The Suzaku satellite has provided unique X-ray data from 0.2 to 600 keV with its combination of the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) and Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) since its launch in July 2005. In the next observing cycle (AO-6) from April 2011 through March 2012, the Suzaku mission solicits Key Project proposals, initiated in AO-4. The Key Projects are defined as comprehensive observing programs sampling a number of objects of a particular class, or surveying a large region of the sky, in order to take maximal advantage of the unique attributes of Suzaku to address important astrophysical problems. Investigators are invited to propose Key Projects to NASA or JAXA, depending on their affiliation, according to the same policy as the ordinary observation program. As these projects require a substantial investment of observing time, proposers are encouraged to include in their team US and Japanese collaborators.
The Suzaku project plans to reserve up to 2 Msec annually for the Key Projects, by drawing time from the US-J collaborative category and both US and Japanese national times. It is expected that at least 2 Key Projects will be underway at any time. If a Key Project requires more than the time available in a year it will be extended until complete.
Key Projects will be solicited annually. As existing Key Projects are completed, new ones will be initiated. Ongoing projects that take more than one year to complete will be reviewed annually to ensure they are being productive.
Key Project proposals have the same components of ordinary guest
observer proposals. They consist of a scientific justification, a
feasibility demonstration of both observations and program, and a
target list. The scientific justification must explain the scientific
problem, how proposed observations address this problem, and how the
proposed program makes use of the strengths
of Suzaku. The Suzaku project expects that the data
of the Key Projects will not lose their scientific value immediately,
and will remain as a legacy of Suzaku for a long time in the
future. All proposals must be written in English. Those written in
Japanese are automatically rejected without being sent to the
refereeing process.
Up to 8 pages are allowed for the science justification (text,
figures, and tables).
In AO-6, a proposal composed of a subset of the targets proposed to
the Key Project program can be submitted to
the ordinary observation program. Only one proposal is to the ordinary program
is allowed from a counterpart Key Project proposal.
See the AO-6
announcement of the ordinary observation program for more detail.
The proposers should clearly state in their Key Project proposal
that there is a duplicated submission to the ordinary observation program
Note: This duplicated submission rule is applied only to investigators eligible
to submit a proposal to ISAS/JAXA.
All Key Project data flow directly into the Suzaku public archive. This guarantees maximum exploitation of the data. The PI of a successful proposal will be expected to serve as the scientific lead for observation planning.
Operational constraints preclude the possibility that a Key Project consist entirely of time critical (TC) observations or ToOs. It is possible to include in a Key Project a subset of constrained observations. As is the case for constrained observations during the regular proposal cycle, the imposition of a constraint or the need for a ToO must be well justified. 15% is the guideline of TC+ToO time for Key Projects.
For selection in AO-6, Key Project proposals will be solicited and submitted as part of the AO-6 call for GO proposals. The initial screening of these proposals will be made by the respective national review panels. The final selection of Key Projects will be made at the Suzaku international merging committee meeting. Proposers with highly ranked proposals in the national programs will be invited to present and discuss their proposal in a Key Project workshop to be held in Japan between late February and early March, 2011, which is completely open to all scientists. The final selection of the Key Projects in AO-6 will be made in the merging committee meeting immediately after the workshop. Note that all PIs of the key projects that were selected in the previous AOs but are not yet completed are required to participate in the Key Project workshop to overview their achievement so that the merging committee can judge whether the program should be continued in AO-6 or terminated in AO-5. If the PIs of the on-going key projects need to change their observation strategy, such as increasing number of targets or exposure time etc., they should resubmit the proposal.
Since the Key Projects will be selected at the same time as targets for the general guest observer program, care will be exercised to minimize disruption of the general program. In particular, if a target proposed in a Key Project appears in a general GO proposal with an equal or longer observing time and is ranked A or B, the target will be awarded to the PI of the general GO proposal, with full one-year proprietary rights.
Selection of Key Projects in subsequent rounds might be performed through a separate solicitation from the general call for observing proposals.
Principal Investigators (PIs) affiliated with institutions outside the US should submit Key Project proposals to ISAS/JAXA for X-ray observations with the Suzaku observatory from April 2011 (PIs in the US must submit their proposals to NASA). It is forbidden for the same group to submit identical Key Project proposals both to ISAS/JAXA and to NASA. Key Project proposals that require more than 1 calendar year are allowed, unlike for the general GO proposals. Key Project proposals to ISAS/JAXA are due at 12:00JST (3:00UT) on Friday, November 19, 2010, to be submitted electronically using the Remote Proposal-submission System (RPS), which can be followed from
We also intend to update the Technical Description document, as well as planning tools, with latest information in mid September, which will be found at Existing versions should suffice for early planning of proposals, but may not give accurate results when detailed simulations are performed.
September 1, 2010
Kazuhisa Mitsuda (Project Manager, ISAS/JAXA)
Tadayuki Takahashi (Project Sub-manager, ISAS/JAXA)
Hideyo Kunieda (Project Scientist, Nagoya University)