All proposals should be sumbitted online following the instructions given below. Additional information can be obtained from NExScI.

• Proposal Deadline: All proposals for the 2013A semester and the relevant supporting letters must be received at NExScI before 4 pm PDT, September 13, 2012. The deadline to receive all proposal material is rigorously enforced. This call is now closed.
• Proposal Guidelines: All proposers should carefully read through the proposal guidelines before writing their proposal. Proposals which do not include all of the information specified in the guidelines will have the omission(s) reflected in their TAC scores and, in some cases, be outright rejected.
• Frequently Asked Questions are answered here.
• Please note that there is no template for NASA Keck Observing proposals.
• Proposal Justification:
  • Proposers should clearly discuss the scientific goals of the proposed observations following the call for proposals.
  • Proposers should indicate which of the five scientific areas (Exoplanet Exploration, Cosmic Origins, Physics of the Cosmos, Solar System, Direct Mission Support) is addressed by their proposal. Please note that only proposals regarding observation of exoplanets should be declared as Exoplanet Exploration.
  • Proposers are asked to explicitly address how their proposed project supports NASA's strategic goals.

• Proposal Content: Proposal packets must be written in 12-point font with 1-inch margins and are limited to:
• All proposals requesting time for 2013A must fill out the Keck Observatory Cover Sheet. Please include a PDF of the cover sheet, generated after the cover sheet has been submitted on the WMKO web site. Please verify that you have a proposal number on the top right corner of your Keck cover sheet. This number should reflect the current semester and contain an "N" for NASA time.
• 2 pages of scientific justification (and additional mission support justification, in the case of mission support proposals).
• 1 page detailing the instrument request
• 1 page of figures and tables
• 1 page of references and status of allocated time on large telescopes
• 1 page progress report for ongoing or recently completed NASA Keck projects
• List of target stars/objects (Epoch 2000)

• Electronic Submission: Electronic submission is required. Proposers should print their proposal packet to PDF and submit using our Online Submission Form. Shortly after the successful receipt of the proposal, you will receive an email acknowledgement. As an attachment to this email acknowledgment, you will receive a copy of the PDF submission as received at NExScI. If you have questions or problems, please email KeckCFP@ipac.caltech.edu. Please note that information on the NExScI cover page may be made public for accepted proposals.
• Evaluation and Notification: NASA will follow the guidelines in the call for proposals in assigning observing time. Scientific justification and strategic importance will be the primary selection criteria, except in the case of mission support proposals, in which programmatic criteria may also be important. The review process may consist of a review by the CARA staff for technical soundness and a science review by the NASA Keck TAC. Final selection is made by the selecting official, the NExScI Executive Director, based upon the recommendations of the TAC. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their applications in June or December as appropriate. Successful applicants will be notified as early as possible and are strongly encouraged to set up communications with the CARA technical staff who are assigned to support NASA investigators. This will ensure that valuable Keck telescope time will be utilized efficiently on their first night on the telescope.
• Proposal Support:
• Subject to the availability of funds, Principal Investigators of programs assigned time by the NASA Keck TAC will receive limited research and travel funding. Funding awards will be determined through formulaic means. NExScI will manage the Keck PI Data Awards (KPDAs) and will contract with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to administer the disbursement of most of the funds. The funding instrument used by JPL will in most cases be a Research Support Agreement (RSA) depending on the size of the award and the PI's home institution. An RSA is a simple Fixed Price, Advance Paid, subcontract provided through JPL that is used for basic research funding where scientific reports and technical data are the only deliverables and can be awarded to educational and non-profit institutions. JPL is unable to issue grants.
  


• The only reporting necessary for RSAs is a final 'end of contract' report outlining the work completed and listing the resulting publications. This report is required and is not optional. Failure to submit a final report in a timely manner may be grounds for rejection of observing proposals in subsequent years.
  
  
• Publications including NASA Keck time should include the publication acknowledgment found here.


• Instrument Notes: All PIs are advised to consult the Special Instrument Notes provided on the Keck Observatory web site. Please note that Keck I and Keck II have different eastern and western telescope limits which affects the times that objects are available for observing. CARA will not offer any visitor instruments during 2013A.

Web Curator NExScI Cognizant Official: Dawn Gelino