XTE Survey

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

___________________________________________________________________________

Dear Potential XTE Proposer:

NASA's X-Ray Timing Explorer (XTE) is scheduled to be launched less
than a year from today, on August 31, 1995, with the largest area 2-60
keV proportional counters and the most sensitive 20-200 keV
scintillators ever flown. It is capable of microsecond time resolution
and can process and transmit up to 10^5 counts per second to the
ground.  An All Sky Monitor will search for transients, which may then
be observed with the larger detectors. All the science time will be
awarded on the basis of competitive proposals in response to a NASA
Research Announcement (NRA) planned for release at the end of November
1994, with proposals due in March 1995. Programs involving coordinated
multiwavelength observations will be facilitated by flexible
scheduling.

Due to the highly constrained Mission Operations & Data Analysis (MO &
DA) budget projected for Astrophysics missions through the end of this
decade, XTE is currently baselined for a 2-year operational life
followed by a third year of data analysis support.  The Astrophysics
Division will conduct a review in early November of a set of ten
missions, including XTE, to re-assess the current operations plan.
Your response to this questionnaire will help us in establishing
whether XTE's operational lifetime should be considered for extension
beyond the nominal 2-year period.  In addition, your response will
help us in planning for the initial observing cycle of the mission,
covering the first 9 months of operations.  Your response to this
survey does NOT constrain your potential proposal(s) to the NRA in any
way.

We would appreciate an immediate reply (to be useful it must be
received by October 24). Individual responses will remain
confidential. Question A is the most important; if you do not yet know
the answers to subsequent questions, please leave them blank.

Please reply to    xtenra@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov    or use REPLY
if you prefer.  Thank you for your time. Our apologies if you receive
multiple copies of this survey request.

		Jean Swank, XTE Project Scientist
		Alan Smale, XTE Guest Observer Facility Manager

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A. Do you expect to propose for XTE observing time? 

B. How many proposals do you expect to submit? 

C. What type(s) of observations are you considering?

 1. AGNs
 2. X-ray binaries
 3. CVs
 4. Other types of sources

D. Will your observations involve contemporaneous coverage at other
wavelengths or with other X-ray observatories?

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