XTENEWS: New tapes, data rights, AO-3 etc

[Alan Smale <alan@osiris.gsfc.nasa.gov>]

                                                  21st April 1997


We'd like to bring past and future RXTE observers up to date with the
following developments:

   (1) The RXTE Science Data Center at NASA/GSFC has begun a
reprocessing of AO-1 data, to fill in gaps that appear in some
datasets.  All AO-1 GOs will receive new tapes as this reprocessing
proceeds. Note that this reprocessing will _not_ affect results you
may have already obtained from your current RXTE data tapes, but may
merely provide some missing sections of data that may be 'new' to you.

    (2) Following a recommendation by the RXTE Users Committee, NASA
HQ has decided that RXTE proprietary data rights will be extended by
up to six months for PIs of observations performed in AO-1. (To be
specific: AO-1 data will now go public twelve months after the receipt
of the original data tape, or six months after the receipt of the
reprocessed data tape, whichever is _later_. AO-2 data rights are
unaffected.)

    (3) NASA Headquarters and the RXTE GOF expect to issue an
announcement for the third cycle of observations in late May/early
June, with a proposal due date in late August/early September. AO-3
observations will commence on or near the beginning of 1998 and last
for one year. This is just a heads-up; an official announcement will
follow in due course.


    In addition, we'd like to remind you that:

    (i) if you're analyzing RXTE data, you should be using the latest
and greatest FTOOLS 3.6.1, which was released last month;

    (ii) if you're anxious about your cash flow, you can now check the
status of your AO-1 and AO-2 RXTE grants (budgets) by taking a look at
our online Web pages.


    Details about these items and many more can be found by going to
the GOF homepage at
	http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/xte_1st.html

and clicking on the "What's New" icon. We encourage you to visit
regularly to get the latest news from RXTE, and check out our
fast-growing collection of data analysis recipes.

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