Memorandum submitted by UK Cassini Project
Scientists (FC 30)
SUBJECT: IMPACT
OF THE
STFC PRIORITISATION DECISIONS
ON UK PLANETARY
RESEARCH—WITH
PARTICULAR REFERENCE
TO UK INVOLVEMENT
IN THE
CASSINI SPACE
MISSION TO
THE SATURN
SYSTEM
1. The signatories of this submission are
senior academics at leading UK universities who are currently
deeply involved in various aspects of the NASA-ESA Cassini space
mission to investigate the planet Saturn and its environment.
Members of this group currently operate instruments on the spacecraft
that were designed and built in the UK with funding from the PPARC
former research council, implement new observing programmes on
instruments operated by wider international consortia, and undertake
scientific research with the resulting data, including modelling
and basic theory. UK research groups have been centrally involved
in the instrumentation, planning, and science exploitation of
the Cassini mission since its inception in the 1990s, winning
their places as investigators on the mission against strong international
competition.
2. Cassini was placed into orbit around
Saturn in July 2004, since when it has undertaken a highly successful
programme of observations of the planetary atmosphere, the rings
and moons, and the outer planetary environment including the magnetic
field and charged particle radiation belts. It has undoubtedly
been the highest-profile planetary mission of recent years. UK
investigators have played a major role in a number of high-profile
discoveries using Cassini data, such as the water ice volcanoes
of the moon Enceladus, suggesting the existence of liquid oceans
under the icy lunar crust, and the plasma measurements in Titan's
upper atmosphere that have revealed a world with unexpectedly
rich chemistry in a pre-biotic atmosphere. Several hundred research
publications have appeared to date featuring UK authors, including
many high-profile papers in Science and Nature. The spacecraft
and its instruments continue to be in an excellent state of health,
such that NASA is expected to announce a further mission extension
in early February 2010, leading to an eventual spectacular end-of-mission
phase in 2017.
3. Against this strongly positive background,
in December 2009 the STFC, as part of its prioritisation exercise,
announced its intention to withdraw support for Cassini research
at a point that in essence represents the middle of the mission.
Support is to be withdrawn in the first instance from research
groups operating instruments on the spacecraft, some of these
being key to major international interdisciplinary research areas,
but with evident implications for on-going related science exploitation.
It is astonishing that as the formation of a UK Space Agency is
announced, the UK would let down one of their major international
partners, NASA, in such a way. The decision was taken despite
positive recommendations on the importance of this research area,
and the Cassini mission in particular, that followed the community
consultation conducted by the STFC's Near-Universe Advisory Panel
(NUAP) leading up to the STFC prioritisation. Community consultation
is of little significance if its results are simply ignored.
4. The STFC decision, if allowed to stand,
has a number of potentially serious consequences.
(i) The consequence for the international Cassini
mission going forward are hard to foresee clearly at this point,
but it is evident that UK withdrawal will lead to a serious loss
of technical and scientific expertise to the project. The implications
for the on-going operation of UK-led instruments on the spacecraft,
knowledge and understanding of which lie within the UK teams that
built them, is potentially catastrophic.
(ii) UK researchers will inevitably be sidelined
from their expected central roles in the major discoveries to
be anticipated during the remainder of the mission to 2017. One
such area results from the high-profile final phase leading to
Saturn impact and end of mission in 2017, when unique very close-up
observations will be made of the properties of the planet and
its ring system.
(iii) The decision to terminate Cassini research
will have major negative impact on the UK planetary science community,
which is all the more serious because the planned STFC withdrawal
is not only from Cassini, but from all related on-going space
science programmes, including the ESA Cluster and Venus Express
missions. These decisions were taken by STFC on a project-by-project
basis with no strategic view of the overall consequences, which
will be the destruction of UK planetary research with the exception
of the Mars Aurora programme.
(iv) The STFC decisions will clearly damage the
reputation of the UK as a reliable project partner, and will blight
prospects for future leadership involvements in the next generation
of exploratory missions, such as the proposed ESA Cosmic Vision
Europa-Jupiter System Mission. Indeed, if some "core"
of on-going research in these fields is not retained, the scientific
and technical basis for future proposed major involvements will
simply not appear credible. Expertise in broad aspects of planetary
science has been built in the UK with much effort over the past
two decades, such that we are now well-established as a high-profile
international player. Once destroyed, the lost ground will not
easily be recovered.
(v) Withdrawal will substantially diminish the
outcome of the rather large UK investment in support of this mission,
the science that has come from it, and the future science which
could result. It will decimate our pool of young researchers who
will leave the UK in order to do space science. We fully endorse
the comments in the parallel evidence submitted to the Committee
by the Early Career Cassini Scientists. The usual positive impact
of missions of this kind in inspiring future generations of scientists
will instead be reversed by the negative consequences of STFC
decision-making.
5. As a consequence of these considerations
we strongly argue that these decisions must be revisited within
the STFC to consider their negative impact on UK planetary science,
contrary to the advice provided by their own NUAP advisory panel.
The need to retain some "core" programme in planetary
exploration must be recognised, which might reasonably focus on
Cassini given the planned longevity of the programme, bridging
towards the next NASA/ESA mission in this area.
Michele K Dougherty
Professor of Space Physics, Imperial College London
Principal Investigator, Cassini Magnetic Field
Investigation
Institute of Physics Chree Medal (2007), Royal
Society Hughes Medal (2008)
Emma J Bunce
Reader in Planetary Science, University of Leicester
Co-Investigator, Cassini Magnetic Field Investigation
Simon Calcutt
Head of Planetary Experiments, University Oxford
Co-Investigator, Cassini Infra Red Spectrometer
Andrew J Coates
Professor of Physics and Head of Planetary Science,
Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London
Lead Co-Investigator, Cassini Plasma Spectrometer
Stanley W H Cowley
Professor of Solar-Planetary Physics, University
of Leicester
Co-Investigator, Cassini Magnetic Field Investigation
Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal (2006),
European Geophysical Society Bartels Medal (2006)
Geraint H Jones
STFC Advanced Fellow, Mullard Space Science Laboratory,
University College London
Team member, Cassini Plasma Spectrometer, Cassini
Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument
Carl D Murray
Professor of Mathematics & Astronomy, Queen Mary
University of London
Team Member, Cassini Imaging Team
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