HEASARC News: INTEGRAL Cycle 8 Announcement of Opportunity

[heasarcnews@lists.nasa.gov]

March 22, 2010

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 AO-8 Cycle Observation Proposals", soliciting Guest Observation proposals for ESA's INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL). The Announcement solicits proposals for observations to be performed during the 12-month period starting January 1, 2011.

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 April 23, 2010.  The AO may be accessed directly from ESA via the following address:

http://integral.esac.esa.int/AO8/AO8_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-8 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. Please note that ESA is planning a second Call for Proposals in August 2010 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.

NASA has previously funded an INTEGRAL 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. The ability to support such a GO program for AO-8 depends on the results of the upcoming NASA 2010 Senior Review.  In the event that funding for an INTEGRAL GO program for AO-8 is not approved, we expect that US scientists with successful AO-8 proposals will be able to propose for funding in future Astrophysics Data Analysis Programs (ADAPs).

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
				Email: 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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