21 August 2012

Dear Colleague,

NASA is pleased to call to the attention of members of the U.S.
scientific community the release by the European Space Agency (ESA)
of the Announcement of Opportunity (AO), "XMM-Newton Call for
Observing Proposals", soliciting Guest Observing proposals for the
12th cycle (AO-12) observing program for ESA's X-ray Multi-Mirror
Mission (XMM-Newton).  The subject Announcement solicits proposals
for observations to be performed during a 12-month period commencing
in May 2013.  Due to the nature of the NASA-ESA bilateral agreement,
only proposals from scientists affiliated with U.S. institutions are
solicited by this Letter; others are advised to contact ESA directly.
U.S. scientists may propose either as Principal Investigators or as
Co-Investigators on proposals with either U.S. or non-U.S. (foreign
PI proposals) PIs.  The AO may be accessed directly from ESA at the
following address:

http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_science/AO12/index.shtml

The XMM-Newton Guest Observer Facility (GOF) at the Goddard Space
Flight Center (GSFC) is the support center for XMM-Newton activities
in the U.S.  Information of interest to U.S. observers, as well as
general project information, can be found at the following address:

http://xmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/

A detailed description of the mission, including instrument
capabilities and additional information pertaining to the proposal
preparation and submission procedures, is also available via links
from the XMM-Newton home page at that address.  (General questions
concerning XMM-Newton and participation by U.S. investigators should be
addressed to xmmhelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov.)  ESA will be responsible
for conducting a peer review of all submitted proposals, including
those from U.S. investigators, and determining the associated time
allocation.  Current plans call for ESA to notify proposers and NASA
of the results of the peer review in mid-December 2012.

NASA expects to allocate approximately $960K for a Guest Observer (GO)
program in Fiscal Year 2014 to support the analysis, interpretation,
and publication of data obtained by U.S. proposers who are granted
Open Time observing on XMM-Newton under AO-12.  Note that this level
is ~1/6 that available for the support of U.S. Guest Observers for
AO-1 through AO-8 but comparable to the amount available for AO-10 
and AO-11.  With the limited funding available on the past two cycles, 
only US PIs with Category "A" proposals and those with the highest 
ranked Category "B" proposals were invited to submit budget requests 
to the US XMM-Newton program.  U.S. PIs with lower ranked Category B 
proposals and U.S. co-Is on foreign-PI Category A and B science
proposals were permitted to apply for funding from the Astrophysics 
Data Analysis Program (ADAP).  While a decision has not yet been made 
as to how US XMM GO funds will be allocated in AO-12, we currently 
anticipate that the eligibility rules will be similar to those for 
AO-11.

For additional technical or programmatic information regarding U.S.
participation in the XMM-Newton mission, please contact:


Technical Information:           Dr. Steve Snowden
                                 Goddard Space Flight Center
                                 Code 662
                                 Greenbelt, MD  20771
                                 Tel:  (301) 286-8100
                                 Fax:  (301) 286-1684
                                 Steven.L.Snowden@nasa.gov

Programmatic Information:        Dr. Louis Kaluzienski
                                 Astrophysics Division
                                 Science Mission Directorate
                                 Mail Suite: 3W39
                                 NASA Headquarters
                                 300 E Street, SW
                                 Washington, DC  20546-0001
                                 Tel:  (202) 358-0365
                                 Louis.J.Kaluzienski@nasa.gov

Sincerely,

Dr. L. J. Kaluzienski
U.S. XMM-Newton Program Scientist