Introduction

The ISO Flight Model Satellite at Estec

Welcome to the fifth issue of ISO INFO. This newsletter is published at irregular intervals to keep the astronomical community informed of the progress of the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), the next astronomical mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). Since the last issue of ISO INFO was published, the Call for ISO Observing Proposals has been released, the Letters of Intent deadline has passed and the first completed proposal has been received, well ahead of the due date. A major hardware milestone has been passed with the arrival at ESTEC of the Flight Model Payload Module.

The ISO INFO is being published now to remind proposers that the deadlines for submission of ISO proposals are 20.00 hours GMT August 19th 1994 for the electronic versions and August 23rd for the paper version. Other important dates include:

• OTAC review completed by end November 94
• Start of Phase 2 data entry in December 94
• End of phase 2 data entry by mid 95
• Launch of ISO on 19 September 95

We are pleased to see the large extent of community interest in ISO, not just in the number of potential proposals but also in the expansion of national support activities. Several national centres have been set up to help in the use of ISO and various newsletters are being issued, independently, on a semi-regular basis. The ISO community must, however, remain aware that, to avoid any misunderstanding, the formal source of information on ISO is ESA.