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ASKAP User Policy
In October 2009, the ASKAP User Policy was completed after extensive
consultation with the general astronomy community and endorsement
by CSIRO's SKA Taskforce. Details of the ASKAP User Policy are given below. A PDF of the policy can be found
here [350kB PDF].
Acronymns and Definitions
ASKAP: Australian Square Kilometre Array
Pathfinder
ATSC: Australia Telescope Steering Committee
ASCC: Australian SKA Coordination Committee
CSIRO ET: CSIRO Executive Team
SKA: Square Kilometre Array
STAG: Science and Technology Advisory Group (advising ASCC)
EoI Evaluation Committee: A one-off committee to evaluate the Expressions
of Interest for Survey Science Projects in early 2009
Survey Science Project Assignment Committee: A one-off committee to
review the Survey Science Project proposals in 2009
Survey Review Committee: A standing committee who carry out annual progress reviews of the
Survey Science Projects and Teams
TAC: The standing ATNF Time Assignment Committee that reviews Australia Telescope proposals
1. Operational Principles
The following principles define the framework within which ASKAP will
operate:
| 1.1
|
ASKAP telescope
time will be assigned to astronomical
research projects subject only to scientific merit and to technical and
operational feasibility. |
| 1.2 |
No a priori
guaranteed science time will be allocated
to particular countries, institutions, nor to any individuals currently
on existing (2008) working groups. |
| 1.3 |
ASKAP will not be a
user-operated telescope; generally
users will interact with the ASKAP Science Archive. |
| 1.4 |
ASKAP data and data
products will be released publicly
through the ASKAP Science Archive on a timescale designed to maximise
scientific utilization and impact. |
| 1.5 |
The ASKAP Science
Archive will be available to
astronomers from all over the world. |
| 1.6 |
Simultaneous
observing programs will be encouraged
where possible. |
| 1.7 |
In general there
will be three classes of observing
time allocated on ASKAP; Survey Science Projects, Guest Science
Projects and Target of Opportunity over-rides. |
| 1.8 |
Time Assignment
will be made by the ATNF Director,
subject to advice received from the appropriate Times Assignment /
Survey Review committees. |
2. Software Instruments
| 2.1
|
An
ASKAP software instrument is a mode of telescope
operation that enables high quality data (and/or data products) to be
placed into the ASKAP Science Archive for users to retrieve. |
| 2.2
|
ATNF
will develop three basic software instruments
necessary for
science operations. These software instruments are:
- A continuum software instrument to produce calibrated
images over the full field of view for a large fraction of the sky, and
- A slow transient software instrument to image changes
in
the continuum sky on the time scale of five seconds or longer, and
- A spectral line software instrument to produce a
spectral catalogue over the full field of view for a large fraction of
the sky.
ATNF is committed to developing future software instruments for ASKAP.
The development of future software capabilities by ATNF/ASKAP will
strongly depend on science priorities, budget, personnel and
development timescales.
|
| 2.3
|
The
Survey Science
Projects will drive the
direction of future software instruments. Survey Science Teams together
with the ATNF astrophysics and computing groups will develop the
instrument capabilities. |
3. Survey Science Projects
Definition
The ASKAP Survey Science Projects are large (>1500 hrs) and
coherent science projects that utilise ASKAP's wide field-of-view and
fast survey speed to enable major science outcomes early in its
lifetime. Survey Science Projects are distinguished from Guest Science
Projects (see Section 4) by the following:
(i) Survey
Science Projects are large and coherent science projects, which address
widely recognized astrophysical issues and that
could not be reasonably addressed by any combination of Guest Science
Projects.
(ii) Survey Science Projects will enable scientific results that are
intended to be of general and lasting importance to the broad
astronomical community.
(iii) Survey Science Project data and data products will enter the
public domain in a timely way to enable effective opportunities for
follow-up observations and for archival research both with ASKAP and
other observatories.
| 3.1 |
For the first five years of routine
science operations
with ASKAP,
it is envisaged that at least 75% of observing time will be available
for Survey Science Projects. |
| 3.2 |
The observing time required to complete a Survey
Science
Project
will be allocated in advance, but will remain subject to staged data
releases and progress reviews. |
| 3.3 |
ASKAP Survey
Science Projects will be selected by
competitive
peer-review. |
Survey Science Teams
| 3.4 |
Membership,
including leadership, of ASKAP Survey
Science Teams
will be open access in accordance with principles 1.1 and 1.2. |
| 3.5 |
The role of a
Survey Science Team is to facilitate the
design,
implementation, integrity and delivery of Survey Science Project data
and data products to the ASKAP science archive. |
| 3.6 |
Survey Science
Teams will play a lead role in survey
design,
software instrument design, early science commissioning, data
processing and quality control. |
| 3.7 |
Survey Science
Teams must provide clear statements on
their
proposed data release and publication timescales. |
| 3.8 |
To facilitate
interactions with ASKAP designers, each
Survey
Science Team should include at least one person associated or
affiliated with ATNF. |
Data Access
| 3.9 |
All data and data
products produced by the software
instruments
(subject to storage capacity) will be made publicly available through
the ASKAP Science Archive on a time scale determined by operational
issues (e.g. quality control) and not proprietoral interests. |
| 3.10 |
Ranking of Survey
Science Projects will take into
account the
intention of the Survey Science Teams to provide value added data
products into the ASKAP Science Archive. Teams should specify the form
of any such products as well as their intention and timeline for
providing them. |
4. Guest Science Projects
Guest Science Projects are observational programs that
require
<1500 hours of observing time to complete and that utilise
ASKAP's capabilities to enable scientifically interesting
experiments. Guest Science Projects can include Non A-priori Assignable
proposals (NAPA) but do not include override requests such as Target of
Opportunity (Section 5).
| 4.1 |
For the first five
years of routine
science
operations with ASKAP,
it is envisaged that up to 25% of observing time will be available for
Guest Science Projects. |
| 4.2 |
Proposals for
Guest Science
Projects will be subject to
competitive
peer-review by the Time Assignment Committee (TAC). |
Data Access
| 4.3 |
If reasonable grounds are established in the proposal,
the TAC will
have the discretion to allow a proprietary period of up to 12 months
from the last scheduled observations to data and data products from
Guest Science Projects. |
| 4.4 |
Otherwise Guest Science Project data and data products
will be released publicly into the ASKAP Science Archive without any
proprietary period. |
5. Target of Opportunity
Existing ATNF policies for telescope override
observations are
adopted.
| 5.1 |
Target of Opportunity events are
unexpected
astronomical events of
extraordinary scientific interest for which observations on a short
time scale are justified. |
| 5.2 |
Target of Opportunity observing time is allocated at
the
discretion
of the ATNF Director and may displace other scheduled observations at
short notice. To avoid conflicts of interest, ToO requests are
crosschecked against existing observations and proposals. |
Data Access
| 5.3 |
Target of Opportunity data and data products will be
released
publicly into the ASKAP Science Archive without any proprietary period.
|
6. Scheduling and Time Assignment
A three-stage process will be adopted to select the
first set
of ASKAP Survey Science Projects. These stages are:
(i) Proposal
Submission,
(ii) Design Study,
and
(iii) Scheduling
&
Science
Operations. A description of these stages is given in a separate
document.
| 6.1 |
All ASKAP proposals
will be submitted through OPAL at
http://opal.atnf.csiro.au/ |
| 6.2
|
The
standing ATNF
Time Assignment Committee will
evaluate Guest
Science Project proposals. |
| 6.3
|
The
EoI Evaluation
Committee, appointed by the ATNF
Steering
Committee, will evaluate the Survey Science Project Expressions of
Interest. |
| 6.4
|
The
Survey Science
Project Assignment Committee,
appointed by the
ATNF Steering Committee, will evaluate the Survey Science Project
proposals. This committee will be of international stature, having
expertise in astronomical survey projects and management of large
teams. |
| 6.5 |
The Survey Science Project
Assignment Committee will
provide advice
to the ATNF Director on the overall fraction of time to be devoted to
Survey Science Projects. |
| 6.6 |
The Survey Science Project
Assignment Committee will
provide advice
to the ATNF Director on the release time scale for survey data and data
products, consistent maximising survey impact and utilization. |
| 6.7 |
Survey Science Projects,
and the release of survey data
and data
products, will be subject to annual progress reviews by the Survey
Review Committee appointed by the ATNF Steering Committee. |
7. Externally Provided Hardware or Software
| 7.1 |
Hardware or
software that is developed in collaboration
with - or
provided exclusively by - external partners, will be operated as
National Facility infrastructure. |
| 7.2 |
ASKAP data and data
products obtained using software
instruments
developed in collaboration with - or provided exclusively by - external
partners, are subject to the user policies laid out in this document. |
8. Commissioning and Early Science Verification
| 8.1 |
Commissioning of a
6-element Boolardy Engineering Test
Array (BETA)
will begin in 2010 and there will be a staged rollout of further
antennas over several years until ASKAP becomes fully operational.
Survey Science Teams, in conjunction with ATNF staff, will carry out
commissioning tests and science verification with BETA and the data
will be released into the ASKAP Science Archive (if appropriate) once
adequate quality control is performed. |
9. Acknowledgement and Citation
| 9.1 |
ASKAP users are
requested to properly cite the
appropriate Survey
Science Project data release or survey design publication in any
publications resulting from the use of Survey Science Project data or
data products obtained from the ASKAP Science Archive. |
Documentation and Taskforce Members
The Principles, Issues and
Development document for the ASKAP User Policy was drafted and accepted by the ATNF Steering Committee
in June 2008. A PDF of this document can be found here [160kB PDF].
The ASKAP User Policy Taskforce consisted of the following
members:
Jessica Chapman (ATNF)
John Dickey (UTas)
Ron Ekers (ATNF)
Ilana Feain (Chair, ATNF)
Ken Freeman (ANU)
Simon Johnston (ATNF)
Ray Norris (ATNF)
Elaine Sadler (USyd)
Ingrid Stairs (UBC Canada)
Lister Staveley-Smith (UWA)
Further Information
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