The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) released the first Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for scientific participation in the VLBI Space Observatory Programme (VSOP) on 30 June 1995. This mission, launched in February 1997, provides a dedicated space radio telescope to observe at 1.6, 5.0, and 22 GHz with ground-based radio observatories to perform Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) on baselines of up to 2.6 Earth diameters. Phase 1 observations are expected to start in mid 1997, after an intensive in-orbit checkout of the spacecraft has taken place.
General Observing Time is open to the astronomical community through proposals to be peer-reviewed by an international scientific review committee. Proposals were due at ISAS by mail by 17 November 1995. Selected proposals submitted in response to the first AO will be observed during the Phase~1 period: the 17 month period from the end of the in-orbit checkout. A separate Survey Program will also be undertaken.
The AO, proposal Cover Sheets, Proposer's Guide and simulation software packages for proposer aid for the first AO period are available from the
VSOP anonymous-ftp site (133.74.2.131).
The ftp site's README file is here. The AO itself is available in three flavours: latex file, and postscript file, and compressed postscript file.
These documents will also be made available through a number of regional sites:
For the USA: JPL Space VLBI Project
For Europe: EVN ftp site
Regional e-mail Help Desks for assisting potential proposers through the VSOP AO process were established for the period leading up to the proposal deadline. Questions related to the AO, proposal submission, technical aspects of the mission, or user software that are not addressed by the AO or Proposer's Guide were able to be submitted to these Help Desks. A similar assistance scheme is envisaged for the second AO proposal period.
Observer's Frequently Asked Questions (with answers!) can be inspected.