Table of Contents

Science

Joint Committee on Space Astronomy (JCSA)

Summary of meeting held on June 4/5, 2006
Calgary, Alberta

This meeting occurred immediately following the CASCA conference in Calgary.

Membership: Current membership list can be viewed at
www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/sciences/committees-jcsa.asp

CSA Space Science Update:

• Meeting with NSERC: A meeting was recently held between representatives of CSA Space Science and NSERC to discuss harmonization of funding for space science activities.
• Frequency of JCSA meetings: The JCSA expressed the view that they would prefer to maintain two meetings a year.
• COSPAR 2008: The 2008 assembly will be held in Montreal (in July). Canadian astronomers are strongly encouraged to participate.

Current Missions/Activities:

The Principal Investigators or their representatives presented updates on current missions. This included Planck LFI by D. Scott; JWST FGS & FUSE & UVIT by J. Hutchings, Planck HFI by D. Bond, Herschel HIFI by M. Fich, BLAST by E. Pascale, CADC by D. Schade and Herschel SPIRE by D. Naylor.

Status of various AOs:

SSEP results will not be announced before the beginning of 2007 due to funding pressures. The deadline for submitting discipline working group proposals should be after Space Astronomy workshop. CSA Space Science and Space Technology branches are planning to release a joint AO for mission concepts. A Small Payload AO process was also described. This would be for Phase-A studies for future "small payload" opportunities (e.g. balloon missions, small/micro satellite missions, small payloads on international missions, etc.). It was recommended that the CSA AO process should be more transparent and that AOs should be released on a fixed time period. Definition of types of studies and phases should also be clarified.

Space Astronomy Workshop:

Plans were described for the upcoming workshop, to be held in November at the CSA HQ. (www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/events/2006/csaw.asp)

Updates to Astronomy Long Range Plan and Role of Space Astronomy:

The upcoming Space Astronomy workshop was considered as an excellent opportunity in relation to the development of the next plan.

Review of Current Missions/Activities:

JSWT:
Recommendation: J. Hutchings should be commended for his continued effort toward the realization of this major project. The JCSA expressed support for the fellowship program with awards going to the best candidate(s) and not to projects.

FUSE, MOST, Planck LFI, Planck HFI, Herschel HIFI, Herschel SPIRE:
Recommendation: JCSA endorses the plan to maintain the current funding level for all of these projects.

UVIT:
Recommendation: JCSA recommends the UVIT team to investigate the possibility of archiving UVIT data obtained (and possibly of other ASTROSAT instruments) at CADC. Continued funding of the project is recommended.

BLAST:
Recommendation: JCSA recommends continued funding for this project for the second science flight. A third science flight will be dependent on the status of the recovered payload; the most appropriate funding route would then be through a Small Payload AO.

CADC:
Recommendation: The JCSA is sympathetic to the CADC request for additional funds, but given the current fiscal constraints cannot at this point recommend additional support.

Next Meeting:

Next JCSA meeting planned near the time of the Space Astronomy Workshop, end of November, at CSA.

Further details relating to the above can be obtained from members of the committee or Dr. Jean Dupuis, Scientific Secretary to the committee (jean.dupuis@asc-csa.gc.ca).