This page describes JWST Survey proposals and the requirements for submitting a Survey proposal.

General information

Survey proposals will be used for two main purposes in Cycle 6: supplementing the Long Range Plan (LRP) to maintain observing efficiency if there is a shortfall of GO programs; and providing simple observations that can be executed when data volume is constrained by external factors. JWST Survey programs are analogous to Snapshot (SNAP) programs on the Hubble Space Telescope.

Proposers may request short (typically <100 minutes of charged time) observations of a specific number of targets (not to exceed 1,000 targets per proposal) using different instrument configurations and/or total durations. In general, shorter-duration, negative data excess, and spatially well-distributed Survey targets have a higher number of scheduling opportunities and a higher chance of being executed than longer duration, high data-volume, and/or spatially clustered Survey observations.

We anticipate that up to 1,000 Survey targets may be accepted for possible execution in Cycle 6, summing over all accepted Survey programs.

There is no commitment on the part of STScI to attain any specific completion factor for Survey programs. The average completion rate has varied significantly in the cycles that offered Survey programs, with Cycle 2 at 22% (308 hours observed out of 1405 hours allocated), Cycle 3 at 71% (797 of 1128 hours), and Cycle 4 at 6% (123 of 2065 hours). The completion rates for individual programs also vary within a cycle, depending on several factors, including the number of targets, their distribution on the sky, and the duration of each observation. 

Survey programs may not be used for Targets of Opportunity or Calibration, nor can they request observations in Future Cycles. Survey programs are not eligible for repeat observations if they fail. The Principal Investigator can choose to replace another target in their existing program without increasing the program size.

All Survey proposals have a default Exclusive Access Period of 12 months. However, because of the potential benefit to the community at large, proposers should consider seriously the possibility of requesting a shorter Exclusive Access Period of 0, 3 or 6 months. While this is not a primary criterion for acceptance or rejection, the reduced period can bring additional benefits to any proposal and will be weighed by the reviewers accordingly (see JWST How Your Proposal is Evaluated).

All Survey proposals will be reviewed by the Discussion Panels. The TAC will recommend programs to provide appropriate sky coverage to support both planned and unplanned use of Survey observations. The requested observing time is drawn from a separate pool from GO proposals. Further details on the review process are given in JWST How Your Proposal is Evaluated.

In the case of scientific duplications, GO proposals have priority over Survey proposals, since observations of an individual Survey target are not guaranteed.

All accepted Survey programs terminate at the end of Cycle 6.

Preparing your Survey proposal

Specifying targets

An individual Survey proposal may request up to 1,000 targets. The number of targets requested by a proposal should be considered as a pool from which STScI will draw as needed. (It is not the minimum number of observations required to achieve the science goals.) STScI cannot guarantee which targets will be observed, or how many. Survey proposals should describe the science enabled with observations of an unknown subset of targets. Failure to specify Survey targets correctly could result in disqualification of a proposal.

Observations of any particular target cannot be guaranteed; the point of the Survey program is to have many different options from a class of objects that can be inserted into the observing schedule. Survey proposals must target sources distributed over a wide range of Right Ascension (given the JWST Target Observability and Observatory Coordinate System) to ensure that potential targets are readily available for scheduling. Targets at high ecliptic latitude are particularly useful since they have longer visibilities. Examples of programs that are not well suited to Survey proposals (because they do not help improve scheduling efficiency) are surveys of targets confined to a restricted region (e.g., M31 or M33) or surveys limited to a few targets (e.g., surveys of two or three specific galaxy clusters). 

Moving targets are acceptable as long as their angular rate is below 10 mas/s = 0.24 deg/day.

The APT form includes two fields specific to Survey programs:

•  "Targets Requested" (on the Observation form), where the proposer enters the number of targets associated with each example; and
•  "Total Targets Requested" (on the Proposal Information form), giving the total targets in the program. This field is calculated automatically by APT by summing all targets associated with each example observation included the proposal. 

The "Abstract" in the APT Proposal Information form and the "Scientific Justification" section of the PDF Attachment must describe the target distribution on the sky and unambiguously identify the targets (e.g., reference to target lists in papers) or give a detailed description of their characteristics.

Proposers are not required to give a complete list of all targets and their coordinates at the time of submission, though the total number of targets must be given as described below. Accepted programs will be required to submit the full target list within one month of the notification of acceptance.

Specifying observations

Proposals must include one example of each type of observation in APT; if proposers are only using one configuration, then only one example observation is required; if there are two configurations, provide one example for each. Proposers should minimize the data volume for their visits. See JWST Data Volume and Data Excess for guidance. 

NIRSpec MOS and MIRI MRS are not available for Survey programs.

There is no guarantee that any individual observation will be executed. The number of Survey observations planned for each cycle depends on the distribution of GO observing time across the LRP. In general, only a small fraction of the observations will be planned for scheduling and execution. Survey programs are lower priority and may be dropped if there are conflicts with other observations on a Short Term Schedule.

Requirements for the PDF Attachment

Survey proposals are required to include a "Scientific Justification" and "Description of Observations" in the PDF attachment.

• The "Scientific Justification" section
  • must describe the target distribution on the sky and unambiguously identify the targets (e.g., reference to target lists in papers) or give a detailed description of their characteristics;
  • must specify the minimum number of targets required to achieve the science goals. Proposers can also indicate if there is an optimal number of targets, if that is different than the minimum;
  • should present a balanced discussion of background information, the program's goals, its significance to astronomy in general, and its importance to the specific sub-field of astronomy it addresses.
• The "Description of Observations" section should describe the overall experimental design of the program, justifying the selection of instruments, modes, exposure times, and requirements.

Survey proposals have a 4+1 page limit (the additional page is available only for the following sections: "Special Requirements", "Justify Coordinated Parallel Observations", and "Justify Duplications"), as described in JWST Preparation of the PDF Attachment.

Proposers may not assign priorities to individual targets and/or observations in a Survey program. Targets will be selected for execution based on the available observatory resources.

Special requirements

Survey proposals are strongly discouraged from having Special Requirements. Observations should have minimal constraints to maximize their schedulability.

Timing and orientation constraints on individual or between (linked) Survey observations are not permitted. 

Next: JWST Archival Research (AR) Proposals