Subject: ASTROE2 Cycle 1 Proposal Results From: Astro-E2 Proposals Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2005 15:10:20 -0500 To: dcohen1@swarthmore.edu National Aeronautics and Space Administration Headquarters Washington, DC 20546-0001 PROF. DAVID COHEN PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY SWARTHMORE COLLEGE 500 COLLEGE AVE. SWARTHMORE, PA 19081 USA Dear PROF. COHEN: We have now completed the scientific and technical evaluation of proposals received in response to NASA Research Announcement NNH04ZSS001N-ASTROE2 for participation in the Astro-E2 Guest Observer Program. I am pleased to inform you that the US Astro-E2 Peer Review Panel has recommended that your proposal, entitled ASTRO E-2 XRS SPECTROSCOPY OF THE PRE-MAIN-SEQUENCE STAR DOAR 21 be implemented as part of the first observing cycle of this mission. Based upon the panel's recommendation, one or more of the targets contained in your proposal will be included on the list of targets to be scheduled during Cycle 1. As you probably know, the launch of Astro-E2 has been delayed from the originally scheduled January/February 2005 time period. The guest observer observations will commence approximately 7 months after the actual launch date, currently scheduled for spring/summer 2005. If the PI should change institution, please contact the Astro-E2 GOF at http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/astroe/astroegof.html of the change. This assures that e-mails regarding the details of scheduling and observing modes, as well as notifications of availability of processed data, are promptly dispatched to the correct location. A copy of the Peer Review evaluation of your proposal is enclosed for your information. Note that the numerical grade assigned is indicative only of the relative rank of your proposal among other proposals within the panel that reviewed it. Information is also enclosed showing the assigned observing time for each of the accepted targets that you proposed. All targets that accepted at priority A or B will be scheduled, while only a subset of priority C targets will be. The target selection for the Astro-E2 mission is a two-stage process: the results of the US peer review are forwarded to the international merging meeting. Any changes made during the latter are also enclosed with the Peer Review evaluation. One possible outcome is the merging of two successful proposals, one from Japan and one from the US. If this is the case, it is indicated in the summary of accepted target. One of the PIs in such a case is designated the principal PI (PPI), who will be ultimately responsible for the detailed planning of the observation. The two PIs are encouraged to collaborate in the analysis of the data. In the coming months, US-based investigators will be invited to submit Stage 2 (budget) proposals for support of selected Cycle 1 proposals. The budget process is open to Guest Observers associated with US institutions (and who expect to remain so during the grant period), and may include (a) US PIs, and (b) US Co-Is on foreign-PI proposals, where the involvement of the US Co-I is significant, and critical to the success of the investigation. Details about preparation of budget proposals will be made available in due course. As a successful Astro-E2 proposer, you and your co-investigators have benefited from the NASA peer review system for evaluating competitive proposals. A review by competent science peers benefits the entire science community by ensuring that the observations carried out by Astro-E2 and the science return is of the highest quality. I urge you to support this system and contribute to the community good by serving as a peer reviewer in a future NASA peer review, whether for Astro-E2 observations or another NASA program. Sincerely, Dr. Wilton T. Sanders Astro-E2 Program Scientist email: wilton.t.sanders@nasa.gov phone: (202) 358-1319 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The following target in your proposal has been approved for observation. TARGET NAME RA (J2000) Dec TIME N P C O PI ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DOAR 21 (V2246 O 16 26 03.2 -24 23 40.0 100 1 B N N COHEN ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TIME is approved exposure time in ksec, N denotes the number of observations, P is the priority, C is the time constraint flag (Y/N), and O is the TOO flag. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Strengths: DoAr21 is one of the brightest X-ray source among the accreting pre-main-sequence stars. Its coronal emission has a temperature distribution well suited to the XRS. This observation should place strong constraints on the location of the X-ray emission within the PMS star environment (star or disk). The XIS field contains 70 additional PMS stars. Weaknesses: It would have been helpful if the Chandra flare and quiescent spectra had been shown separately. Then the panel would have been able to assess the impact of these different states on the likely XRS spectra. The panel would have preferred to see Figure 3 after passing through the XRS. Overall Evaluation The panel recommends award of 100 ksec of Priority B time. Overall Score: (0.0-5.0): 3.70