NASA Release of SOFIA Cycle 3 Call for Proposals

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is pleased to invite proposals for Cycle 3 observations, which will take place in the time period March 1, 2015 to January 31, 2016. The observing campaigns will be interspersed with aircraft maintenance and instrument commissioning. 

The deadline for submitting proposals is July 18, 2014. Proposal selections will be announced in early October 2014. Details of the Cycle 3 Call for Proposals can be found at http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Science/proposals/cycle3/.

SOFIA is a 2.7m telescope, with an effective, unvignetted, diameter of 2.5m, housed in a Boeing 747-SP aircraft. Observations are typically carried out at altitudes between 11.9 km (39,000 ft) and 13.7 km (45,000 ft.). These altitudes place the observatory above up to 99.8% of the obscuring atmospheric water vapor. There are six observatory instruments offered in this Call, which cover the range 0.3-250 microns.

Due to uncertainties in the NASA budget and the SOFIA project allocation for Fiscal Year 2015 and beyond, the implementation of this Call for Proposals, and subsequent observations, is contingent on the budget appropriation for the SOFIA project for that time period.

For questions and assistance, please contact the SOFIA help desk at sofia_help@sofia.usra.edu.