NICER Proposals and Tools: Cycle 8

NICER General Observer Program: Cycle 8

In 2018, NICER began to solicit proposals from the general scientific community via NASA's ROSES Research Opportunities. A Phase 1 (Science) proposal is submitted to NASA HEASARC's ARK/RPS system, containing a concise science justification. Proposals may come from both US and non-US researchers. Phase 1 proposals are evaluated by peer review panels.

NASA also provides grant funding to support certain selected proposals. These funds are limited to proposals with PIs at US institutions. Selected proposals will receive a notification letter with more details and an invitation to submit a Phase 2 (Budget) proposal. Phase 2 proposals are submitted to NASA's NSPIRES system. In addition, there are reporting requirements for proposals with budget awards.

Notable in Cycle 8:

• Starting in Cycle 4 and continuing in Cycle 8, all Phase-1 proposals submitted to the NICER General Observer Program are evaluated following a dual-anonymous peer review process. See NASA's Dual-Anonymous Peer Review page for details.


• Proposals in Cycle 8 are for analysis of archival data only, and may include analysis of data from other observatories as long as they were acquired in coordination with archival NICER observations and contribute materially to the proposed investigation. No new NICER observations may be requested in Cycle 8.


• There are no joint programs with other missions for Cycle 8.

General Information

NICER Guide for Proposers

The Guide for Proposers summarizes guidelines from the NASA Research Announcement for NICER General Observers. It also describes in detail the elements and submission method for Phase 1 (Science) NICER General Observer proposals, as well as for Phase 2 (Budget) proposals.

NICER Phase 1 (Science) Proposal Submission

The HEASARC's Remote Proposal System (RPS) is an automated service providing General Observers from around the world an easy-to-use facility for submitting proposals in response to NASA Research Announcements.

NICER Proposal Tools

The NICER Proposal Tools provide documentation of the mission and applications/files that can be used for count rate and spectral simulations in order to help potential proposers demonstrate the feasibility of their proposed NICER investigations.

• Background Estimation: Three tools for estimating NICER's background for an observation were released in NICERDAS 10 (released with HEASoft 6.31). The tools are: niscorpeon, nibackgen3c50, and nispaceweather.
• See the Analysis Page and the NICER Science Analysis Threads regarding NICER analysis issues.
• See the NICER Analysis Threads for detailed information on analysis of NICER data

NICER Phase 2 (Budget) Proposal Submission

U.S. principal investigators will be notified directly regarding invitations to submit Phase 2 budget proposals. Phase 2 proposals are submitted to NASA's NSPIRES system. In addition, there are reporting requirements for proposals with budget awards.

NICER News & Helpdesk

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