Chapter 1 - General Information

1.1 The Chandra Program: Call for Proposals (CfP)

We invite scientists to participate in Cycle 15 of the Chandra X-ray Observatory’s (CXO) science program. The Chandra program is sponsored by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and managed by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The Chandra X-ray Center (CXC), which is funded by NASA via a contract to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in Cambridge, MA, has the responsibility for managing the Chandra science program, carrying out the Chandra Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program, conducting the peer review that recommends the allocation of observing time and funds to the user community, selecting the proposals, and operating the Chandra spacecraft. The Chandra X-ray Observatory is described in Chapter 2.

The funding of all awards associated with this Call for Proposals (CfP) flows from NASA through SAO and the CXC to the Awardees. The CXC is the organizational unit within SAO that carries out SAO’s contractual obligation to operate the Chandra X-ray Observatory and solicit proposals and when used in this document will encompass the NASA/SAO/CXC interrelationship.

1.2 Proposal Review Process: Deadlines and Schedule

Science proposal submission and review will be conducted in two stages to minimize the burden of proposal preparation. For details, please refer to Chapter 5:

Stage 1: Involves the scientific and technical merits of the proposed investigation. Evaluation criteria include overall scientific merit, relevance to the Chandra program and the competence of the proposers (Section 7.1).

Stage 2: The PIs of those proposals selected in Stage 1 will be invited to submit a cost proposal for the Stage 2 review (Chapter 8):

Table 1.1 Schedule and Deadlines for the CfP Cycle

Event	Date
CfP Release	13 December 2012
XVP Notice of Intent	23 January 2013
Science Proposal Deadline (Stage 1)	6 p.m. EDT, 14 March 2013
Peer Review	18-21 June 2013
Selected Proposals Announced	Mid July 2013
Budget Deadline (Stage 2)	6 p.m. EDT, 17 September 2013
Cost Review	October 2013
Stage 2 Final Selection	November 2013
Cycle 15 Starts	About December 2013

Late Proposals will not be considered. We recommend submission well before the deadline.

1.3 Summary of the CfP

This CfP solicits basic research proposals for the conduct of space science observations and subsequent analysis of the resultant scientific data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO). The CfP also solicits proposals for research that makes use of publicly available archived Chandra data and for theoretical and modeling studies related to the Chandra mission. The primary goal of the Chandra mission is the investigation of the nature and physics of astronomical objects as revealed through their X-ray emission.

This CfP offers the opportunity for the submission of seven different types of proposals (see Chapter 4).

1.3.1 Types of Science Research Proposals

General Observing Projects (GO) involving new Chandra observations, generally (but not limited to) requiring less than 300 ksec of observing time (regardless of the number of objects observed);
Large Observing Projects (LP) involving new Chandra observations that require 300-999 ksec or more (regardless of the number of objects observed) and designated as LPs by the PI;
X-ray Visionary Projects (XVP) involving new Chandra observations for major coherent science projects to address key questions in current astrophysics that require 1-5 Msec (regardless of the number of pointings required).
Target of Opportunity (TOO) Projects that are triggered by the occurrence of an unanticipated astrophysical phenomenon (e.g., a supernova);
Joint Observing Projects that require multi-wavelength data taken by Chandra and one or more of the facilities described in Section 4.5;
Archival Research Projects that use data from the Chandra archives, or the Chandra Source Catalog; and
Theory/Modeling Projects that seek to better understand and interpret the data that have been taken with Chandra, or that seek to determine what new observations might be taken to test a hypothesis.

The observations selected as a result of this CfP will be implemented during a one-year period beginning about December 2013 with any multi-cycle observations extending at most into the following two cycles. The observing time is allocated as follows (see Section 3.2.3): 600 ksec of the on-target observing time available during this cycle to calibration observations, 700 ksec is allocated to Director’s Discretionary Time (DDT), 2450 ksec to Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO), and the remaining time available is allocated for General Observations (GO). The time available for General Observers (including Large and X-Ray Visionary Projects) under this CfP is estimated at about 20 Msec, of which about 4 Msec will be allocated for Large Projects and ~5 Msec will be reserved for X-ray Visionary Projects. It is anticipated that further opportunities for participation in the Chandra Research Program will be announced annually, including the analysis of the increasing body of archival data.

1.4 Cancellation of the CfP

The CXC reserves the right to make no awards under this CfP and to cancel this CfP. The CXC, the Smithsonian Institution, and NASA assume no liability should the CfP be cancelled or for anyone’s failure to receive notification of a cancellation.

1.5 What’s New in Cycle 15

Science Keywords: The RPS proposal Cover Page now asks for one or more keywords describing proposal science. Selected keywords may be used to facilitate preliminary matching of proposals to reviewers, as well as archive searches. See Section 5.2.2.
Remote Proposal System (RPS) PDF Uploads: PIs with previous approved Chandra programs (PCP) must provide, as space allows in a 1-page PDF, a list of programs for which they were PI, including proposal number and title, and briefly describing program status and resulting publications. The RPS now requires separate upload of PDFs for the science justification, the PCP (if required) and (an optional) CV. See Section 5.2.10 for details.
Boundaries Clearly Specified for TOO categories:

Very Fast 0< t<4

Fast 4<=t<15

Medium 15<=t<30

Slow t>=30

Where t=start time of the response window. The minimum expected response time for a TOO is 24 hours. Refer to Section 4.4 for details.
New and Revived Joint Programs: Swift time can now be proposed through the Chandra peer review, for science that requires observations from both observatories. Spitzer joint time is again available through the Chandra peer review. Refer to Section 4.5 for details.
Prohibition of Bilateral USA-China Collaborations: Proposals which represent a bilateral collaboration between the US and the People's Republic of China cannot be accepted. Please refer to Sections 3.1 and Appendix A.4 for more details. Note that multilateral collaborations including China are generally permitted.
Primary Institute: To be eligible for funding (for either the PI or Co-Is), a U.S. Institution MUST be specified on the RPS form, and must be the primary institution of the investigator seeking funds. See Section 5.2.2

1.6 Proposal Submission

Science proposals must be submitted electronically via the Remote Proposal System (RPS) software (cxc.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/RPS/Chandra/RPS.pl). Cost proposals must also be submitted electronically using forms available from the CXC website, see Chapter 8 for more details.

1.7 How to Get Help

Questions concerning the Chandra mission and requests for assistance in Stage 1 proposal submission may be addressed to the Chandra Director’s Office (CDO) via the HelpDesk at: http://cxc.harvard.edu/helpdesk/ or by email to cxchelp@cfa.harvard.edu.

The full contact information for the CDO is:

Chandra Director’s Office
Chandra X-ray Center
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Telephone: (617) 495-7268

Garden Street, Mail Stop 6 FAX: (617) 495-7356

Cambridge, MA 02138-1516 Email: cxchelp@cfa.harvard.edu

For questions concerning Stage 2 Cost Proposals, please refer to the information in: Chapter 8.

1.8 Relevant Documents and Web Addresses

Documents recommended to proposers for additional information are listed in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2. Useful Documents

Document	Description
Proposers’ Observatory Guide (POG)	Technical Description of the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its Instruments.
MARX Manual	Manual describing the installation and use of the MARX simulation software.

Table 1.3. Web Addresses

Web Link	Description
http://cxc.harvard.edu/	CXC Website.
http://cxc.harvard.edu/proposer/	Page providing access to relevant web-based information and documentation necessary to prepare a Chandra proposal.
http://cxc.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/RPS/Chandra/RPS.pl	Remote Proposal Submission (RPS) Software.
http://cxc.harvard.edu/toolkit/pimms.jsp	Proposal Planning Toolkit: including count rate determination (PIMMS), column density estimates (Colden), coordinates (Precess), and date conversions (Dates).
http://cxc.harvard.edu/soft/provis	PRoVis: Pitch, Roll and Visibility Tool.
http://cxc.harvard.edu/obsvis	Observation Visualizer (ObsVis): for displaying and examining a Chandra target field of view.
http://cxc.harvard.edu/proposer/maxexpo.html	MaxExpo: Table and plots for estimation of the maximum uninterrupted Chandra exposure time.
http://cxc.harvard.edu/acis/optional_CCDs/optional_CCDs.html	Guide for selecting and activating the optimal set of ACIS CCDs.
http://cxc.harvard.edu/proposer/orbits.html	Table of begin and end times of Chandra orbits when observations are possible above the Earth’s radiation zones.
http://cxc.harvard.edu/ciao/download/	CLI versions of the Proposal Planning Toolkit (without PIMMS) and ObsVis.
http://cxc.harvard.edu/ciao/	CIAO: Data reduction and analysis software and information.
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/spp/sp/policies/CPSR.html	Funding information web pages providing information on Chandra grants.

Observation Catalog:
Web Link	Description
http://cda.harvard.edu/chaser/	WebChaSeR: Web interface to catalog search and archive data access.
http://cxc.harvard.edu/targets/	Target Search Page: Non-java search engine.
http://cxc.harvard.edu/csc/	Chandra Source Catalog (Section 4.7.1).
http://cxc.harvard.edu/cda/footprint/cdaview.html	Footprint Service: A visual web interface to all public Chandra observations and to the observational data used for the Chandra Source Catalog (Section 6.1.3).
http://cxc.harvard.edu/cgi-gen/cda/bibliography	Bibliography: Web interface that allows simultaneous browsing of the archive and papers published about Chandra observations.
http://cxc.harvard.edu/DDT/DD_program.html	Information on the DDT program and listing of DDT observations to date.

Very Fast	0< t<4
Fast	4<=t<15
Medium	15<=t<30
Slow	t>=30

The Chandra Cycle 15 Call for Proposals