ROSAT Status Report #154: US ROSAT AO8 Submissions

[Michael Arida <arida@milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov>]

Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 13:19:56 -0500
Subject: ROSAT Status Report #154: US ROSAT AO8 Submissions


                        US ROSAT AO8 Submissions
                        ========================

A total of 104 proposals were submitted in response to the ROSAT AO8
announcement for guest observations.  The total amount of time requested is
20,500 ks, an oversubscription of about three.  The time requested is
comparable to that received in response to AO7, but the number of proposals
has declined by about 30 percent.

There seems to be a misconception held by some members of the community
that the AO8 announcement stated definitively that this was the final
opportunity to propose for ROSAT guest observations.  This is untrue.
Whether an AO9 is to be released depends on whether DARA agrees to continue
ROSAT operations beyond the end of 1998.  The US ROSAT Science Data Center
is funded through fiscal year 1999 (ending on September 30, 1999), and
could be funded beyond that, pending the outcome of next year's NASA MO&DA
Senior Review.  We expect to support the ROSAT mission for at least one
year beyond the time when the last observation is performed, as a
consequence of either hardware failure or a decision to terminate
operations.