Call for Membership in the
Target Identification and Comet Environment
Working Groups
for the Comet Interceptor mission

 


The outcome of this Announcement of Opportunity was that the following scientists (listed in alphabetical order within each Working Groups) were appointed as Members of the Comet Interceptor Target Identification and Comet Environment Working Groups:
Target Identification Working Group
 
Nicolas Biver LESIA, Observatoire de Paris France
Laura Inno Parthenope University of Naples Italy
Rosita Kokotanekova Institute of Astronomy and National Astronomical Observatory Bulgaria
Fiorangela La Forgia University of Padova Italy
Elena Mazzotta Epifani INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma Italy
Takafumi Ootsubo National Astronomical Observatory of Japan Japan
Joan-Pau Sánchez Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO) France
Colin Snodgrass The University of Edinburgh United Kingdom

Comet Environment / Nucleus Working Group
 
Nicholas Attree Technische Universität Braunschweig Germany
Aurélie Guilbert-Lepoutre CNRS - Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon France
Pedro Lacerda Instituto Pedro Nunes, and
Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Coimbra		 Portugal
Stephen Lowry University of Kent United Kingdom
Katharina Otto DLR - Institute of Planetary Research Germany
Antti Penttilä University of Helsinki Finland
Katherine Shirley University of Oxford United Kingdom

Comet Environment / Near-Environment Working Group
 
Stefano Bagnulo Armagh Observatory and Planetarium United Kingdom
Ivano Bertini Department of Science and Technology, University of Naples 'Parthenope' Italy
Stavro Ivanovski INAF - Astronomical Observatory of Trieste Italy
Monica Lazzarin University of Padova Italy
Raphael Marschall CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur France
Bojan Novakovic Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC Spain
Cecilia Tubiana INAF-IAPS Italy
Jean-Baptiste Vincent DLR Institute of Planetary Research Germany
Vladimir Zakharov LESIA, Observatoire de Paris France

Comet Environment / Far-Environment Working Group
 
Arnaud Beth Imperial College London United Kingdom
Charlotte Goetz Northumbria University United Kingdom
Juan Carlos Gómez Martín Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC Spain
Herbert Gunell Umeå University Sweden
Geraint Jones UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory United Kingdom
Esa Kallio Aalto University Finland
Fernando Moreno Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC Spain
Giovanna Rinaldi INAF-IAPS Italy

 

3 October 2022

Comet Interceptor is an ESA mission in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It aims to characterise a long period comet, which could potentially be a
dynamically new comet, or an interstellar object. The mission was adopted by the Science Programme Committee in June 2022 as the first "F" mission in the Science Programme.
A Science Working Team (SWT), appointed by ESA in coordination with JAXA, advises ESA on all aspects of the mission potentially affecting its scientific performance. The composition of the SWT is defined in the Science Management Plan (SMP). The SWT is supported by Working Groups (WGs), in specific scientific and/or science operation areas, relevant for the mission.

Through the present Call, the ESA Director of Science invites scientists based in ESA Member States and Japan to apply for membership of two Comet Interceptor working groups: the "Target Identification Working Group" and the "Comet Environment Working Group". The latter group will be organised in three sub-groups: Comet Nucleus, Near-environment (inner dust and gas coma), and Far environment (outer dust and gas coma and tails).

Lead Scientists and Co-Lead Scientists of the Comet Interceptor instruments, other scientists leading or involved in the (programmatic, scientific, or technical) management of the Comet Interceptor instruments or being responsible for hardware or software development and procurement activities, as well as other Science Working Team members, are not eligible, while Co-Investigators of instrument teams may apply to become members of the Working Groups.

Early career scientists are specifically encouraged to apply.

Full details of this Call can be found in the Call for Membership in the Target Identification and Comet Environment Working Groups for the Comet Interceptor mission document.

 

Application Submission

Applications, in PDF format, must be submitted using the submission form linked below, before the deadline of 7 November 2022, 12:00 (noon) CET.

Application Submission Form
The deadline for receipt of proposals is:
7 November 2022, 12:00 (noon) CET

 

 

Schedule for this call and important dates

Activity Date
Release of this call 3 October 2022
Deadline for receipt of proposals 7 November 2022, 12:00 (noon) CET
Appointment of the Working Group members December 2022

 

Contact

Requests for further information should be addressed to:

Luigi Colangeli
Programme Advisor
Directorate of Science
European Space Agency
Email: Luigi.Colangeli@esa.int

and

Michael Küeppers
ESA Project Scientist for Comet Interceptor
Directorate of Science
European Space Agency
Email: michael.kueppers@sciops.esa.int

 

Last updated: 4 April 2023

 

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