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Overview of the NASA Astrophysics Program
Dr. Mark Clampin (Director Astrophysics Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA)
In NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD), the Astrophysics Division (APD) studies the universe. It has been an amazing year for NASA Astrophysics, with JWST approaching its first year anniversary of science operations. I will highlight some early results from JWST, and discuss the overall performance of the observatory as we look towards future opportunities. The highest priority for APD is currently the Roman Space Telescope, which will conduct wide-field near-IR surveys to study dark energy and dark matter. I will review recent progress in developing Roman and its instruments. APD operates a broad portfolio of missions, ranging from Hubble and Chandra, Explorer missions such as TESS, and small satellites such as Pandora. International collaborations represent a significant component of APD’s portfolio and include JWST, and Hubble. Missions in development include partnerships with the European Space Agency for a gravitational wave observatory, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), and Athena a X-Ray Observatory. APD’s current priorities are set by the 2020 National Academies Decadal Survey. I will review these recommendations, and discuss APD’s response to the recommendation for a future great observatory, the Habitable Worlds Observatory.
Dr. Mark Clampin is the Astrophysics Division Director in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Until August 2022, he was the Director of the Sciences and Exploration Directorate (SED) at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) leading the Astrophysics, Solar System, Heliophysics and Earth Science Divisions, together with the high performance computing office. At GSFC, he previously served as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Observatory Project Scientist, and as Director of the Astrophysics Science Division and Deputy Director of SED. Prior to joining GSFC, Dr Clampin was the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) group lead at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), where he served on the first four Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Servicing Missions. Dr. Clampin is a Co-Investigator with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), and Advanced camera for Surveys (ACS), where he served as the Detector Scientist responsible for the delivery of three ACS focal plane camera systems. His research interests focus on studying the formation and evolution of planetary systems. Dr. Clampin has also designed ground-based telescope instruments including adaptive optics systems, coronagraphs and detectors. Dr. Clampin graduated from the University of London with a BS in Physics and from the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland, with PhD in Astronomy. Dr. Clampin is the recipient of the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award, NASA’s Exceptional Achievement and Scientific Achievement Medals, and is a Fellow of SPIE, and the Royal Astronomical Society. Until recently he was the Chief Editor of the SPIE peer-reviewed Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments and Systems, a position he held for 7 years.
Linking intra-plate volcanism to underlying mantle dynamics - Dr Rhodri Davies
Harold Jeffreys Lectureship
TBC
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