The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory

Swift Cycle 1 Guest Investigator Program Information

Contents

Easy Instructions for Submitting Swift Proposals

A complete Swift Cycle 1 GI proposal includes the following, received by December 1, 2003:

  1. A NASA HQ cover page, submitted electronically, via SYS-EYFUS.
  2. A cover page, generated via RPS, submitted electronically, and also printed out and included on your hardcopy submissions.
  3. The text of your proposal. Guidelines are described in Information for Swift GI Program Proposers link. To summarize, proposals should include the following:
    • RPS Cover Page
    • RPS General Form
    • Scientific Justification (4 page limit)
    • Budget form (see budget instructions )
    • Budget discussion
    • List of Current/Pending Funding (as needed)
    • Vita of PI (1 page, optional)

NOTE: Scientific Justifications are submitted as HARDCOPIES. There is no electronic submission of scientific justification for Swift Cycle 1.

Send the original, signed hardcopy proposal and 15 copies to: 

Swift Guest Investigator Program - Cycle 1
ROSS-2003 NRA 
Office of Space Science
NASA Peer Review Services
500 E Street, SW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20024
    
Telephone: 202-479-9030

Proposals must be received by December 1, 2003.

IMPORTANT! Properties of the Swift GI Program

What the Swift GI program is:

  • US Swift PIs can receive funding to carry out gamma ray burst science.
  • Swift proposers can carry out new GRB projects using Swift data.
  • Swift proposers can carry out follow-up observations of gamma ray bursts at other wavelengths.
  • Swift proposers can carry out theoretical investigations of gamma ray bursts.
  • Swift proposals must be led by a US PI, but can include foreign co-Is.
  • The Swift GI program is part of NASA Headquarters Research Opportunities in Space Science 2003 (ROSS-03).

What the Swift GI program is NOT:

  • Swift proposers can't propose targets. Swift will autonomously point at GRBs detected onboard.
  • Swift propsers do not get proprietary data rights. All Swift data will be immediately public (after a 4.5 month in-orbit check-out period).
  • Swift proposers can not propose to do non-GRB science with Swift data in Cycle 1. Only research on gamma ray bursts will be funded through the Swift Cycle 1.

Supporting Materials for Submitting Swift Proposals

Swift Cycle 1 Schedule

The schedule for Cycle 1 of the Swift Guest Investigator Program is as follows:
  • Release Date - January 31, 2003, as part of ROSS-03
  • Web-based Documentation Available - September 1, 2003
  • Due Date for Notices of Intent - October 6, 2003
  • Due Date for Proposal Submission - December 1, 2003, 5pm EST
  • Proposal Peer Review - early 2004
  • Swift data publicly available - 4.5 months after launch

Swift Cycle 1 Announcement

The Swift front page of the ROSS-03 Announcement contains detailed information about the program.

This Announcement solicits proposals for participation in NASA's Swift mission, a multiwavelength observatory designed specifically for the study of Gamma Ray Bursts. Proposals are solicited for investigations in the following three areas: (1) New GRB projects not duplicative of team key projects (see below) and not requiring GI_specified observatory pointings; (2) Correlative observations of GRBs with non-Swift instruments and observatories; and (3) Theoretical investigations that will advance the mission science return in the area of GRBs. Investigations are to be carried out in the first year in which Swift data will be available to the community, currently anticipated to begin around June 1, 2004, and lasting for twelve months. As all Swift data will be immediately made public following an initial on-orbit verification and validation period, this program will award funds only, i.e., no proprietary observing time will be awarded.

It is anticipated that approximately $1M will be available for the support of approximately 30 Swift Guest Investigations selected under Cycle 1. The Cycle 1 Peer Review will thus be a one-stage process in which the scientific and technical merits of submitted proposals will be assessed alongside the submitted budget requests. Peer Review panels will allocate funds to successful proposals based on a number of factors, such as scientific merit, the availability of funds, and the degree to which the proposed investigation increases the potential scientific return of Swift.

The Swift Science Team has identified a number of approved Key Projects which will be carried out using Swift data. Proposals for investigations that are duplicative of the science goals of the Key Projects will not be considered for support under Cycle 1.

Consistent with the policies for proposal submission for research program elementes of the ROSS-03 NRA, proposers to the Swift Cycle 1 Guest Investigator program must submit electronically (for each proposal) the following two items to NASA Headquarters via the Office of Space Science Website:

  • a Notice of Intent to propose, and
  • a Proposal Cover Page

If you are already registered with the NASA SYS-EYFUS system, and have your User ID and password handy, go directly to the SYS-EYFUS login page to submit your information.

In addition to these required electronic submissions, a complete Cycle 1 proposal will also include:

  • RPS Cover Page
  • RPS General Form
  • Scientific Justification
  • Budget Section

Note that Swift autonomously repoints at Gamma Ray Bursts based on an onboard Figure of Merit for each trigger. Thus no target forms are necessary or accepted as part of Swift Cycle 1.

Notices of Intent are due on or before October 6, 2003. The additional HQ Cover Page is due at the time of submission of the full proposal, on or before December 1, 2003.

Further details on Notices of Intent and Cover Page can be found in Section 6 of the ROSS-03 Announcement. This information is also discussed in Chapter 3.1 and Appendix E.1 of the of the 2003 NASA HQ NRA Proposers Guidebook. Note that proposers responding to this NRA should consult the 2003 version of the Guidebook, and not the 2001 version.

If you have questions or problems with submitting NOIs or your HQ cover pages, please consult the NASA HQ Proposal Submission FAQ Page , or submit your technical support question to proposals@hq.nasa.gov.

Any questions about the Swift Guest Investigator Program or the Swift Cycle 1 proposal submission process should be directed to the the Swift Science Center .

Software, response matrices, count rate simulators for Swift simulations

  • Response matrices for simulations are available via anonymous FTP at legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov in the directory swift/nra_info/responses.

  • The Web-based proposal aids WebPIMMS, Viewing, and WebSpec are available on the Web.

    Details of the pre-launch response matrices used can be found on the SSC Proposals and Tools page.

    • If you'd like to be a Peer Reviewer ....

    The Swift Cycle 1 Peer Review will take place in the Baltimore/Washington area in early 2004.

    Reviewers must have a PhD at the time of the Peer Review.

    If you would like to be considered as a reviewer, please email Mike Arida at peer_review@rosserv.gsfc.nasa.gov.