<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">---------- Forwarded message ---------<br>From: <strong class="gmail_sendername" dir="auto">Athena Community Office</strong> <span dir="auto"><<a href="mailto:aco@ifca.unican.es" target="_blank">aco@ifca.unican.es</a>></span><br>Date: Fri, Jun 3, 2022 at 11:59 AM<br>Subject: [Athena-wg-members 75] Show your support to the Athena mission, now!<br>To: athena-wg-members <<a href="mailto:athena-wg-members@lists.mpe.mpg.de" target="_blank">athena-wg-members@lists.mpe.mpg.de</a>><br></div><br><br><div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div><div style="font-size:12pt"><div><p dir="ltr" id="m_3429180394294018424gmail-m_-3453857387484311196docs-internal-guid-76b8c0c7-7fff-9124-8bc7-77211d29bfb5" style="line-height:1.38;margin:0px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Dear <em>Athena</em> community colleagues,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin:0px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin:0px"><span style="font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><span style="background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">We wanted to send a brief update on the actions being taken in response to the risk of a potential descope and delay of <em>Athena</em> as a consequence of the proposals for the future of the ESA science Programme to be discussed at a Science Programme Committee (SPC) workshop on 9th June. The participants in this workshop are the delegates from national funding agencies and their advisors, as listed here: </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin:0px"><span style="font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><a href="https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/spc/members" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank"><span style="background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/spc/members</span></a>.</span><br></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin:0px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin:0px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The ASST has sent a formal response to the national agencies, ESA and its advisory bodies to convey our reading of the ESA Executives’ proposal, emphasizing the irreparable harm to European X-ray astronomy that would be caused by major cuts and/or delay to <em>Athena</em>. In our document, the ASST made a strong case for ESA to preserve the flagship X-ray science of <em>Athena</em> and European leadership in X-ray astronomy, and stressed the size, strength and breadth of interests of the community that will benefit from <em>Athena</em>. We call on the delegates to take a fair and balanced approach to any unavoidable cost-cutting measures in the science programme, in full consultation with the <em>Athena</em> Science Study Team, the Instrument Consortia, and the community working groups. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin:0px"><span style="font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><span style="background-color:transparent;font-weight:bold;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The ASST believes that a statement showing the support of the large and diverse <em>Athena</em> community to the mission may have a positive influence on the forthcoming discussion at the SPC. We warmly encourage you to sign the statement available at this link by </span><span style="background-color:transparent;font-weight:bold;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Tuesday, June 7</span><span style="background-color:transparent;font-weight:bold;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">: </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin:0px"><span style="font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><span style="background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdMAQsg8R_wyWG55hyM53ZBoUdUywMeu3ei_Q_7q9c8d2xFQw/viewform?usp=pp_url" target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdMAQsg8R_wyWG55hyM53ZBoUdUywMeu3ei_Q_7q9c8d2xFQw/viewform?usp=pp_url</a><br></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin:0px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin:0px"><span style="font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><span style="background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">As our previous message emphasized, </span><span style="background-color:transparent;font-weight:bold;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">no decision on the future of <em>Athena</em> has been taken yet</span><span style="background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. We hope our actions, representing the interests of the large <em>Athena</em> community, will contribute to <em>Athena</em> continuing the process to Adoption that ESA already started with the kick-off of the Mission Adoption Review on May 10, and that is scheduled to be finalized at the SPC meeting of June 2023.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin:0px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin:0px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">We again encourage you to contact an ASST member with any questions or additional concerns you may have.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin:0px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The ASST: D. Barret, M. Cappi, E. Costantini, J. Croston, A. Decourchelle, J.W. den Herder, M. Guainazzi, H. Matsumoto, K. Nandra, L. Piro, N. Rea, T. Reiprich, R. Smith, N. Werner.</span></p><br></div><div>--<br></div><div><div><span style="font-size:9pt;color:rgb(128,0,128)"><em>Athena</em> Community Office</span><br><span style="font-size:9pt;color:rgb(128,0,128)">Instituto de Física de Cantabria</span><br><span style="font-size:9pt;color:rgb(128,0,128)">Avenida de los Castros s/n (Edif. Juan Jordá)</span><br><span style="font-size:9pt;color:rgb(128,0,128)">39005 Santander</span></div><div><span style="font-size:9pt;color:rgb(128,0,128)"><a href="mailto:aco@ifca.unican.es" target="_blank">aco@ifca.unican.es</a></span><br><span style="font-size:9pt;color:rgb(128,0,128)"><a href="http://www.the-athena-x-ray-observatory.eu/" rel="noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.the-athena-x-ray-observatory.eu/</a></span><br></div><div><span style="font-size:9pt;color:rgb(128,0,128)">Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/AthenaXobs" rel="noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@AthenaXobs</a></span><br><span style="font-size:9pt;color:rgb(128,0,128)">Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/athena.xray.observatory/" rel="noopener nofollow noopener noreferrer nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">athena.xray.observatory</a></span><br></div></div></div><br></div></div><br><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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