA Athena websites for both the Athena community working group structure and membership as well as the application form.
In July 2014, NASA issued a Dear Colleague Letter asking for community participation in the ESA Athena Science Study Team.
In November 2014, NASA issued a second Dear Colleague Letter asking for community participation in the Athena Science Study Team Working Groups.

PCOS News
Program News and Announcements
16 December 2020
The 237th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Virtually Anywhere, 11–15 January 2021, will include Physics of the Cosmos events. The PCOS AAS2021 Meeting page lists currently scheduled sessions, presentations, chats, and displays »
Details.
4 December 2020
Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) Step-2 Due Date. Step-2 proposals now due
3 February 2021. Step-1 proposal due date unchanged as
11 December 2020 »
Details.
4 December 2020
Release of Final text and Due Dates for ROSES Post-COVID Recovery program. Requests received by
4 January 2021 will be processed first. Final due date is
5 March 2021. »
Details.
4 December 2020
NICER seeks panel members for Cycle 3 proposal review »
Details.
4 December 2020
NASA Science seeking volunteer proposal reviewers in Earth and Space Science »
Details.
9 November 2020
SMD Community Town Hall on Tues 17 November to discuss updates to the Agency-wide science program. »
Details.
6 November 2020
NASA Fundamental Physics Program Virtual Town Hall on
3 December 2020, to discuss research priorities in advance of the Biological and Physical Sciences Division Decadal Survey. »
Details.
5 November 2020
Call for proposals for Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM). Step-1 Proposals are due
11 December 2020. »
Details.
28 October 2020
Call for proposals on Open-Source Tools, Libraries, and Frameworks. »
Details.
28 October 2020
Revised Text and Due Date for NuSTAR General Observer Program Cycle 7. »
Details.
22 Oct 2020
Principal Investigator Launchpad workshop in Summer 2021, targeted toward researchers developing their first flight mission concepts. »
Details.
21 October 2020
Revised submission date: Applications Sought for PhysPAG Executive Committee. Submissions now due
November 6. »
Details.
14 October 2020
Astrophysics Explorers Announcement of Opportunity Community Announcement »
Details.
17 September 2020
NASA announces major revisions in Astrophysics Research and Analysis opportunity. Due dates remain unchanged. »
Details.
29 July 2020
Community Announcement: Intention to Amend ROSES-20 via a Future Appendix for Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM). »
Details.
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