This is the development version of the TESS Science Support Center website. For the live website, visit https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/tess

Guest Investigator Program

The TESS Guest Investigator program is intended to enable science investigations outside of the core mission science goals. The program enables teams to proposal the collection of new 2-minute cadence targets, and provides funding to US investigators to analyse 2-minute cadence and full-frame image data.

The TESS primary mission duration is two years. The first year is spent in the southern hemisphere and is corresponds to TESS Guest Investigator Program Cycle 1, the second year observed the northern hemisphere and it Cycle 2. During the primrary mission, the majority of the 2-minute cadence targets observed will be taken from the TESS Candidate Target list (CTL). In each Cycle 1 around 10,000 2-minute cadnence target slots will be assigned to the Guest Invesitgator Program.

Consistent with Explorer Program policy, there will be no proprietary data rights to observations conducted with TESS. All data will be made freely available through the MAST archive as soon as they are received and processed.

Permitted science areas

We welcome proposals addressing compelling scientific questions in almost any area of astrophysics and planetary science providing the required observations are amenable to the operational characteristics and constraints of the mission. The science motivation may include, but is not limited to, exoplanet characterization, stellar astrophysics, galactic and extragalactic astrophysics, and solar system science.

The only science topic that Guest Investigators are not permitted to propose is work which directly reproduces the primary science of the mission. Explicitly, this restriction is limited to investigations whose aim is to detect planets smaller than 4 earth-radii orbiting stars that are on the Candidate Target List.

Proposals may utilized either the 2-minute cadence, the full-frame image data, or both. All science proposals must be compelling and carefully justified scientifically and technically.

The TESS GI program is specific to the case of science requiring new observations. Funding for archival science is instead provided through the Astrophysics Data Analysis Program (ADAP). All proposals to TESS calls therefore must justify the need for new observational data within their program. However, we welcome proposals that build upon data already collected and programs requiring more data to enhance or complete investigations.

Any software developed with TESS GI funds must add value to the TESS science community, be free and open source, with the source code made publicly available. Any ground-based follow-up data collected through TESS GI funding support must be made publicly available in a timely fashion on a public data archive such as MAST. Any supporting exoplanet data should be archived through the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI)--- NASA’s repository for supporting exoplanet data. Proposals must clearly describe the plans to make any new software or supporting data publicly available.

Evaluation criteria

Proposals submitted in response to GI calls will be evaluated with respect to the criteria specified in Section C.2 of the NASA Guidebook for Proposers, which are intrinsic merit, relevance to the GI solicitation, and the realism/reasonableness of the proposed work effort and resources. In addition to the factors for intrinsic merit given in the NASA Guidebook for Proposers, intrinsic merit includes the following factors:

  • The suitability of using the TESS survey and data products for the proposed investigation;
  • The extent to which the investigation complements and enhances the anticipated science return from the TESS mission;
  • The degree to which the proposed investigation places demands upon mission resources; and
  • The degree to which the proposed investigation capitalizes on the unique capabilities of TESS.

The proposed TESS Guest Investigation must clearly enhance the science return of the TESS mission. The scientific justification of the proposal should focus on a compelling TESS science investigation, that requires TESS data to succeed. The proposal may include limited theoretical components, unique ground-based follow-up, software development and/or data simulation that strengthens the proposal. However, at least 70% of the work effort should be focused on utilizing TESS data products.

Proposers must take into account the difference between science that can be achieved exclusively using full-frame image data and science that requires new observations at 2-minute cadence.

All proposals are peer-reviewed and ranked by a panel of professional volunteers, followed by ratification from NASA Headquarters. The members of the peer-review panel will not be disclosed. The deliberations of the panel will be disclosed to PIs only after ratification by the selecting official.

NASA recognizes and supports the benefits of having diverse and inclusive scientific, engineering, and technology communities and fully expects that such values will be reflected in the composition of all panels and teams including peer review panels (science, engineering, and technology), proposal teams, science definition teams, and mission and instrument teams.

Availability of funds

It is anticipated that up to $2.5M in Cycle 1 will be available through this solicitation for the support of approximately ~40 Guest Investigations of one-year duration each. Note that additional unfunded Guest Investigation targets may be selected and observed, if target resources permit. TESS 2-minute cadence observations are open to all scientists at U.S. or non-U.S. institutions. TESS GI funding is open to all individuals who are identified as Principal Investigators and employed at U.S. institutions, including TESS science team members. Scientists participating in the TESS mission, including members of the Follow-up Team who are not funded by the Project, are eligible for support under this GI Program. TESS science team members who already receive support from the Project must provide a compelling justification for the award of additional funds under the GI Program.

There are typically two categories of TESS GI proposals, investigators are free to select the catagory that best reflects their scope of their proposed work. * Small proposals - proposals of limited scope and are capped at a budget of $50,000. Funding will be allocated via a formula. * Large proposals - proposal of wide-ranging scope and science yield. Large proposals must deliver a clear benefit for the broader scientific community

Funding for selected programs typically starts upon availability of data to the public archive at MAST. Note that there is no exclusive use period associated with any TESS data.

Eligibility

Application to the TESS GI program is typically open to all investigators, including those from outside the U.S. under NASA’s no-exchange-of-funds policy.

Investigators who are not affiliated with a U.S. institution are not eligible for funding through this program, but may submit proposals that will be reviewed and ranked along with eligible proposals for the purpose of allocating targets.

Funding through the NASA TESS GI Program is available only to scientists at U.S. institutions who are identified as the Principal Investigators (PIs). U.S. based Co-Investigators (Co-Is) on foreign-led proposals do not qualify for funding. Funding for accepted target proposals will be initiated only after the relevant observations have begun. Proposers from non-U.S. institutions are strongly encouraged to include a letter of commitment promising financial support.

In accordance with Public Law 113--76, Division B, Title V, Section 532, NASA cannot support bilateral participation, collaboration, or coordination with China or any Chinese-owned company or entity, whether funded or performed under a no-exchange-of-funds arrangement. See Section III(c) of the ROSES-2016 NRA for more information on these restrictions.

Target selection

TESS Input Catalog

When a target is in the TESS Input Catalog (TIC), investigators must include the TIC identification number. The latest version of the TIC is available from the MAST. For targets not in the TIC, PIs must provide the coordinates of the source and a TESS magnitude. Software for estimating TESS magnitudes is available.

Observability of targets

We have developed software to determine whether any target can be observed by TESS and for how many sectors. Details are provided on our proposal tools page

Target table

Moving targets

Target of Opportunity Observations

Target of Opportunity Observations (TOOs) are rapidly evolving phenomena whose occurrence is not predictable. TOO’s can only be triggered every 13.7 days and proposals requesting TOO must describe the circumstances in which a TOO is “triggered” in the scientific justification and on the target form. TOO proposals must also include an estimated duration of the event, as well as an estimated probability for triggering the observations; the latter will be used in the accounting of total allocated targets. TOOs remain active only for the observing cycle in effect; TOOs not carried out during the Cycle 1 may be re-proposed for subsequent cycles. In the case of TOOs, observations would commence at the next upload event following the trigger event. The impact to science of such a potential delay must be addressed in proposals requesting TOO observations.

Solicitations

FAQs

Submission process

The TESS GI program uses a two-phase proposal process. A Phase-1 proposal shall comprise the science/technical justification; proposals requesting funds need to include a budget narrative, describing in sufficient detail how the proposed funds will be used to achieve the goals outlined in the proposal. Only proposers whose Phase-1 proposals are accepted will be invited to submit budget proposals in Phase-2. It is not necessary for the PI of the Phase-2 proposal to be the science PI. Proposal content, including the list of investigators, must remain consistent between Phase-1 and Phase-2 proposals. All proposal materials will be submitted electronically.

  • All Proposers must submit their Phase-1 proposals electronically through the Astrophysics Research Knowledgebase (ARK)/ Remote Proposal System (RPS) website;

  • Target tables for all observation proposals are to be submitted through ARK/RPS;

  • The Scientific/Technical/Management section of proposals is limited to four pages for small proposal and six pages for large proposals. No table of contents in the body of the proposal is required. No supporting material (e.g., curriculum vitae (CV), pending/current support) is required or permitted;

  • Optional Latex and MS Word templates for the Scientific/Technical/Management are available

• _The Scientific/Technical/Management section must be uploaded to the RPS website as a PDF file.

All proposal materials must be submitted electronically by 4:30 p.m. Eastern time on the due date for this program given in Section 3 in order to be included in the proposal review for this cycle of the TESS Guest Investigator program. Note that the 4:30 p.m. deadline supersedes the deadline stated in the Guidebook for Proposers and in the ROSES Summary of Solicitation.

NASA uses a single, uniform set of instructions for the submission of ROSES proposals. These instructions are given in the NASA Guidebook for Proposers (http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/nraguidebook/). TESS GI Proposers should follow these instructions, except where they are overridden by the instructions given in the ROSES Summary of Solicitation or in this Appendix.

Proposal templates

We have made available templates to aid users in writing GI proposal. Use of these templates is not required.

Director's Discretionary Targets

A small part of the pixel budget may be allocated by the project as Director's Discretionary Targets (DDT), which is intended to facilitate observations that address scientific topics missed in the proposal review process. More information and deadlines are available from the DDT program page.