S T A R & P L A N E T TERRESTRIAL PLANET FINDER NEWSLETTER Number 10, August 22, 2006 CONTENTS 1. Editorial 2. TPF Project news 3. 4th International TPF/Darwin Workshop 1. Editorial Thanks to all the readers who have been waiting patiently for another update on the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF). And also for several requests gently inquiring what happened to the Newsletter. It's well been over a year since the last Newsletter, and to say the least, it's been a very eventful year. The item 'TPF Project news' below is brief, because we expect further changes in direction from NASA HQ. We will provide a more complete update once the situation for next fiscal year becomes clearer. In the meantime, please see the important announcement (below) for the next in the series of TPF/Darwin Workshops. 2. TPF Project news The future of TPF is uncertain right now. Many of you are aware that due to exceptional budget pressures within the space science budget at NASA, the President's FY07-11 budget shows zero funding for TPF. In addition, during FY06, NASA greatly reduced the Project's projected budget for the current year, relative to the FY06 plan in effect at the start of the year (October 2005). As a result, the Project has scaled back its activities in every area of work. At the same time, the Project has made major advances in the key technologies which form the foundation of both the coronagraph and interferometer missions. We will provide more details on technical progress in a future Newsletter. Recall that in 2004 NASA decided to develop two missions (see Newletter 9) - an optical coronagraph, designated TPF-C; and a formation-flying interferometer (TPF-I), which we continue to study jointly with ESA. During the past year, the NASA-selected TPF-C Science and Technology Definition Team (STDT) has worked closely with the Project to generate a very detailed report on the Coronagraph design and capabilities. The document is currently under review for public release. Also during the last year, the TPF-I Science Working Group (I-SWG) has worked on a report to document the formation-flying interferometer design, and its scientific capabilities. More information on the STDT and the I-SWG is available on the web at: http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/TPF/tpf_team.cfm In May 2006, the Navigator Program held a Science Forum to update planning of precursor science for the Navigator missions SIM, TPF-C, and TPF-I. The resulting book, "Earth-like Exoplanets: The Science of NASA's Navigator Program" will be available soon. The documents described here will be of interest to many readers of this Newsletter. When each has been approved for public release, it will be announced here, and will also be linked from the TPF public website. 3. 4th International TPF/Darwin Workshop The 4th International TPF/Darwin Workshop will be held jointly and in close coordination with the Cool Stars XIV Conference (CS14) in Pasadena, CA, on Wednesday through Saturday, November 8-11, 2006. In keeping with the overall goals of the Cool Star conference series, the theme of the workshop is "Star-Planet Interactions and Implications for Habitability." The workshop will include its own scientific sessions plus shared sessions with CS14, updates on the technologies needed for the interferometric and coronagraphic versions of Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF-I/Darwin and TPF-C), as well as information on the always exciting political climate for planet finding science. Among the topics to be discussed at the workshop are the following: * The effect of evolving stellar emission (visible, UV, X-ray, and particulate) on atmospheres of terrestrial and gas-giant planets * Prospects for planets and life around very low mass stars * Prospects for planets and life around evolved stars * The nature of the objects (planets or brown dwarfs) found by ground- based imaging * Scientific results from the detection of photons from "Hot Jupiters" using secondary transits * Summary of debris disk science from HST, Spitzer, and AKARI * Updates on the planet-related science, general astrophysics potential, programmatics, and technology of TPF-C and TPF-I/Darwin In addition to invited talks, there will be opportunities for contributed talks describing timely results as well as a dedicated poster session. This workshop is being held in close coordination with the Cool Stars 14 Conference. The normal registration process with CS14 provides admittance to both CS14 and the TPF/Darwin Workshop. Abstracts for contributed talks and posters will be considered separately by the Scientific Organizing Committees for the two events. The CS14 abstract submission page will allow one to specify which meeting you believe is appropriate for a particular abstract. Contributed and poster contributions for the TPF/Darwin workshop will be accepted until *September 22, 2006*; poster contributions will be accepted after this date until the available display space is filled. Links to the TPF/Darwin Workshop and Cool Stars 14: http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/TPFDarwinConf3/ http://ssc.spitzer.caltech.edu/mtgs/cs14/ We hope to see you in Pasadena in November! Chas Beichman - SOC chair Rafael Millan-Gabet - LOC co-chair Dawn Gelino - LOC co-chair -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Unwin, Editor stephen.unwin@jpl.nasa.gov You are subscribed to the list 'TPF-announce'. To unsubscribe from this list, please go to the 'TPF Newsletter' link on the TPF home page, where you can also find back issues of the Newsletter: http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/Navigator/library/tpf_newsletter.cfm