Overall Proposal Process

The proposal process for the Supplemental Call is very similar to that for the pre-launch Call and, in summary, is as follows. Proposers send so-called ``Phase 1'' proposals to the SOC at ESTEC by the given deadline. These proposals contain the scientific justification and planned observations, including details such as instrument and mode, filter or wavelength, and total required time. Version 1.3 of the ISO Remote Proposal Submission System (IRPSS) is to be used for preparation of Phase 1 proposals. The Observing Time Allocation Committee reviews these proposals and recommends priorities and times. The Principal Investigators of proposals, which receive a priority above a certain cut-off, are then invited to travel at their own expense to the ESA Proposal Data Centre at ESTEC (US proposers to IPAC) to enter full details of their observations (the so-called ``Phase 2'' proposals) into a SOC data base. Remote login facilities will also be available.

To expand the above into somewhat more detail, you have to complete the following tasks for Phase 1:

• download the documentation for the Call either via the WWW or via ftp. The list of relevant documentation is given in appendix C;
• copy via network transfer (ftp) the IRPSS code and associated material;
• request, if necessary, an observer ID (OBSID) by e-mail from the ISO Helpdesk;
• prepare a concise scientific case for the proposal and details of the observations. Note that, even though figures cannot be included in the electronic version of the proposal, they may be added to the paper version;
• fill in proposal templates, using your own text editor, according to IRPSS instructions and using exposure and overhead times calculated using the methods given in the Observer's manuals (see also section 4.3.5);
• compile and link the IRPSS source code;
• run the filled-in template through the IRPSS. This will
  (a) validate the format of the proposal (completeness, syntax, limit checking), and
  (b) if validation succeeds, produce a formatted ASCII file suitable for printing;
• print out the formatted ASCII proposal (i.e. the output IRPSS file), add any necessary figures, make the required 12 copies and mail them to the SOC at ESTEC to arrive before the deadline; and
• e-mail the filled-in template (i.e. the input IRPSS file) to proposal@isou07.estec.esa.nl to arrive before the deadline.

On receipt of the proposals, the SOC will forward them to OTAC for scientific review, while making, in parallel, some technical assessments and preparing overall statistics on the response. The OTAC will assign priorities to each proposal (and, as needed, grade individual observations within a proposal). OTAC will provide for the necessary oversubscription (see section 6.2.2) in observations by recommending that the required number of proposals be entered into the Phase 2 data base.

``Successful'' Phase 1 proposers have to complete the following tasks in Phase 2:

• make an appointment to visit (or login remotely to) the ESA Proposal Data Entry Centre at ESTEC (IPAC for US proposers). ESA will not support travel and subsistence for Phase 2 data entry.
• visit (or login remotely to) the ESA Proposal Data Entry Centre at ESTEC (or IPAC) to enter full details of their observations into the ``Proposal Generation Aids'' software; support will be available at the centre from SOC staff (or via e-mail for those remotely logged in), as well as additional tools for calculating and checking observing times;
• observers must adhere to (a) the times recommended by OTAC and (b) their Phase 1 target lists, as amended by OTAC.

The feasibility of observations will be checked in greater detail during the Phase 2 process and the results of this checking may result in OTAC adjusting the priorities they awarded during Phase 1.

One of the parameters, used by the scientific scheduling software to plan which observations will be carried out during a particular orbit, is the priority of the observations as allocated by OTAC. The higher the priority an observation or proposal receives, the greater the probability that it will be carried out (see entry on priority in the glossary). However, for operational reasons, no guarantees can be given that any particular observation will, in fact, be executed, regardless of its grade.