Proposal Submission Procedure

Proposals must be submitted to the SSC through RTPS, and must be consistent with the page limits and format guidelines listed in the Proposal Preparation section. Proposals requesting new observations must specify the relevant parameters using APT. RTPS and APT allow prospective investigators to plan, develop and modify their proposals in an iterative manner. That is, a proposer can write a portion of their proposal and define their accompanying observations, save the results locally, and then re-load those results at a later time for subsequent modification. The saved proposal's general information, scientific justification and observations can be modified repeatedly until the proposal is submitted to the SSC. The proposal can be resubmitted or updated an unlimited number of times before the proposal deadline. The PDF files must be created using one of the templates available in the Call for Proposals section of RDox. Proposals not using the Cycle 1 templates will be rejected. Detailed instructions on using the software are available in the RTPS User's Guide, and the flow of submission activities is described below.



Submitting your Proposal for the First Time

  1. Download a science justification template from the Proposal Templates section of RDox and use it to create the Science Justification PDF file.
  2. Download a team expertise template from the Proposal Templates section of RDox and use it to create the Team Expertise PDF attachment.
  3. If your proposal includes new observations, download the APT, install it on your host machine, and use it to create the .apt file with your proposed observations.
  4. Log into the RTPS website: https://rtps-roman.ipac.caltech.edu (create a user account if necessary).
  5. Enter the general proposal information into RTPS or load any previously generated general proposal information from a saved JSON file.
  6. Select the Science Category that most closely represents your proposed type of science.
  7. For proposers requesting new observations: Check the box: "This proposal contains new observations." Enter the total observing time required under "Hours" (matching the charged time calculated by Roman APT).
  8. Select the category of proposal (Small, Medium, Large).
  9. Enter an abstract (maximum number of 2000 characters).
  10. If you are proposing new observations, enter a brief summary describing your observations, including a description of the targets/areas of sky/sample proposed, observing modes and filters used, and any repetitive observations.
  11. Fill in the Primary Investigator information, the co-investigator information if applicable and check the boxes for those co-investigators who are Co-PIs and/or technical contacts. Note that for the Institution, State, and Country fields, RTPS will suggest possibilities after you start typing, allowing you to select the appropriate one. If the correct option is not suggested, please type it in. For instance, please type in "N/A" for state / province if the country was not U.S. or Canada.
  12. Attach the scientific justification and team expertise PDFs in their sections.
  13. For observational proposals only: attach the filled out and validated APT file (.apt).
  14. Press the Submit button and choose whether you want a copy of the submitted proposal. You will receive an email confirmation verifying the submission.

Note that neither NASA nor Caltech will be responsible for any cost incurred in preparing or submitting a proposal.

Updating Your Submitted Proposal

At any time before the proposal submission deadline you may modify any aspect of your submitted proposal, except the proposal ID number. You can submit a revised scientific justification, a revised team expertise document, an updated set of observations (.apt file), or corrected general proposal information.

  1. Login to RTPS.
  2. Select the "My Proposals" tab in RTPS.
  3. Find the proposal you want to resubmit and press "Edit".
  4. Make the desired changes to the general proposal information or PDF attachments or the .apt file
  5. Click on "Resubmit".

You will receive an email confirmation about the resubmission. You may submit as many updates as needed prior to the deadline of the Call for Proposals. You will receive confirmation about the final version accepted for review after all the proposals are verified by RTPS.