Cycle5: X-ray spectroscopy and io.ascii fixes

[hamogu]

Address (by fixing or closing) open issues in astropy.io.ascii, astropy affiliate editor, organization of dev-telecons, development and review of other astropy and specutils code.

Relations to cycle 4 request: In the discussion on Moritz cycle 4 request the finance committee requested a 2-3 year budget and a matching scope; this proposal is to execute year 2 of that longer-term plan. Work has started but delayed transfer of the funding from NumFOCUS to MIT and medical leave for Moritz in the fall of 2025 mean that only a fraction of the originally proposed work has been done so far (but more will be done before the end of the year)