Update on
Future Announcement of Opportunity
for
Next Generation Space Telescope Science Investigations

The NASA Office of Space Science (OSS) anticipates releasing an
Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST)
Science Investigations, in the near future. Community input through the
NGST Interim Science Working Group (ISWG) will be incorporated in a draft
of this AO, which will be posted on the World Wide Web at
http://research.hq.nasa.gov/code_s/future.cfm for a period of two weeks for
comment from the wider community before it is released in final form. The
charter and membership of the ISWG is posted on the Web at
http://ngst.gsfc.nasa.gov/iswg/ . Minutes of the ISWG meetings will be
posted as they become available.

As it is currently envisaged, this AO will solicit science investigations
that involve the design and development of flight instrumentation (the
recommended prototype is a Near Infrared Camera (NIRCAM)). The AO will
also solicit proposals for investigations that utilize data from the NGST
and that also involve active participation in telescope and facility
development. The PI's of all selected investigations will serve as members
of the Flight Science Working Group (FSWG).

The flight instrument is expected to be built by a joint U.S. and Canadian
team led by a U.S. Principal Investigator (PI). The U.S. PI will be
required to utilize hardware contributions from Canadian companies worth
approximately 25 M $US as provided by the Canadian Space Agency, as well as
include appropriately qualified Canadian scientists on his/her
investigation team. Complete details of the Canadian contribution will be
described in the AO.

NASA intends to select the instrument investigation through a two-step
process, and the other FSWG members through a one step-process. For the
instrument investigations, as the first step in the process and provided
that proposals of sufficient merit are available for selection, two teams
will be selected and funded for a Phase A study. A down-select review will
then occur at the end of Phase A to confirm one team for the development of
the flight instrument. The other FSWG non-hardware investigations selected
through this AO will not be required to undergo a competitive Phase A study.

Questions about this intended solicitation may be directed to:

Dr. Hashima Hasan
NGST Program Scientist
Code SR
Office of Space Science
NASA Headquarters
Washington DC 20546
E-mail: hashima.hasan@...