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As the next decade approaches, it is once again time for the US astronomical community to assess its investment priorities for the coming decade on the ground and in space. This report, created to aid NOAO in its planning for the 2020…
Astrophysics spans an enormous range of questions on scales from individual planets to the entire cosmos. To address the richness of 21st century astrophysics requires a corresponding richness of telescopes spanning all bands and all…
In the United States, the National Science Foundation (NSF), anticipating the no growth in funding, has commissioned a review of NSF-funded astronomy assets with the goal of determining how to best allocate funding for this decade. Inputs…
This is a community white paper submitted to the Decadal Survey in Planetary Science and Astrobiology, reflecting the views of the NASA Astrobiology Program's Research Coordination Network for Ocean Worlds (NOW). We recommend the…
The commercial SmallSat industry is booming and has developed numerous low-cost, capable satellite buses. SmallSats can be used as vehicles for technology development or to host science missions. Missions hosted on SmallSats can answer…
Through the lens of the LSST Science Collaborations' experience, this paper advocates for new and improved ways to fund large, complex collaborations at the interface of data science and astrophysics as they work in preparation for and on…
Over the past century, major advances in astronomy and astrophysics have been largely driven by improvements in instrumentation and data collection. With the amassing of high quality data from new telescopes, and especially with the advent…
The scientific ambitions of the 2040s will require large, interdisciplinary teams operating across continents, institutions, and increasingly heterogeneous political and funding landscapes. While significant effort is devoted to advancing…
Harnessing the sheer discovery potential of gravitational wave astronomy will require bold, deliberate, and sustained efforts to train and develop the requisite workforce. The next decade requires a strategic plan to build -- from the…
Over the past decade, research in resolved stellar populations has made great strides in exploring the nature of dark matter, in unraveling the star formation, chemical enrichment, and dynamical histories of the Milky Way and nearby…
The NASA Great Observatories Maturation Program is a development plan to efficiently and effectively develop large, strategic astrophysics missions. Suborbital rocket and balloon programs have long been a key development tool for enabling…
We review some key issues pertaining to NASA's Research and Analysis programs, and offer recommended actions to mitigate or resolve these issues. In particular, we recommended that NASA increases funding to support a healthy selection rate…
NASA's proposed WFIRST-AFTA mission will discover thousands of exoplanets with separations from the habitable zone out to unbound planets, using the technique of gravitational microlensing. The Study Analysis Group 11 of the NASA Exoplanet…
We argue that it is essential that the Astro2020 survey of the present state of American astronomy and the recommendations for the next decade address the issue of ensuring preservation of, and making more discoverable and accessible, the…
The U.S. astronomy decadal surveys have been models for advice to government on how to apportion resources to optimise the scientific return on national investments in facilities and manpower. The U.S. is now gearing up to conduct its 2020…
This white paper highlights the work that is needed to anticipate the challenges and societal impacts of a possible technosignature detection. We recommend practical steps to strengthen NASA's astrobiology agenda, guided by the existing…
Over the past decade, astronomers have been using an increasingly larger number of web-based applications and archives to conduct their research. However, despite the early success in creating links across projects and data centers, the…
The past two decades have seen a tremendous investment in observational facilities that promise to reveal new and unprecedented discoveries about the universe. In comparison, the investment in theoretical work is completely dwarfed, even…
Maximizing the public impact of astronomy projects in the next decade requires NSF-funded centers to support the development of online, mobile-friendly outreach and education activities. EPO teams with astronomy, education, and web…
Laboratory astrophysics and complementary theoretical calculations are the foundations of astronomy and astrophysics and will remain so into the foreseeable future. The mission enabling impact of laboratory astrophysics ranges from the…