SOFIA Instrument Upgrades and A&A Special Issue
   
   
1. Second Generation Instruments and Upgrades 
2. SOFIA A&A Special Issue on GREAT science results
3. SOFIA Employment Opportunities


1. Second Generation Instruments and Upgrades 

NASA has selected science instrument upgrades for SOFIA as a result of
the Second-Generation Instruments Call for Proposals. The
High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera (HAWC) instrument currently
nearing completion will provide a sensitive, versatile, and reliable
far-infrared imaging capability to the SOFIA user community. The two
approved proposals to update that instrument are: the High-resolution
Airborne Wideband Camera Polarization (HAWC-Pol) upgrade, that adds
polarimetric measurement capabilities to HAWC, and HAWC++, that
replaces the current HAWC detectors with a new more-sensitive
large-format detector array. The PI of HAWC-Pol is Charles Dowell
(NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA). HAWC-Pol's main
scientific goals are to measure the magnetic field in the interstellar
medium, star forming regions, and the center of the Milky Way. The PI
of HAWC++ is Johannes Staguhn (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,
MD). That upgrade will provide a new sensitive, large-format detector
array for the HAWC-Pol facility, increasing its observing efficiency
and allowing a broader range of observing targets. HAWC updates with
HAWC-pol and HAWC++ will help astronomers better understand how stars,
planets and galaxies form and evolve. More information can be found at: 
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/apr/HQ12-114_SOFIA_Instrument_Upgrade.html



2. SOFIA A&A Special Issue on GREAT science results

Science results from the GREAT far-IR spectrometer (P.I. Rolf Guesten,
Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy) will be published in 22
papers as a special issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics during May, 2012. 
Preprints of the papers can be found at the GREAT home page:
http://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/div/submmtech/great.html
(click "science results" at the top panel).


3. Employment Opportunities

Currently available SOFIA USRA (Universities Space Research
Association) job openings include: (A) Associate Scientist and (B) Software
Engineer. The job descriptions and application instructions follow.

More information can be found at:
http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Employment/employment.html

These job opportunities will also be advertised at the AAS Job 
Register starting May 1.

(A) Associate Scientist

USRA is seeking an Associate Scientist to work with the data
processing pipelines that will be provided to the science center from
the principal investigators of the science instruments. After each
science flight, the science instrument data are transferred to the
Science Mission Operations Center. The data processing pipelines will
then produce reduced and calibrated data for the guest investigators
and the SOFIA archive. Active astronomers may be allocated up to 25%
of their time for independent research.  Please submit your resume to:

S1203@sofia.usra.edu

(B) Software Engineer

USRA is seeking a Software Engineer to work on the data processing
pipelines that will be provided to the science center from the
principal investigators of the science instruments. After each science
flight, the science instrument data are transferred to the SOFIA Data
Cycle System (DCS). The data processing pipelines are then executed
within the DCS to produce reduced and calibrated data for the guest
investigators and the SOFIA archive. This position will be based at
the Science Mission Operations Center. Please submit your resume to:

S1204@sofia.usra.edu


Please feel free to direct questions and comments to the SOFIA Science
Center help desk at "sofia_help@sofia.usra.edu", and subscribe to
SOFIA electronic news by sending an email to sofia_astronews@sofia.usra.edu.
Most information about SOFIA can be found at:
http://www.sofia.usra.edu/