NASA's Starvation Diet For Planetary Science

\n\nNASA's Planetary Science Shift Rattles Researchers, Science\n\n\"Jim Green, the head of NASA's Planetary Science Division, shook things up for planetary scientists this week by announcing a restructuring that will change how the division funds grant proposals. ... That's why some researchers--including Mark Sykes, director of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona--have been railing against the restructuring on Twitter and in the blogosphere. Sykes says the change Green has made is ill-considered because it doesn't take into account the impact on the workforce. \"There are many people whose research programs and salaries depend upon successfully proposing to several major programs in 2014,\" Sykes says. \"They have just learned that there will be no opportunity for these programs until 2015. I have had several people tell me that if there is no regular ... call at the regular time in 2014, they will have to look for other employment in a year. There are postdocs whose positions are ending this next year, who would have applied to these programs to get started as independent planetary scientists. They need to find something else to do.\"\n\nWhen it comes to planetary science will NASA soon stand for NADA?, Houston Chronicle\n\n\"Let's start with a town hall meeting (watch it here) that occurred on Tuesday during which NASA's \$1.2 billion planetary science division announced a restructuring of how it funds research and analysis. Restructuring is a nice euphemism here. Due to budget cuts, in essence, NASA officials announced that it would not seek new research grant submissions in 2014.\"\n\nNASA funding shuffle alarms planetary scientists, Nature\n\n\"But at the town-hall meeting, NASA's Jonathan Rall said that funding proposals in this field are not likely to be due until February 2015. That was the last straw for many researchers who live from grant to grant, because most of their existing funding is likely to expire well before money becomes available for the new Solar System workings area. Outraged scientists vented their frustration in the comments section of the meeting website and on Twitter. \"People are upset with not knowing where their next paycheck is going to come from, how they're going to pay the mortgage,\" says Schmidt.\"\n\nComments Transcript: NASA Planetary Science Division Research and Analysis Program Restructuring Virtual Town Hall\n\n\"Michael H. New: [personal, non-official, comment] The degree to which the field shrinks is driven by the budget and the number of hard-money positions available. Regardless of how PSD's solicitations are organized, when the budget is flat and there are few hard-money positions available, people will be forced to leave the field. [end]\"\n\n(Update) SMD Planetary Town Hall: Time For Planetary Scientists To Job Hunt, Earlier post