JWST Cycle 2 and 3 GTO Proposal Process

The JWST GTO proposal process for Cycle 2 and Cycle 3 will require the use of the Astronomer's Proposal Tool to submit planned observation prior to the GO Calls for Proposals.

It is expected that, from Cycle 2 forward, JWST will adopt an annual cycle for standard proposal submission. The constraints imposed by the overall science timeline make a multi-step GTO proposal submission process infeasible for Cycles 2 and 3.

The Cycle 2 GTO Deadline occurs 2 months prior to issuing the Cycle 2 GO Call for Proposals. JWST GTOs will then finalize the observations that will be included in their Cycle 2 science programs and submit the list of observations to STScI. Those programs may not include scientifically-unjustified duplications of observations planned as part of the GTO Cycle 1 program or as TAC-accepted Cycle 1 GO programs, Early Release Observations (EROs), ERS program and other accepted Director’s Discretionary Time (DDT) programs. STScI will provide the appropriate tools for checking for duplications with previously accepted programs. Duplications between GTO proposals will be identified and conflicts will be resolved following the process outlined in NASA-SMD Policy 11. All conflicts will be resolved prior to the release of the Cycle 2 GO Call for Proposals.

Each JWST GTO must use the Astronomer's Proposal Tool to define the observing programs planned for execution in Cycle 2. Specific deadlines will be provided in the GTO Cycle 2 Call for Proposals. The proposals must specify detailed observations for each science target included in the science programs. As in Cycle 1, individual GTO scientists and members of GTO science teams may each submit multiple Cycle 2 GTO APT proposals; the time charged will be the sum of the total time (including overheads) requested by the individual APT proposals assigned to each GTO. If appropriate, the total time charged may be adjusted to incorporate revisions in the overhead rates. GTOs will be informed of the available wall-clock time remaining in their allocations immediately after the Cycle 1 GO proposal deadline.

The final list of Cycle 2 GTO JWST observations will be made publicly available in conjunction with the GO Cycle 2 Call for Proposals. All observations included in the Cycle 1 & 2 GTO APT proposal submissions will be protected from scientifically-unjustified duplication by Cycle 2 GO programs.

Similar procedures will be followed in Cycle 3.




Latest updates


Originally published