Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (2023) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix H: Report of the Panel on an Enabling Foundation for Research
Appendix H: Report of the Panel on an Enabling Foundation for Research
Pages 348-372
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From page 348... ...
identify major challenges; and (3) make suggestions to the Astro2020 committee on the topics of computation, simulation, data collection, and data handling; funding models and programs; laboratory astrophysics; and general technology development programs.1 To address its charge, the panel relied on the many valuable white papers submitted by the scientific community, presentations at its three panel meetings, previous National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine studies, interactions with other science and program panels, and member expertise.
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From page 349... ...
Stassun, and T von Hippel, 2015, "Impact of Declining Proposal Success Rates on Scientific Productivity," https://arxiv.org/abs/1510.01647.
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From page 350... ...
People from underrepresented groups are also disproportionately affected by these low success rates.6 Improvements can be made in the way grants are awarded. For example, in the NSF AAG program, a typical 3-year grant will fund a graduate student and, perhaps, 1 month of summer salary.
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From page 351... ...
These tasks will be even more essential in the coming decade. 8 National Science Foundation, 2018, Study of Operations and Maintenance Costs for NSF Facilities, NSB-2018-17, National Science Board, Arlington, VA, https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2018/nsb201817/nsb201817.pdf.
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From page 352... ...
In the past decade, the majority of scientific papers based on data from large missions and surveys are archival analyses. In the coming decade, these archival analyses will become even more important and their technical implementation more challenging.
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From page 353... ...
• Enabling career paths for archive scientists that allow them to move within the ADAS "family." • Providing the resources and mission to initiate and lead community-wide efforts focused on broadening participation through education, training, citizen science, and curriculum development in computational skills, software development, and data science. • Providing the resources and mission to pursue opportunities to develop common resources and shared expertise across centers.
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From page 354... ...
The breadth and depth of this new science, how broad and inclusive the community is that contributes to it, and the profession's ability to take advantage of new and unexpected opportunities depends on a well-funded and well-coordinated archiving system designed for the coming decade and beyond. This suggestion is in line with the recommendations made in the NASA Science Mission Directorate's Strategy for Data Management and Computing for Groundbreaking Science 2019–202411 document.
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H.2.2 Software Software development is an essential part of almost all aspects of astronomy, and software developers, perhaps better called "software instrument builders," are an essential part of the astronomy community. However, neither is sufficiently funded nor supported by existing structures.
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By investing in software training for the entire astronomy community and in astronomical software developers, the profession can build the tools for transformational astronomy in the coming decade. This will require support for making code open source and the maintenance of large codes being developed by both individuals and by broad community efforts.
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From page 357... ...
H.2.3 Theoretical Astrophysics Theory often drives fundamental new discoveries, as well as informing the design and operation of new observations. Support for both individual investigators and theory networks through the agency grant programs is essential for the health of theory programs; however, funding levels have remained flat and proposal success rates have been dropping throughout the past decade.
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Increasing capability in computing infrastructure is crucial for scientific progress. DOE and NSF are significantly increasing their capacity in high-performance computing over the coming decade, while NASA is expanding at a slower rate.
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Data science advances enable new insights in astrophysics. Rich astronomical data sets with underlying physical symmetries can push technology development in data science.
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From page 360... ...
For example, Stalzer and Mentzel19 ranked the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) as the sixth most influential paper in big data, just behind Shannon's classic information theory.20 Astronomical data are valuable for data science for many reasons: • The data are open access, have no commercial value, and are free of the many ethical issues associated with other kinds of image data.
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Currently, there are relatively few groups in the United States that are making the needed laboratory astrophysics measurements, and the prospect for establishing new groups is limited by an overall small funding envelope. This needs to be addressed to maximize the scientific return of the major astronomical investments in the 2020s.
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From page 362... ...
While these fundamental parameters are crucial for stellar astrophysics, they are also important in a wide range of astrophysics ranging from exoplanet science to galaxy formation. The availability of relevant laboratory AMO data, such as highly accurate wavelengths, transition probabilities, photoionization cross sections, line-broadening parameters, and collisional cross sections, will be critical for maximizing the scientific return of these surveys, observatories, and missions, which together represent a significant investment of U.S.
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From page 363... ...
During the period 2014–2018, about 50 percent of new APRA funding went to the Suborbital Program. The remainder was split, with about 20 percent each going to Detector Development and Technology Development and about 10 percent to Laboratory Astrophysics.
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The Enabling Foundation panel received a white paper and met with representatives of both communities who presented the program status. H.2.8.1 Balloon Program The introduction of new super-pressure balloons has enabled the exploration of new, more ambitious science missions with significant science returns.
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From page 365... ...
It may involve a combination of more trained personnel with more flights per campaign, such as expanding the number of launches per season in Antarctica and W¯anaka Airport, New Zealand, with increased infrastructure investment. H.2.8.2 Sounding Rocket Program Like the balloon program, the sounding rocket program has been consistently returning science and technology results while training next-generation instrumentation builders over many decades.
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From page 366... ...
The sounding rocket program differs from the balloon program in that the power, telemetry, and pointing systems are provided to the experimental team. This is possible because the sounding rocket capabilities are very well defined.
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H.2.9.1 Diversifying the Explorers Program Explorer missions tend to be led by teams composed mostly of white males from a limited set of universities and NASA centers. Using gender as a marker of diversity, a study26 of Explorer-class proposals from 2008–2016 finds that the participation by women in the leadership and science teams "is well below the representation of women in astronomy and astrophysics as a whole." PIs, leadership teams, and instrument builders of selected Explorer missions are less diverse than even the astronomy and astrophysics community.
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From page 368... ...
29 Report of National Science Foundation Division of Astronomical Sciences Portfolio Review Committee, 2012, Advancing Astronomy in the Coming Decade: Opportunities and Challenges, NSF, Alexandria, VA, https://www.nsf.gov/mps/ast/portfolioreview/ reports/ast_portfolio_review_report.pdf.
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From page 369... ...
Several MSIP programs provide publicly available astronomical data, and it is likely that these have generated even more publications that are not tracked through the websites. There are several important results enabled by MSIP that are worth listing: • Public release of data from the Dark Energy Survey, Zwicky Transient Factory, and the HyperSuprimeCam survey, providing important benefits to the U.S.
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From page 370... ...
This could potentially limit mid-scale projects in AST, especially given an apparent internal NSF culture to homogenize total award funding across all divisions. Continuation of a healthy AST-only MSIP program would be very wise if the astronomical sciences community envisions many exciting projects with budgets in the mid-scale range in the coming decade.
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From page 371... ...
Circumstances, at times, will justify future noncompetitive awards, but the panel suggests that the accepted best practice employed by competitive programs be the norm. Last, the success of the few interagency projects funded at the mid-scale over the past decade suggests that further, and closer, interagency cooperation and funding opportunities could greatly benefit the science that can be supported in the coming decade.
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From page 372... ...
Investing in the enabling foundation is an investment in the people that will do this transformative science. It is also an investment in the people who will develop the technologies that will enable the observatories, satellites, and instruments of the future.
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