01 Sep 2011

Update: 12 September 2011 - updated documentation
The AO document and instrument sheet package have been updated to include 2 extra instruments.

Update: 11 October 2011 - updated documentation
The instrument sheet for the gravimeter (11_GRAS_AO_20110901.pdf) has been updated in the instrument sheet package.

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

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