NExScI administers NASA's portion of the time on the Keck Telescopes, issuing the twice yearly proposal solicitations, conducting the peer review, and finalizing selections.
The Keck Telescopes are operated for the California Association for Research in Astronomy (CARA), the University of Hawaii (UH), NASA and the California Institute of Technology by the W. M. Keck Observatory in Waimea, Hawaii. The Keck telescopes are two 10-meter aperture telescopes whose primary mirrors are each composed of thirty-six 2 meter mirror segments.
Remote observing facilities (ROFs) at Caltech, Yale, and USRA (Columbia, MD) are available for use by NASA Keck time awardees. Scientists wishing to use the ROFs should start the approval process 5 weeks in advance of their scheduled observations.
NExScI and WMKO have developed the Keck Observatory Archive (KOA) an archiving and access system for data collected with all past and present Keck instruments.
NExScI facilitates the NASA Keck IRTF User's Group (NIKUG). The NKIUG reviews all aspects of the operations of the facility, including budgets, observing proposal review, visitor support, telescope performance, maintenance, instrumentation, operational procedures, scientific results, and future plans. The group meets twice a year and reports to NASA Headquarters. Current membership of the NASA Keck NIKUG can be found here.
The NASA Exoplanet Science Institute is operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program.
