Dear SBAG community,

NASA is seeking comments in the form of a request for information (RFI) from the scientific community on the most recent Announcements of Opportunity (AOs) issued by the Planetary Sciences Division of the Science Mission Directorate. The AOs which are the focus of this request are (1) the New Frontiers 2009 AO, (2) the Discovery 2010 AO, and (3) the Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) Instrument AO. These AOs, though based on the Standard AO, contained new features such as incentives for the use of specific, NASA-developed technologies, extended reserve requirements and concurrent evaluations by international partners. In anticipation of the next AOs for the Discovery and New Frontiers Programs, NASA seeks information from the science and mission management community on perceptions of the distinctive features of the three recent AOs. Responses to the RFI are due by October 16, 2013. For more details see the full text of the RFI on the NSPIRES website (solicitation NNH13ZDA014L) http://goo.gl/2YlD8e.

The SBAG steering committee is considering whether and how to respond to this RFI and would like community input. Please send comments on issues that you think are appropriate for SBAG to address to Neil Dello Russo [email protected] by Wednesday October 9 in order to be considered by the steering committee. Clearly any SBAG response does not preclude members of the small bodies community from responding to this RFI individually.

Best wishes,

Nancy Chabot
SBAG Chair
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory