RXTE Guest Observer Program - Cycle 8

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

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                 RXTE Cycle 8 Announcement Released
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The solicitation for observing proposals for RXTE Cycle 8 has been
released as an Amendment to NASA Research Announcement NRA 02-OSS-01,
"Research Opportunities in Space Science - 2002", entitled "Rossi
X-ray Timing Explorer Guest Observer Program - Cycle 8." This
Announcement solicits proposals for participation in the NASA OSS
program to acquire and analyze scientific data from the RXTE X-ray
Observatory, for observations to be carried out in the interval
beginning around March 1, 2003, and lasting for twelve months.

The schedule for proposal submission and evaluation is as follows: 

*   Release Date - August 23, 2002 
*   Due Date for Notices of Intent - September 23, 2002 
*   Due Date for Proposal Submission - November 21, 2002 
*   Proposal Peer Review - January, 2003 
*   Start of Cycle 8 observations - on or around March 1, 2003 

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** Guest Investigator funding has been reestablished for RXTE Cycle 8.

For Cycles 4-7, funding for analysis and interpretation of new as well
as archival RXTE data has been through the NASA Astrophysics Data
Program (ADP).  Guest Investigator funding has been reestablished for
RXTE Cycle 8.  The Cycle 8 Peer Review will thus be a two-stage
process, similar to the process used previously for RXTE Cycles 1-4. 

In the first stage, the scientific and technical merits of submitted
proposals will be assessed. The PIs of proposals that are successful
at Stage 1 will be invited to submit budget requests. These budgets
will be assessed in the Stage 2 review.

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** In addition, and new for Cycle 8: NASA HQ requires that proposers
submit:

* a Notice of Intent, and
* an additional Cover Page 

for each proposal.

Notices of Intent are due on or before September 23, 2002. The
additional Cover Page/Proposal Summary is due at the time of
submission of the full proposal, on or before November 21, 2002.
Further details on Notices of Intent and Cover Page can be found in
the text of the ROSS-2002 Amendment, in Chapter 3.1 of the NASA HQ 
NRA Proposers Guidebook, and in Appendices E.1-E.3 of this Guidebook.

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Aside from these items, the details of RXTE proposal submission have
not changed. Electronic submission of forms will still be achieved
using RPS.  The content and layout of these forms have not changed
from previous Cycles. Scientific justifications will also be submitted
electronically, using the same submission process inaugurated last
year for Cycle 7.

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Relevant URLs:

RXTE Cycle 8 Guest Observer Information Page:     
     http://rxte.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/cycle8.html

NASA HQ Research Announcement:
     http://spacescience.nasa.gov/
     (select "Research Solicitations" menu)

NASA HQ NRA Proposers Guidebook:
     http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/nraguidebook/

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As always, any questions about the submission process should be
directed to the the RXTE Guest Observer Facility at

     xtehelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov

Additional programmatic information may be obtained from Dr. Louis
Kaluzienski, RXTE Program Scientist, Astronomy and Physics Division,
Code SZ, Office of Space Science, National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, Washington, DC 20546-0001; phone (202) 358-0365;
E-mail lkaluzie@hq.nasa.gov.


-- 
| Dr. Alan P. Smale  (USRA)     | xtehelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov (RXTE)|
| RXTE Guest Observer Facility  | alan@osiris.gsfc.nasa.gov (me)     |
|   & Swift Science Center      | (301) 286-7063 (voice)             | 
| Code 660.1, NASA/GSFC         | (301) 286-0708 (FAX)               |
| Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA      | http://rxte.gsfc.nasa.gov/         |