Hubble Space Telescope Call for Proposals for Cycle 13
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10.1 NotificationChapter 10:
Proposal Implementation and Execution
10.2 Phase II Submission
10.3 Program Coordinator and Contact Scientist
Support
10.4 Duplication Checking
10.5 Technical Review
10.6 Proposal Scheduling
10.7 Unschedulable or Infeasible Programs
10.8 Access to Data Products
10.9 Archival Research Support
10.10 Visits to STScI
10.11 Failed Observations
10.12 Publication of HST Results
10.13 Dissemination of HST Results
10.1 Notification
The panels and the TAC will meet approximately two months after the proposal submission deadline. Electronic notification of the outcome of the Phase I selection process will be sent to all proposers within a few weeks thereafter (early April 2004). The comments on the proposal from the panel will be sent about 4 weeks after the notification emails.
10.2 Phase II Submission
Successful GO/SNAP proposers must submit a Phase II program which provides complete details of the proposed observations. Detailed instructions on the preparation of Phase II programs are provided in the STScI Phase II documentation. Complete observational details must be provided by the Phase II submission deadline, approximately one and one half months after notification of the Phase I outcome (i.e., mid-May 2004). Accurate target coordinates must also be supplied at this time, except for certain Targets of Opportunity (or in other exceptional circumstances, provided that these circumstances were clearly described in the Phase I proposal). Failure to submit a Phase II program by the required deadline will result in loss of the time allocation. Program changes after the Phase II deadline are not generally allowed, but may be allowed in special situations. The policies that apply to such changes are described in the Policy Document for the Telescope Time Review Board (TTRB), available on the Web.
Proposers are not allowed to make changes to the list of investigators (PI and CoIs) after acceptance of the Phase I proposal, unless permission for this is granted by the Head of the Science Policies Division. Requests for this should be well-justified, and must be submitted to spd_staff@stsci.edu.
10.3 Program Coordinator and Contact Scientist
Support
Accepted observing programs are assigned a Program Coordinator (PC), whose role is to help the observer deliver a Phase II program that is syntactically correct and will schedule successfully on the telescope.
Selected programs (e.g., Large, Treasury, DD, Target of Opportunity or moving target programs, or those using complicated observing strategies) will also be assigned a Contact Scientist (CS). The role of the CS is to provide advice on observing strategies, and to answer specific questions about instrument performance. Observers who are not automatically assigned a CS may request one. The CS is generally an Instrument Scientist involved in the calibration and characterization of the primary instrument used in the observer's program. The role of the CS ceases at program execution. For post-execution help please contact the help desk.
10.4 Duplication Checking
Some computer-aided duplication checks are carried out in Phase II, in part by STScI and also by observers who wish to check whether any of their own observations are being duplicated. Any duplications found that were not explicitly justified in the Phase I proposal and recommended by the review panels or TAC will be disallowed. No compensatory observing time will be allowed and the observing time will be removed from the allocation.
10.5 Technical Review
In Phase I, STScI does not perform technical reviews for the majority of the submitted proposals (exceptions include, e.g., Large, DD, Calibration, TOO and Treasury proposals). In Phase II a technical/feasibility review is performed and special attention is given to observations/modes that may damage the instrument, are particularly complex, are recent/experimental, are human and technical resource-intensive, or require the use of limited resources (such as real-time acquisitions or TOO programs). All technically challenging or infeasible observations are flagged. Note that it is the responsibility of the PI to ensure that none of the observations violate bright objects constraints (see Section 5.1 of the HST Primer).
10.6 Proposal Scheduling
After Technical Review, observations determined to be feasible are scheduled for execution. The scheduling process attempts to optimize the overall HST efficiency. STScI will not contemplate requests to advance or postpone the scheduling of individual programs based on other considerations, with the possible exception of compelling scientific arguments.
10.7 Unschedulable or Infeasible Programs
Proposers should be aware that after acceptance of a proposal, the actual execution of the observations may in some cases prove impossible. Possible reasons include:
- The accepted observation may be found to be infeasible or extremely difficult for technical reasons only after receipt of the Phase II information; TOO and time-critical observations can be particularly complex to plan and execute, and will be completed only to the extent that circumstances allow.
- The observing mode or instrument selected may not be operational; or
- Suitable guide stars or scheduling opportunities may not exist.
Note also that the STScI Director reserves the right to disallow at any time any or all observations of an approved program if it is demonstrated that incorrect or incomplete information was provided in the Phase I proposal that may have significantly influenced the approval recommendation by the review panels or TAC.
10.8 Access to Data Products
Data products are stored in the HST Data Archive (see Section 7.2 of the HST Primer). Any processing or scientific analysis of the data beyond the standard "pipeline" calibrations performed by STScI is the responsibility of the observer.
Observers retrieve their data directly from the Data Archive, either through the MAST web site or the StarView interface. In order to retrieve proprietary data from the Archive, proposal PIs and those designated by them must first register as Archive users. This can be done through the Data Archive Registration Web page on the MAST web site. STScI plans to eliminate the need to register as an archive user for retrieval of non-proprietary data from the HST Data Archive. An update on the status of registration will be posted when the modified archive distribution software is implemented. HST data normally become non-proprietary one year after they are taken.
The HST Data Handbook describes the data that are produced by the instruments. The Space Telescope Science Data Analysis Software (STSDAS) Web Page has links to the software that is used to calibrate and analyze HST data, and to documentation on its use (see also Section 7.1.1 of the HST Primer).
- Observers with questions about the retrieval of their data should contact the Archive Hotseat (see Appendix A.1).
- Observers with questions about the analysis and calibration of their data should contact the STScI Help Desk (see Section 1.5).
10.9 Archival Research Support
STScI provides limited assistance in the reduction and analysis of archived data. Although a Contact Scientist is not usually assigned to a funded AR program, STScI will do so upon request. The CS will serve as a single point of contact to help resolve calibration and data analysis issues. However, proposers should plan to conduct the bulk of their archival research at their home institutions, and should request funds accordingly. Limited resources preclude extensive assistance in the reduction and analysis of data by non-funded archival researchers.
- Archival Researchers with questions about the retrieval of data should contact the Archive Hotseat (see Appendix A.1).
- Archival Researchers with questions about the analysis and calibration of data should contact the STScI Help Desk (see Section 1.5).
10.10 Visits to STScI
After observations have been obtained, observers who are new to HST may find it useful to visit STScI for 2-3 days to learn how to deal with their data. Also, in cases of particularly complex or difficult programs, observers may consider visiting STScI before the Phase II deadline. Note that the help desk may be able to answer your questions and should be consulted before planning a visit to STScI.
Expenses for such visits to STScI can be included in budgets for STScI grant funding if they conform to STScI's General Grant Provisions (see Chapter 12 for details).
Visits can be arranged through the STScI Help Desk (see Section 1.5). Observers who visit STScI will be assisted by STScI staff to the extent that resources permit.
10.11 Failed Observations
HST observations fail at a rate of a few percent. Some of these failures result from occasional guide stars that cannot be acquired, or from an instrument anomaly, or the telescope happening to be in a safe mode when a particular observation was scheduled. Such failures, which are obviously beyond the proposer's control, are usually rescheduled for an automatic repeat. When this is the case, the proposer receives a notice to this effect.
A smaller fraction of failures do not have a clear cause, and may not be evident from our internal reviews of data quality. If you believe your observation has failed or is seriously degraded, then you may request a repeat using the Hubble Observation Problem Report (HOPR) Web Form. The HOPR must be filed within 90 days after the observations are taken. In cases where the failure resulted from proposer error (e.g., incorrect target coordinates), a repeat will not be granted. In cases where the failure was a result of incorrect instrument performance, or incorrect information provided by STScI, a repeat is usually granted.
The policies that apply to failures and repeats are described in the Policy Document for the Telescope Time Review Board (TTRB), available on the Web. We wish to emphasize in particular:
- Standard policy dictates that if observations are to be repeated, the degraded/failed observations will be made public.
- If an observer has obtained more than 90% of the planned observations and the missing data are not uniquely important, then a repeat is not normally granted.
- If a snapshot or pure parallel exposure fails during execution it will not be repeated, regardless of the cause of the failure.
- Observations taken using Available-but-Unsupported modes that fail due to the use of the unsupported mode will not be repeated.
- Observations that are lost due to bright object violations will not be repeated.
10.12 Publication of HST Results
It is expected that the results of HST observations and Archival Research will be published in the scientific literature. All publications based on HST data must carry the following footnote (with the first phrase in brackets included in the case of Archival Research):
"Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained [from the Data Archive] at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with program # ____."
If the research was supported by a grant from STScI, the publication should also carry the following acknowledgment at the end of the text:
"Support for program #____ was provided by NASA through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555."
The relevant program ID should be entered in these phrases where indicated.
Because of the importance of maintaining the accuracy and completeness of the HST bibliography, a link to an electronic version of each preprint of each publication based on HST research should be sent via email to the following addresses:
- Dr. David Leckrone, HST Senior Scientist, Code 440, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA
(dleckrone@hst.nasa.gov).- Office of Public Outreach, STScI, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA (villard@stsci.edu).
- Librarian, Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA (library@stsci.edu).
Of course paper preprints remain acceptable. If desired, the OPO and Library copies can both be sent to the Library. Note that this requirement includes both refereed and non-refereed publications, but not abstracts or poster papers. Also, the advance information provided by a preprint is important for planning and evaluation of the scientific operation of the HST mission, and may be used for the selection and preparation of press releases.
10.13 Dissemination of HST Results
We remind HST observers that they have a responsibility to share interesting results of their HST investigations with the public at large. The Office of Public Outreach (OPO) of STScI is available to help observers use their HST data for public information and education purposes. Proposers can find guidelines and examples of these activities on the OPO Web page that discusses the Release of Scientific Findings to the Public.
The Hubble Heritage project aims to give wide exposure to HST observations that are visually stimulating to the lay public. Investigators who feel that their data may be relevant to the Hubble Heritage project, either as-is, or with a small investment of extra observing time (for example to obtain an extra waveband) are encouraged to send an email to heritage@stsci.edu. Information on the project is available at the Hubble Heritage Project Web Page.
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