ESA SCIENCE NEWSLETTER

Briefing meeting in advance of the next Call for M and F missions and exploratory Call for mini-F proposals – advance notice

In March 2025, the Director of Science plans to issue a Call soliciting the scientific community in ESA's Member States for proposals for both a Medium-class mission opportunity (M8; to be launched around 2041) and a Fast-class mission opportunity (F3; to be launched around 2034). An exploratory call will also be issued soliciting proposals for a new type of agile mission, referred to as mini-Fast missions.

An online briefing to prospective proposers will be held on 11 December 2024, to provide any necessary clarification on the scope of the proposals, the expected information, possible international cooperation schemes, possible payload provision schemes, etc. Prospective proposers should register for the online briefing in advance.

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Call for Expressions of Interest in the L4 Payload Working Group – advance notice

On 9 December, the ESA Director of Science will issue a Call inviting science instrument experts affiliated with institutions in the ESA Member States to express their interest in being a member of the L4 Payload Working Group (L4PWG). This Working Group will support ESA in the definition of a Strawman payload concept and technology roadmap on payload developments for the Large (L4) mission covering the science theme "Moons of the Giant Planets".

The deadline for receipt of applications is 13 January 2025 at 12:00 (noon) CET.

L4PWG members will be appointed by end January 2025, with a planned mandate to December 2026.

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LISA call for Complementary Scientists

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is an ESA-led mission in partnership with NASA. It aims to study the Gravitational Universe through the observation of low frequency gravitational waves. LISA is the first space mission designed to observe the Universe via gravitational waves.

ESA will appoint two Complementary Scientists, who will join the LISA Science Team (LST) and who are expected to focus on areas complementary to the core science of the mission (gravitational waves) such as, but not limited to: space weather, multi-messenger astronomy, and physics beyond gravity.

Soon, ESA will issue an announcement of opportunity to encourage the scientific community to submit their proposals with a due date ~6 weeks after announcement.

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Student internship opportunities 2025

We are pleased to announce our topics for the 2025 ESA Student Internships in Space Science.

The student internships are three- to six-month long placements at the Science and Operations Department (SCI-S) and Science Engagement & Oversight Office (SCI-E) either at ESAC near Madrid, Spain or at ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. The internships cover a wider range of topics in astronomy, planetary science and heliophysics including engineering, scientific data analysis, instrumentation, machine learning, IT, science education, and science communication.

The deadline for applications is 30 November 2024.

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ESASky's new interactive time-series viewer and more

ESASky is a web-based scientific portal created for the astronomical community’s evolving needs. It provides a user-friendly interface to access multi-wavelength and multi-messenger data from diverse missions, surveys, and observatories. Focused on scientific discovery, ESASky offers a visually intuitive way to explore and interact with science-ready astronomical data.

The latest version features an interactive time-series viewer for detailed inspection of public time-series data from Gaia and XMM-Newton. It also includes an upgraded Aladin Lite sky visualisation (from the Strasbourg Astronomical Data Centre), with new sky projections, contrast control, and FITS image overlays. Personalised user areas allow saving sessions and table uploads, enhancing data exploration within the portal.

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Workshop announcement: Planet Mars VI school

Planet Mars VI will be the sixth edition of a series of workshops which has taken place at the Les Houches School of Physics (French Alps) since 2003. These workshops are organized to bring together senior scientists, junior scientists, postdocs and PhD students in order to optimize the analysis and interpretation of space data, and to prepare the community for the best exploitation of forthcoming missions. Leading Mars scientists in the interpretation of data and modelling will present their views on key topics, from the deep interior to the ionosphere of Mars, as well as Phobos science.

The next edition of the school will take place from 30 March to 4 April 2025.

The deadline for registration is 29 November 2024.

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Gaia's end of observations

Gaia relies on a cold gas propellant to spin and scan the sky. The gas reservoir will be depleted in early 2025 and Gaia’s science observations will therefore end on 15 January 2025. A set of technology tests will follow before Gaia will be put into a heliocentric orbit and reach its well-deserved retirement.

This is, however, not the end of the mission: the ESA Gaia teams and the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium will continue to work on the preparations for Gaia Data Releases 4 and 5 that will make new groundbreaking science possible.

During the technology tests, Gaia’s apparent brightness will increase to a level within reach of amateur telecopes, offering an opportunity to say goodbye to the Gaia spacecraft and contribute to its magnitude and colour determination.

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