Growing Science in a Remote World: Year-End Reflections from IPAC Director George Helou
2021 was a year of unexpected challenges and welcomed rewards. While COVID-19 continued to surge, the advent of vaccines brought some confidence that a post-COVID world is achievable. Read more.
Highlights from 2021
NASA Confirms Roman Mission's Flight Design in Milestone Review
Sep 29
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has successfully passed its critical design review, signaling that all design and developmental engineering work is now complete.More information.
NASA Approves NEO Surveyor to Continue Development And Extends NEOWISE for Two Years
Jun 14
NASA has approved the Near-Earth Object Surveyor space telescope (NEO Surveyor) to move to the next phase of mission development after a successful mission review. More information.
Jun 30
For two more years, NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) will continue its hunt for asteroids and comets – including objects that could pose a hazard to Earth. This mission extension means NASA’s prolific near-Earth object (NEO) hunting space telescope will continue operations until June 2023. More information.
Navigating the Pandemic: Record Attendance at NExScI’s Sagan Summer Workshop
Sep 23
In a world gone virtual due to a pandemic, the 2021 Sagan Summer Workshop (SSW) was a shining success. A record number of more than 800 mostly early-career astronomers from almost 60 countries participated in the 2021 fully-online workshop, organized by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. The 21st annual SSW ran July 19-23, 2021.
Dr. Vandana Desai was appointed the new Head of Science Staff (HoSS) at IPAC. Dr. Phil Appleton will serve as Deputy HoSS. More information.
There were many changes in the IPAC team in 2021. We filled 22 positions with people who either joined IPAC afresh or with existing staff who transitioned to new roles. Jessie Christensen was appointed Project Scientist and Doug McElroy Task Lead for the NASA Exoplanet Archive. Ben Rushholme became Task Lead for the Zwicky Transient Facility Data System effort at IPAC. Read more.
Remembering John Stauffer
Long-time Caltech/IPAC astronomer John R. Stauffer passed away on January 29, 2021. John was one of the leading stellar astronomers of his era. John was also a leader in many space missions as an integral part of his multifaceted career. Read more.
Looking Ahead
Nancy Grace Roman Transient Universe Conference in February 2022
Registration remains open for the Nancy Grace Roman Transient Universe conference at Caltech and online February 8-10, 2022. This three-day conference will bring together inclusively members of the community to discuss the exciting time-domain astrophysics that will be investigated with the Roman Space Telescope.
