[meteorite-list] Calling Serious Asteroid Hunters - New Shoemaker NEO Grant Call for Proposals

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 14:22:42 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201411252222.sAPMMgOb007041_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/bruce-betts/20141120-Shoemaker-NEO-RFP-blog.html

Calling Serious Asteroid Hunters
New Shoemaker NEO Grant Call for Proposals
by Bruce Betts
November 25, 2014

Topics: near-Earth asteroids, planetary astronomy, Planetary Society Projects,
events and announcements, Shoemaker NEO Grants

I am happy to announce a new call for proposals for The Planetary Society's
Gene Shoemaker Near Earth Object (NEO) grant program. Proposals are due
Feb. 2, 2015. The Shoemaker NEO Grants are designed to assist amateur
observers, observers in developing countries, and under-funded professional
observers in contributing to vital NEO research. The winning proposers
typically have existing track records and facilities and are looking for
a boost to take them to the next level. Past Shoemaker grant winners have
made tremendous contributions to discovery, follow-up, and characterization
of potentially dangerous near Earth asteroids using the upgrades facilitated
by the grants. We are very proud of our program, now in its 17th year,
and the contributions it has made to NEO research.

This round of grants will continue to focus on improving capabilities
for characterizing the physical properties of near Earth asteroids (important
for deflecting dangerous asteroids), and also NEO follow-up observations.
See the Call for Proposals for more background and more on what we are
looking for in proposals, and see this page for details on how to submit
a proposal.

http://www.planetary.org/explore/projects/neo-grants/submitting-a-proposal.html

See the Shoemaker NEO pages for more on the program, including
updates on past winners. You can also listen to past winners on Planetary
Radio.

http://www.planetary.org/explore/projects/neo-grants/

Timothy Spahr, the Director of the Minor Planet Center (MPC) has again
agreed to be our Shoemaker NEO Grant coordinator. Tim will guide the direction
of the program and coordinate the review panel that will make recommendations
for funding. Among other tasks, the MPC, run by the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union,
is responsible for the collection of astrometric (position) measurements
of NEOs and dissemination of those measurements, making Tim the ideal
person to help guide the Shoemaker NEO grants.
Received on Tue 25 Nov 2014 05:22:42 PM PST