At intervals, NASA selects funded proposals for the Kepler Participating Scientists Program (PSP). The Kepler PSP is designed to augment the skill set of the Kepler Science Team, thereby enabling it to more effectively execute the science program of the mission. Participating Scientists serve as members of the Kepler Science Team and participate in Science Team activities, such as data processing and analysis, transit candidate follow-up and characterization, and publication.

The deadline for Cycle 2 Participating Scientist proposals was 11 Feb 2011. Proposal instructions and element details are provided in NASA Research Announcement NNH10ZDA001N-KPS. Proposals will be evaluated in Spring 2011, with a nominal start date of 1 October 2011, contingent on funding.

1. Scope of Participating Science

The proposed investigations can be analytical or observational in nature. Investigations may include any research activity that:

• Directly relates to the detection, characterization, or understanding of extrasolar planets.
• Helps to achieve the Kepler prime mission goals listed in Section 2.

Examples of possible analytic programs include:

• Detection of nontransiting planets by timing of the variations of the transit epochs
• Improvement of stellar atmosphere models through the use of Kepler observations
• Estimates of the sizes of stars, and, therefore, the sizes of transiting planets, through the application of stellar atmosphere models
• Development of open-source tools for performing alternate photometric and detrending analyses
• Efforts to understand systematic biases, target selection effects, background contamination, and pipeline detection efficiency

Examples of possible observational programs include:

• Determination of the multiplicity of stars with planets, especially those with stellar orbital periods exceeding one year and with mass ratios of five or more
• Elimination of false positive planet detections caused by very close background eclipsing binaries using ground-based color photometry of the transits

The abstracts for successful Cycle 1 PSP proposals are available here, and abstracts for successful Cycle 2 PSP proposals are available here.

In addition to conducting science investigations addressing the broad science goals of the mission based on the nature of their proposals, Kepler Participating Scientists will also join one or more of the Kepler discipline groups described in Section 2. The selected Participating Scientists will be expected to coordinate their activities.

The Kepler PSP is complementary to, but distinct from, the Kepler Guest Observer (GO) program. The Kepler GO program offers the opportunity for members of the scientific community to select targets of general astrophysical interest in the Kepler field-of-view (both stellar and nonstellar), in pursuit of investigations that fall outside of the scope of the Kepler Science Team.

2. Kepler Science Objectives

The primary scientific objectives of the Kepler mission are:

1. Provide a statistically significant value for the frequency of Earth-size and larger planets in and near the habitable zone of their host stars
2. Characterize the size and orbital distributions of planets around other stars
3. Estimate the frequency of planets and orbital distribution of planets in multiple-stellar systems;
4. Determine the distributions of semimajor axis, albedo, size, mass and density of short-period giant planets
5. Identify additional members of each photometrically discovered planetary system using complementary techniques
6. Identify correlations between the presence and characteristics of planetary systems with stellar properties of the host star

3. Period of Performace

Proposers should provide budgets and justification for participation in the Kepler mission with a period of performance beginning on October 1, 2011. This start date is contingent on funding availability. It is expected that investigators will propose for two years of PSP support running through October 1, 2013, which effectively corresponds to the end of the Kepler prime mission. It is anticipated that the annual budget for the PSP will be approximately $1.0M, sufficient to support the selection of 7-10 Participating Scientist investigations.