Dear Colleagues,

The Steering Committee (SC) of the Frontiers 2035 pilot programme was delighted by the response from our community to the call for White Papers (WP) and for membership of the Thematic Panels (TP). We received 113 White Papers – many more than we had anticipated. There were 46 submitted to the Planetary theme, 33 to Astro and 22 to Helio, with the balance cutting across two themes, and in one case, across all three. This was a fantastic response, indicating the extent of our desire for a decadal-length strategic plan for space science. Clearly, we have not yet looked in any detail at the papers – that will take place over the next three months or so, now that we have the Thematic Panels established.

And on the subject of the TP – we were pleased to receive more than 50 applications for membership. The applications were of a very high standard, and we could have populated the panels three times over, leaving us a difficult task to select the final membership. Members were selected to give, we hope, TPs balanced in terms of expertise, institutional affiliation and diversity. The TP are as follows (** indicates Chair; ‡ is SC liaison):

Astro: Sarah Casewell (Leicester); Darshan Kakkad (Hertfordshire); Daisuke Kawata (UCL); Matthew Middleton** (Southampton); Bob Nichol (Surrey); Gavin Ramsay (Armagh); Aprajita Verma‡ (Oxford).

Helio: Christopher Chen (QMUL); Suzie Imber (Leicester); Graham Kerr (Glasgow); Alexander Russell (St Andrews); Clare Watt** (Northumbria); Patrick Antolin‡ (Northumbria)

Planetary: Matt Balme (Open U): Leigh Fletcher (Leicester); Lydia Hallis (Glasgow); Carly Howett (Oxford); Colin Snodgrass (Edinburgh); Caroline Smith‡ (NHM). Chair still tbd. We might also need to recruit an additional member, given the number of submissions.

Next steps for the SC and the TPs: Our current task is to complete a register of Conflicts of Interest (CoI) for members of the TPs and the Steering Committee. Once this is done, the TPs will start their evaluations of the WPs. We will release the Guidelines that will be followed for registration of CoI and how we will deal with them during the deliberations. We will also release the criteria that the TPs will follow in their evaluation of the WPs

Next Stage for the Community: Receipt and assessment of the WPs is just the start of the process of developing our strategic roadmap. We intend to engage in a dialogue with our community, to which end we will be organising a series of workshops sometime around mid-February to early March. We hope to present an overview of the scientific questions that are emerging from the WPs, and a flavour of what is being considered for the final report. This will be an opportunity for you to comment on our preliminary findings, letting us know if we are on the right lines, whether we have missed anything, etc.

Please remember that the Frontiers 2035 is not a process in which we are ‘down-selecting’ missions, or prioritising specific activities for funding. We are defining a strategy that will help guide the UK Space Agency and funding bodies when decisions have to be made. The strategic clarity that emerges from Frontiers will also give us a stronger voice at ESA, showing a much more united and determined UK space science community.

Once again – many thanks to everyone for your engagement with this process and the enthusiasm with which you have addressed the programme., despite the tight timescale.

UK Frontiers 2035 Steering Committee