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As part of the larger effort to provide better service to the astronomical community, particularly by simplifying proposal generation and implementation, and increasing scheduling flexibility and responsiveness, there will be significant changes in the HST Phase II observing program development and submission process for Cycle 5 and in the user service provided to prepare the observing program for flight execution.
Beginning in the next observing cycle (Cycle 5), HST observing time will be allocated by orbits instead of the current spacecraft time, and observations will be defined by ``visits''. [A visit is an ordered series of exposures on a target encompassing all activities from the start of guide star acquisition until the telescope is ready to slew away to the next target.] Accompanying this change, the Remote Proposal Submission System (RPSS) will be modified to provide significantly improved user feedback, which will give the proposer a better understanding of the structure of their programs, as well as an increased awareness of the implications of their choices during Phase II proposal development. The Phase II template has been significantly simplified to eliminate redundant information, and fewer special requirements will be necessary. The proposer will be provided with clearly formatted proposal and visit summaries, as well as a graphical display of the structure of their exposures within the orbits of a visit. A sample template and samples of the changes in the feedback provided during phase II proposal development will be shown. We encourage HST users to examine, test, and provide feedback on these new features of the RPS system.
