Date: Monday 27 September, 2010, 15:17 PDT Subject: SPITZER: Cycle-8 Call for Proposals Schedule Dear Spitzer Science Community, The Spitzer Science Center expects to issue the Cycle-8 call for proposals (CP) by October 15. To allow you to start planning your proposals immediately, this memo provides advance notice regarding: 1. Schedule for the proposal Cycle. 2. Types of proposals solicited in the CP. 3. Observing time available in Cycle-8. Cycle-8 is currently the last funded observing cycle and is scheduled for observation August 2011 through September 2012. The Spitzer project will be returning to the NASA Senior Review in 2012 to request funding to support observations through Cycle-9, planned for October 2012 through December 2013. Cycle-8 Schedule: ------------------------------------------------ Duration: 14 months, August 2011 through September 2012 The deadlines and milestones for the proposal cycle are as follows: 10/15/2010 Issue Call for Proposals 11/15/2010 Exploration Science (ES) Letters of Intent Due 01/28/2011 Primary Proposal Deadline 03/01/2011 Deadline for updates to proposals with Kepler* targets 05/06/2011 Announce Results 06/06/2011 ES/Large program AORs due 08/01/2011 Cycle-8 starts * Kepler targets = Kepler Targets released on 1 Feb 2011 The Spitzer Space Telescope is an important element of NASA's exoplanet program and is committed to support open and fair access to observing time for the entire community. The delay in the release of ~400 Kepler observations until February 1, 2011, has received substantial coverage in the press and the community. To provide the broader community the opportunity to include Kepler targets from the February 1 release in Cycle-8 proposals, we are planning a two-phase proposal process. 1. Anyone requesting Spitzer Cycle-8 observations must submit an observing proposal by the primary deadline of January 28, 2011. All proposers that do not plan to include targets from the Kepler February 1 release in their observing program must submit their complete and final proposal by this deadline. 2. If a Cycle-8 proposer is planning to include Kepler targets from the February 1 release in their observing program, they must submit a proposal by the primary deadline that includes a complete list of the program investigators, an abstract and an estimate of the observing time required. After the proposal is submitted they must also send an email to the SSC notifying us that the proposal will be updated after the Feb 1, 2011 Kepler data release. An updated final proposal, including targets from the Kepler February 1 release must be submitted to the SSC by March 1, 2011. No other updated proposals will be accepted. This two-phase deadline allows the SSC to complete the review process in a timely fashion to refill the scheduling pool of observations, avoid the HST Cycle-19 deadline (February 25) for the vast majority of proposers and provide the opportunity to the broader community to include targets from the Kepler February 1 release in their observing program. Types of Proposals Solicited in Cycle-8: ------------------------------------------------ 1. Exploration Science (ES) General Observer (GO) - minimum 500 hours - default is no proprietary period - maximum 90-day proprietary period can be requested - letters of intent to propose due November 15, 2010 2. Regular General Observer - small programs (< 50 hours) - large programs (50-500 hours) - default is one-year proprietary period 3. Snapshot - maximum AOR length is one hour - full-array/HDR observations (12 seconds) or sub-array (0.4 seconds) only - no observing constraints - no hour limit on the proposals Observing time available in Cycle-8: ------------------------------------------------ Hours solicited: 6000 - Exploration Science 1000 - Priority 1 Regular GO 3000 - Priority 2 Regular GO and Snapshot Our goal will be to execute all of the Exploration Science and priority 1 regular GO programs. The priority 2 programs will be used to minimize gaps in the schedule as we near the end of the cycle. This priority strategy was successfully utilized in the final year of the cryogenic mission. As mentioned above, we expect to release the full call for proposals on or before October 15, 2010 and proposals are due January 28, 2011. Please send any questions you have regarding preparing Cycle-8 proposals to us at the Spitzer Helpdesk (help@spitzer.caltech.edu). Yours sincerely, Lisa Storrie-Lombardi Assistant Director for Community Affairs