CEDAR email: Community Advocacy for GDC and DYNAMIC

[Bailey, Scott]

Hello, please send the message below at your earliest convenience. Thank you!
Dear Heliophysics Colleagues,
In a recent town hall, NASA made the suggestion that the Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) be cancelled due to budget shortfalls in coming years. The DYNAMIC mission, that would provide our first systematic day, night and aurora wind measurements in the lower thermosphere, is also likely to be cancelled. DYNAMIC was slated to possibly share a launch with GDC though it is completely independent of GDC. The fact that GDC and DYNAMIC were both products of the last Decadal Survey and the lack of clarity on the fate of DYNAMIC suggests that DYNAMIC may be cancelled as well. These two missions were a top priority of the 2013 Decadal and are crucial to progressing our understanding of the thermosphere and ionosphere and how they are forced by both space weather and the lower atmosphere. This tremendous loss, which may yet be reversed, is due to budget limitations in the President's Budget Request. It is imperative that we as a community appeal to congress to augment NASA's budget in coming years to allow for both GDC and DYNAMIC. We ask each of you to reach out to your representatives and make this urgent request.
A sample letter can be found here<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZeDT3bC5DSyGiikrXPqDaHZ0fhECFOgh/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108901700657462344376&rtpof=true&sd=true> or in the link below. Please consider making this request of members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees as well. A list of representatives and their contact information can be found here<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mA8qrQpQPknm0InGjxWutXkHQ-eZpCqB/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108901700657462344376&rtpof=true&sd=true> or in the second link below.
Congress included funding for DYNAMIC and GDC in previous budgets, so they have supported them in the past. With a strong response to the potential cancellations, congressional leaders can be convinced to ensure these missions are in the final budgets.
Thank you for supporting these crucial missions.
Scott Bailey (Virginia Tech) and V. Lynn Harvey (LASP/U. Colorado)
Sample email:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZeDT3bC5DSyGiikrXPqDaHZ0fhECFOgh/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108901700657462344376&rtpof=true&sd=true

Members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mA8qrQpQPknm0InGjxWutXkHQ-eZpCqB/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108901700657462344376&rtpof=true&sd=true

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