S T A R  &  P L A N E T

	   TERRESTRIAL PLANET FINDER NEWSLETTER

               Number 2,  March 12, 2003

CONTENTS

1.   Editorial
2.   TPF Foundation Science - NASA Research Announcement
3.   SPIE Annual Meeting - San Diego, August 3-8, 2003


1.   EDITORIAL

This is the second edition of the "Star & Planet" - the TPF Newsletter.  Its
purpose is to provide news of the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) Project for a
technical and and scientific audience.  The Newsletter is produced about every 3
months, or whenever there is news to share.

If you do *NOT* wish to receive future editions, please follow the directions
at the end of this message.

For readers interested in more general information on TPF, please visit the
"Planet Quest" web site, where you can join the "Planet Finder Club", for news
on the search for worlds outside our solar system:

http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/

Steve Unwin, Editor
TPF Deputy Project Scientist
stephen.unwin@jpl.nasa.gov


2.   TPF FOUNDATION SCIENCE - NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT

Scientists interested in research related to TPF have a new opportunity to
propose to NASA for support.  A new Research Announcement (NRA) entitled
"Terrestrial Planet Finder/Foundation Science" has been added to the Research
Opportunities in Space Science (ROSS).  This NRA represents additional funding
and is *in addition* to the "Origins of Solar Systems" (NRA-03-OSS-01-SSO)
mentioned in the last Newsletter.

Announcement number:     NRA-03-OSS-01-TPF
Title:                   Terrestrial Planet Finder/Foundation Science
Solicitation release:    3/ 3/2003
Notice of Intent due:    4/11/2003
Proposals due:           6/13/2003

As explained in the text of the NRA, it supports research into:

* The scientific data and theoretical framework required to define the nature
      and scope of the TPF mission;

* The scientific data and theoretical framework required to refine the TPF
      target list; and

* The theoretical background required to plan the mission and to interpret the
      data obtained.

More information on NASA research opportunities is available on the ROSS web
site. Please direct all questions on ROSS-2003 to the contacts provided on
the OSS web site:

http://research.hq.nasa.gov/code_s/nra/current/NRA-03-OSS-01/index.html


3.   SPIE ANNUAL MEETING - SAN DIEGO, AUGUST 3-8, 2003

Although the abstract deadline has already passed (Jan 6), the SPIE Annual
Meeting may be of interest to this audience.   It will be held at the San Diego
Convention Center.  Of the six parallel tracks, "Optical Systems Engineering",
and "Astronomical Optics and Instrumentation" are the probably the most relevant.

More information on this Meeting, and its 82 conferences (no kidding!) is
available at:

http://spie.org/Conferences/Calls/03/am/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Unwin, Editor                              stephen.unwin@jpl.nasa.gov

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