NASA ROSES-17 Amendment 12: D.5 Swift GI now includes NuSTAR
ROSES-17 Amendment 12: This amendment announces that the Swift Guest Investigator program Cycle 14 can award NuSTAR observations through a joint program with the NuSTAR mission.
The Swift Guest Investigator (GI) Program solicits proposals for basic research relevant to the Swift gamma-ray burst mission. The primary goal of this mission is to determine the origin of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and use these bursts to probe the early universe. Swift is also a valuable asset for obtaining multiwavelength images, spectra, and light curves on interesting Targets of Opportunity (ToOs) and other nontransient sources.
Cycle 14 observations and funding will commence on or around April 1, 2018, and last approximately 12 months. Further details on the Cycle 14 program will be posted on the Swift web pages (https://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/proposals) in August 2017. As was the case in Swift GI Cycles 4 through 13, observing time will be made available to scientists at U.S. and non-U.S. institutions to study a wide variety of astrophysical sources. Consistent with Explorer Program policy, there will be no proprietary data rights to observations conducted with Swift. All science data will be made freely available through the Swift Quick Look web site (https://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/sdc/ql), as soon as they are received and processed.
Starting from Cycle 14, the Swift Guest Investigator program can award NuSTAR observations through a joint program with the NuSTAR mission. Observing time under this program will be awarded only to proposals that require use of both observatories to meet the primary science goals. Proposers are strongly encouraged to refer to the Swift/NuSTAR Memorandum of Understanding, which may be found under other documents on the NSPIRES page for this program element.
By this agreement, NuSTAR permits the Swift GI Program to award up to 300 ks of NuSTAR observing time. The minimum NuSTAR response time to Targets of Opportunity is 48 hours. ToO observations with a turnaround time less than one week must be well-justified and of high scientific value. NuSTAR data acquired through the Swift GI Program will have a standard 12-month exclusive-use period commencing at the time of receipt of the processed data by the observer. This period is restricted to 6-months for peer-reviewed ToOs. The Swift Mission Project will make funding available to successful U.S.-based investigators who request NuSTAR observing time through the Swift GI process. No funds will be awarded from the NuSTAR Project for such joint investigations proposed to this Swift program element.
The NuSTAR GI Program will perform feasibility checks on the proposed observations and reserves the right to reject any observation determined for any reason to be technically unfeasible or to jeopardize the NuSTAR mission. Such a rejection would likely affect the entire proposed science program and could impact the award of Swift observing time as well. Selected proposals will be allocated NuSTAR observing time without additional scientific review, if judged technically feasible.
On or about June 19, 2017, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement “Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2017” (NNH17ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ and will appear on the RSS feed at: https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2017/
Technical questions concerning this program element may be directed to Eleonora Troja, who may be reached at eleonora.troja@nasa.gov.
The NASA point of contact for programmatic information is Martin Still, who may be reached at martin.still@nasa.gov.
