[meteorite-list] Phobos-Soil (Phobos-Grunt) Announcement of Opportunity for Guest Investigators

[Ron Baalke]

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=49042  

Phobos-Soil (Phobos-Grunt) Announcement of Opportunity for Guest Investigators
European Space Agency
01 Sep 2011

This Announcement of Opportunity (AO) solicits research proposals for
scientific analysis of data, or theoretical and/or modelling studies
supported by data, from the Russian Phobos-Soil (Phobos-Grunt) mission,
through participation in the Phobos-Soil Guest Investigator Programme.
The deadline for proposal submissions is 30 November 2011. 

Eligibility to propose for the Guest Investigator Programme covered by
this AO is open to scientists from the Member States of ESA and the
Russian Federation. Selected Guest Investigators from ESA Member States
will have to obtain funding for their research from national funding
sources. Proposals will be evaluated by a review board appointed by the
European Space Agency, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and
the Russian Academy of Sciences. The selection will be made by ESA's
Director of Science and Robotic Exploration for European scientists and
the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Russian Academy of
Sciences for Russian scientists. Selection will be based on intrinsic
scientific merit and potential to enhance the scientific achievement of
the Phobos-Soil mission. Investigations selected under this AO will have
a maximum duration of three years.

Scope

Investigations are solicited which will use public data and/or
proprietary data from the Phobos-Soil mission. All proposals to this AO
must indicate how data will be accessed and managed and must demonstrate
the availability of an adequate budget for access if expenses are
anticipated. Investigators may propose to study data from one or more
instruments.

Proposals to use proprietary data will be considered only if
arrangements have been made with the respective experiment Principal
Investigator(s) named in the AO documentation. A letter of agreement
with the proposed investigation signed by the Principal Investigator(s)
concerned, explicitly agreeing to any special and unique work required
of the experimental team(s) in making the proprietary data available to
the Guest Investigator, must be included as an attachment to the proposal.

This AO does not include distribution and analysis of the Phobos-Soil
returned samples. In addition, this AO does not include investigations
performed with the Chinese YH-1 spacecraft.

Time table

Announcement of Opportunity issued 	1 September 2011
Deadline for Letter of Intent 	30 September 2011
Deadline for Proposal submission 	30 November 2011
Peer Review Committee meeting 	February - March 2012
Announcement of selected Proposals 	May 2012

Documentation

The documentation for this Announcement of Opportunity is available from
the right-hand menu. It includes the announcement letter, the AO
document with the complete AO details, and the Phobos-Soil instrument
information sheets.

Letter of Intent

A Letter of Intent (mandatory) from prospective Guest Investigator
programme proposers should reach ESA and Russia one month after the AO
publication date. The letter should be sent by email to C. Philippe
Escoubet (ESA) and to Alexander Zakharov (IKI) at:
Philippe.Escoubetesa.int and zakharoviki.rssi.ru.

The Letter of Intent should be concise (with a page limit of 3 pages),
and should provide the following information:

   1. A descriptive title for the proposal.
   2. Name, affiliation, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and
      e-mail address of the Principal Investigator of the proposal. If
      the proposal is from a team, the name, affiliation and email of
      each member of the team should be included. A Guest Investigator
      should be identified from that team with her/his full details
      provided. Note that if more than 10 members participate to the
      team only the first 10 should be put in the letter of intent.
   3. A brief abstract (1 page maximum) indicating: scientific rationale
      and data set(s) required.
   4. Intended source for funding.

*Note*: Prospective Guest Investigators are strongly encouraged to
contact the PI team with whom they wish to collaborate at an early
stage. In particular, any potential conflicts with regard to on-going PI
team research should be resolved in advance. The PI contact details are
provided in the AO.

Proposal

The proposal should be submitted electronically through the online
submission form. The form can be accessed from the right-hand menu. Only
PDF or Word documents are accepted. The page limit (page size A4, font
size 12 points), including references and figures, is 6 pages: 1 cover
page; scientific objectives (including the abstract and data
requirements): 3 pages; Management plan: 1 page; and funding statement:
1 page.

Before submitting your proposal, please make sure that it conforms to
the complete guidelines as provided in the AO. The proposal must be
received not later than:

30 November 2011

Contact points

General information about the Phobos-Soil mission can be obtained from
the Phobos-Soil Project Scientist.

Before submission of proposals, requests for further information and
clarification should be addressed to:

C. P. Escoubet
ESA/ESTEC (SRE)
Postbus 299
2200 AG Noordwijk
The Netherlands
Phone: +31 71 5653454 
Fax: +31 71 5654697
Email: Philippe.Escoubetesa.int

A. Zakharov - Phobos-Soil (Phobos-Grunt) Project Scientist
Space Research Institute, Russian academy of sciences
Profsojuznaja 84/32
Moscow 117997
Russia
Phone: +7 495 333 2045
Fax: +7 495 333 1248
Email: zakharoviki.rssi.ru