HEASARC News: INTEGRAL AO-7 Announcement

[heasarcnews@lists.nasa.gov]

January 15, 2009

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 "INTEGRAL Announcement of Opportunity for Observing Proposals" (AO-7), soliciting Guest Observation proposals for ESA's INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL). The Announcement solicits proposals for observations to be performed during the 14.5-month period from October 16, 2009 to December 31, 2010. This includes proposals for Key Programs.

Due to the nature of the NASA-ESA bilateral agreement, this solicitation applies only to scientists affiliated with U.S. institutions; others are urged to contact ESA directly. U.S. scientists may propose either as Principal Investigators or as Co-Investigators on foreign P.I. proposals.  The due date for proposals is February 20, 2009.  The AO may be accessed directly from ESA via the following address:

http://integral.esac.esa.int/AO7/AO7_LetterDSRE.pdf

NASA has instituted an INTEGRAL Guest Observer Facility (GOF) at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) as a support center for INTEGRAL 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://integral.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 to the INTEGRAL home page at that address. (Questions concerning U.S. participation in the INTEGRAL AO-7 program should be addressed to steven.j.sturner@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 during April 2009. Please note that ESA is planning a second Call for Proposals in May 2009 for so-called "data right proposals" that allow for the possibility of obtaining data rights for sources contained in the field of view of accepted observing proposals.

We anticipate that NASA will make funding available for a Guest Observer (GO) program to support the analysis, interpretation, and publication of data obtained by U.S. proposers granted INTEGRAL data rights through the ESA AO, but such funding will be contingent upon approval by NASA HQ. Details regarding the timing and mechanism of any solicitation for funding requests will be announced at a later date; please do not submit a budget with your observing proposal.

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

Technical Information:
			Dr. Steven Sturner
	  		NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
			Code 661
			Greenbelt, MD  20771
			Tel:  (301) 286-8447
			Fax:  (301) 286-1684
			steven.j.sturner@nasa.gov


Programmatic Information:
			Dr. Wilton T. Sanders
			NASA INTEGRAL Program Scientist
			Astrophysics Division
			Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
			(202) 358-1319
			wilton.t.sanders@nasa.gov
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