NASA Astrophysics Senior Review 2014

Senior Review is out:

summary - Swift #1, then NuStar.
K2 gets partial funding. Spitzer is terminated.
Panel recommends not cutting off the bottom but balancing fields.

NASA Response to the 2014 Senior Review for Astrophysics Operating Missions - Final Version for Release (5.16.14) - this is an edited update of the NASA response that was on the website on the 15th of May. It is tagged as Final version and for release, so I guess it is now official.

Final Report Astro 2014 Senior Review Panel (pdf)

NASA Response to 2014 Senior Review for Operating Missions FINAL (pdf)

NASA used the prioritized rankings and individual recommendations of the Senior Review to make the following decisions for each of the projects in the Senior Review. The missions are presented in alphabetical order.
Summary of NASA decisions:

  • Chandra X-ray Observatory: extension approved
  • Fermi Gamma-ray Space telescope: extension approved
  • Hubble Space Telescope: extension approved
  • Kepler Space Telescope: extension approved
  • Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR): extension approved
  • Planck (ESA mission): augmentation approved
  • Spitzer Space Telescope: mission not extended
  • Suzaku/Astro-E2 (JAXA mission): extension approved
  • Swift Gamma-ray Burst Explorer: extension approved
  • Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE): augmentation not approved
  • X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission-Newton (XMM-Newton) (ESA mission): extension
    approved

added bonus official

Final Report Chandra 2014 Senior Review Panel (pdf)

Final Report HST 2014 Senior Review Panel (pdf)

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I've been thrilled by Kevin Luhman's discoveries of nearby brown dwarfs, and I've been hoping more such objects will be discovered, perhaps even closer ones. Does the news about WISE and Spitzer mean that those hopes should be diminished? Or, is that data already collected and this news only impacts other studies? (Maybe astrophysics studies that aren't as attention-getting as new neighbors?)

Stein: The report is notably coy about actual dollar amounts. Do you know if the requested budgets are available somewhere?

By Martin E. (not verified) on 16 May 2014 #permalink