Welcome to the sixth issue of ISO INFO, the first in the intended year of the launch of ISO ! 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). The last issue of ISO INFO was published just after we released the Call for ISO Observing Proposals. We received 1000 responses to this call, all of which have been reviewed by OTAC, the Observing Time Allocation Committee, and results transmitted back to proposers. All those who were successful in their applications will be invited to ESTEC (or IPAC for American proposers) to enter their proposals. A complete list of successful proposers and information on the Proposal Data Entry Centre, PDEC, can be found in this issue.
ISO remains scheduled for a 19
September launch from Kourou, French
Guyana, atop an Ariane 44P. The ISO Flight Model has undergone a series of
environmental tests and is now being used for end-to-end tests of the complete
system, including the Ground Segment prior to being shipped out to Kourou. More
hardware information can be found in this issue.
Important dates for 1995 include:
February: Start of Open Time Phase 2 data entry
Mid July: End of Phase 2 data entry
19 September: Launch of ISO
Early December: End of Performance Verification phase and start of
routine operations