Contents: 1) FUSE Cycle 8 Call for Proposals Released 2) FUSE Operations Status 3) Senior Review 2006: FUSE is Good to Go for Two More Years 1) FUSE Cycle 8 Call for Proposals Released We are pleased to announce that the Call for Proposals for FUSE Cycle 8 was released on July 14, 2006. An estimated 7 Msec of Standard Program and 6 Msec of Survey Program time will be available over the 18 month nominal span of Cycle 8. There is the potential for a short (~6 month) additional cycle following Cycle 8. The decision regarding a potential Cycle 9 Call for Proposals will not be made until early 2007. With the continued improvements in FUSE one-reaction-wheel operations (see the status report below) we expect to be able to support a significant number of long observations (>70 ksec) as well as a limited number of low declination targets (please see the "Guest Investigator Program Description and Proposal Instructions - Cycle 8" available at http://fusegi.pha.jhu.edu/fuse/FUSE8b.htm for details). Note that the proposal procedures have changed for Cycle 8 and that they are now fully electronic for all proposers. Proposers will need to submit information to two separate electronic addresses, one at NRESS (via NSPIRES) and the other at JHU. Full details can be found at Cycle 8 could be the final proposal opportunity for FUSE observations, particularly for longer observations (see item no. 3 below regarding the 2006 NASA Senior Review) 2) FUSE Operations Status The first six months of 2006 have seen a steady improvement in the capability of FUSE in the one-reaction-wheel mode of operations. We have followed a path of continuous assessment and improvement, learning as we go. Evidence of this improvement is provided by our performance in June 2006, where over 1 Msec of science time was achieved, with over 65% of this being time for primary science programs. This would have been considered excellent performance even back in our original 4-wheel configuration! We are very pleased with the results. The operations team is continuing to improve the tools used to plan observations effectively, and we are still in search of modifications that may improve our ability to slew between targets more robustly and possibly open up additional regions of the sky. Future newsletters will report on progress in this area. 3) Senior Review 2006: FUSE is Good to Go for Two More Years The NASA Senior Science Review for 2006 has recommended funding the FUSE mission out through Fiscal Year 2008 (end of September 2008), in agreement with the preliminary guidelines of the NASA Senior Science Review for 2004. We are studying whether a reduced mode with a very different style of operations might be possible beyond 2008, but the future of the FUSE program after 2008 is uncertain. Cycle 8 could be the final proposal opportunity for the FUSE mission. With the increased observing efficiency achieved over the last six months and about 18 months of new observing time to be selected, this is a significant opportunity for our research community. We hope you will take full advantage of the capability provided by FUSE for high resolution far ultraviolet spectroscopy while the capability exists.
The Observer's Electronic Newsletter is published by the FUSE project and is aimed at the FUSE user community.
Editor: B-G Andersson, FUSE Guest Investigator Officer.
The FUSE Project is managed by the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Astrophysical Sciences in Baltimore, MD, for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The FUSE Principal Investigator is Dr. Warren Moos, the FUSE Program Manager at JHU is Mr. Randy Ewing, and the NASA Project Scientist for FUSE is Dr. George Sonneborn.