Fermi Cycle 19 General Investigator Program

Titles and abstracts of previously Fermi Guest Investigator Programs approved programs are public information and can be obtained here: Fermi Cycles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18. Additional information summarizing the history of the GI program is also available.

The Fermi Guest Investigator (GI) program solicits proposals for basic research relevant to the Fermi mission. The primary goal of this mission is to perform 20 MeV to >300 GeV gamma-ray measurements over the entire celestial sphere, with sensitivity a factor of 30 or more greater than that obtained by earlier space missions. A secondary goal includes the study of transient gamma-ray sources with energies extending from 8 keV up to 300 GeV.

The Fermi GI program is intended to encourage scientific participation by providing funding to carry out investigations using Fermi data, to conduct correlative observations at other wavelengths, to develop data analysis techniques applicable to the Fermi data, and to carry out theoretical investigations in support of Fermi observations. Opportunities to propose will be announced annually in the NASA ROSES NRA.

Investigators may apply for radio or optical observing time through joint programs with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), VERITAS, or TESS. Proposers may also request the use of high-end computing resources to support their Fermi-related research.

The Fermi GI program is open to all investigators, but NASA funding is available only to investigators at U.S. institutions.

The primary goal of this mission is to perform 20 MeV to >300 GeV gamma-ray measurements over the entire celestial sphere, with sensitivity a factor of 30 or more greater than that obtained by earlier space missions. A secondary goal includes the study of transient gamma-ray sources with energies extending from 8 keV up to 300 GeV.

Joint Programs: Fermi investigators may apply for radio, optical or Gamma-ray observing time through joint programs with NRAO, NOIRLab, the VERITAS ground-based Cerenkov telescope facility, and TESS. Please refer to Multiwavelength Observations for important details.

Pointed Observations: Investigators may propose Fermi pointed observations, but the capability to perform such observations has become severely limited (see Fermi Mission). Such observations will require strong scientific justification through simulations and exposure calculations because default survey mode observations will satisfy the scientific requirements of most studies.

PI Eligibility: The Fermi GI program is open to all investigators, but we remind proposing organizations that NASA funding is available only to principal investigators (PIs) who are lawfully employed by a U.S. institution at the time the award is made to the institution.

Fermi is an international and multiagency observatory-class mission that studies the cosmos in the 10 keV to 300 GeV energy range. The primary instrument, the Large Area Telescope (LAT), has a peak effective area (>8000 cm²), angular resolution (<3.5° at 100 MeV, <0.15° above 10 GeV), field-of-view (>2 sr), and deadtime (<100 µs per event) that provides a factor of 30 or more advance in sensitivity compared to previous missions. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) also provides the capability for studying transient phenomena, with a field-of-view larger than the LAT and a spectral range that extends from the LAT's lower limit down to less than 10 keV. Although pointed observations are possible, the observatory primarily scans the sky continuously because of the LAT's large field-of-view. In the survey mode employed during the first 10 years of the mission Fermi provided nearly uniform sky exposure every ~3 hours.

Documents providing a more complete description of Fermi can be found at the Fermi Science Support Center (FSSC) website.

Due to an anomaly with one of the solar array drive motors in 2018, alternative sky-survey strategies have been employed to ensure safe spacecraft operation. This leads to exposure nonuniformity on short (~weekly) timescales but near uniformity is eventually achieved. It also limits LAT coverage of the Sun and surrounding sky regions. The ability to respond to Targets of Opportunity (ToOs) or, more generally, to perform pointed observations or customized observation strategies will be very limited. Prospective proposers considering such observations are strongly advised to consult the Fermi Science Support Center prior to preparing their proposal. For more details, please see post_anomaly.

The product of a collaboration among NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and several international partners, the LAT is a pair-conversion telescope. Gamma rays pair-produce in tungsten foils, silicon strip detectors track the resulting pairs, and the resulting particle shower deposits energy in a CsI calorimeter. An anticoincidence detector provides discrimination against the large flux of charged particles incident on the LAT. The anticoincidence detector is segmented to eliminate the self-vetoing problem encountered by previous experiments.

Astrophysical photons are only a small fraction of all the events detected by the LAT on orbit. Most events are primary cosmic rays and their associated secondary charged and neutral particles produced in the surrounding spacecraft and the Earth's atmosphere. Therefore, event filtering on board reduces the ~3 kHz detected event rate to ~350 Hz. Events that survive the onboard filter are telemetered to the ground. Further ground processing yields a "true" celestial photon average rate of about 1 to 2 Hz.

The GBM detects gamma-ray bursts. Consisting of 12 NaI(Tl) (8-1000 keV) and 2 BGO (0.2-30 MeV) detectors, the GBM extends Fermi's burst spectral sensitivity from ~8 keV to ~30 MeV and monitors more than 8 sr of the sky, including the LAT's field-of-view. Bursts are localized by comparing rates in different detectors and rapidly distributed via the GCN. An initial location, computed automatically, is sent within several seconds, and is expected to have an accuracy of 5 to 10 degrees for strong bursts (fluence > ~10 photons cm^-2). A more accurate location (~3 degrees for strong bursts) is sent within 24 hours. The threshold of the onboard trigger is a flux of about 0.7 photons cm^{-2 s-1} (50 to 300 keV band), for a 1-second burst, and uses a variety of energy band and time windows.

Fermi was launched on June 11, 2008, into a circular, initial orbit of ~565 km altitude at an inclination of 25.6°. The original mission design lifetime was five years, with a goal of ten years. After a checkout period, science operations began on August 4, 2008, and Fermi has been operating in an extended mission phase since 2013.

The GI community is supported by the FSSC, which is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. All publicly available data products, software, calibration files, and technical documents that have been developed jointly with the instrument teams are available through the FSSC.

Analysis of All LAT Gamma Ray and GBM Event Data

The LAT team's science goals are: (1) development of event-reconstruction and background-rejection techniques; (2) production of a comprehensive full-sky catalog of gamma-ray sources; and (3) a description of the diffuse gamma-ray emission. Proposed Fermi investigations should avoid duplication of the first two of these goals. The extent to which the proposed research will enhance the science return from Fermi will be considered in the proposal evaluation process (see Proposal Submission and Evaluation below).

The LAT's primary science data product is a list of events detected within the LAT's field-of-view. These events can be used to detect sources and study their temporal and spectral properties. Fermi observes the sky in a survey mode that provides nearly uniform sky exposure on ~weekly timescales; this mode will suffice for most scientific observations. GIs may request funding to analyze any accumulated data and may receive funding even if they did not request a specific observation.

The GBM provides event lists with measured energies and arrival times, permitting both temporal and spectral studies. In addition, binned background count rates with differing temporal and spectral resolution are also available, enabling background studies and source detection through occultation steps.

The GBM science team is already funded to provide the community with a catalog of GRBs, including localizations and spectra. Proposals construed by peer reviewers as duplicative of this goal may, therefore, be deemed to have lower priority than those perceived as addressing other objectives.

New data analysis techniques that will maximize the mission's scientific yield are also encouraged. While the Fermi mission will provide a set of analysis tools with which a complete analysis of the data can be accomplished (see analysis for details), specialized analyses to address specific scientific issues, such as blind pulsar period searches, the discovery of faint transients, or the detection of sources through occultation steps in the GBM background light curves, may require alternative techniques and additional software. GI proposals for such new data analysis techniques must specifically address how the proposed techniques will advance Fermi science objectives.

Requests for LAT Pointed Observations or Modified Observation Strategies

GIs may also request pointed observations, or in exceptional cases modified observation strategies, to accumulate sky exposure of a particular source at a rate higher than provided by survey mode observations. Similarly, GIs may request Target-of-Opportunity observations. As noted in The Fermi Mission the capability to support such observations is more limited than in Cycles 1-11. It will, therefore, be incumbent upon the proposer to demonstrate that a pointed observation is required to achieve the scientific objectives. Please note that the observatory operations are less flexible than has been the case in the past as a result of the solar-array-drive anomaly that occurred in 2018. Proposers who intend to request pointed observations are strongly encouraged to contact the FSSC and anyone considering modified observation strategies are required do so prior to submitting the proposal (help).

Multiwavelength Observations

Because correlative observations will substantially augment the science return from Fermi, such proposals are encouraged. Examples of correlative observations that will add significantly to the Fermi science include monitoring of blazars, follow-up observations of gamma-ray bursts, and determination of pulsar ephemerides. To foster correlative observations, the Fermi project has established joint observation programs with other ground- and space-based facilities. The Fermi GI program can award optical, radio, or high-energy gamma-ray observations through Fermi's joint programs with NRAO, NOIRlab, VERITAS, and TESS. Note that only a single year of joint-program observations can be awarded through the Fermi GI Program regardless of the duration of awarded Fermi support. There are a number of important technical and policy details regarding these joint programs and prospective proposers are strongly encouraged to refer to the respective MOUs

http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/proposals/nrao.html,
http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/proposals/noirlab.html,
http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/proposals/veritas.html and
http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/proposals/tess.html

At https://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/data/policy/LAT_Monitored_Sources.html the LAT instrument team will post the light curves (including spectral information) of the sources listed. The team will also announce the discovery of high-amplitude variations among these sources or of newly discovered bright transients to the community via Astronomer's Telegrams and GCN notices. The FSSC will provide light curves and locations for these new sources.

Theoretical Investigations

Theoretical studies related to the observations conducted with Fermi hold the potential to significantly enhance the scientific impact of the mission. GI proposals for such theoretical investigations are also solicited and must specifically address how the anticipated results will advance Fermi science objectives.

There are two proposal classes: (1) Regular proposals with research plans that can be completed in one year, and (2) Large proposals whose research plans are more expansive and may take up to three years to complete. Large programs will remain prioritized for projects that are inherently resource intensive and large in scope. The number of Large projects funded in any given year will be very limited.

The burden of justifying the need for Large projects is on the proposers. The peer-review committees will not be permitted to "descope" Large projects, i.e., they must evaluate them as proposed. Proposing a project in duplication as a single year plus as a Large program is discouraged.

PIs of approved Large projects must submit a progress report annually on the Phase-1 proposal due date, rather than on the anniversary of the award date. The progress report must comply with the page limit and format requirements of Phase-1 Regular proposals. Progress reports should not be anonymized. It must list the deliverables (papers, public software, etc.) that have resulted from the ongoing work, as well as adhere to the schedule specified in the original proposal. Progress reports must be submitted through the Astrophysics Research Knowledgebase Remote Proposal System (ARK/RPS) system. Because of the significant resources allocated to large multiyear projects, those that do not make progress consistent with the proposed investigation could be reduced or terminated.

The page limit for the Science/Technical/Management section of Phase-1 proposals is four pages for Regular proposals and six pages for Large proposals. These page limits include figures but not references. An additional page is required to describe the technical justification for the observation time, as well as the telescope and instrumentation configurations being requested through the joint programs with NOIRLab, NRAO, VERITAS, and TESS.

Proposals must be single-spaced, typewritten, English-language text on standard U.S. letter paper, using one column, and using an easily read font size 12-point or larger and having, on average, no more than 15 characters per horizontal inch. No smaller font is permitted in the subsections of the proposal, including references. However, text in figures and their captions may be in fonts as small as 10-point. In addition, the proposal shall have no more than 5.5 lines per inch of text. Pages should have at least one-inch (2.5 cm) margins on all sides. Proposals not conforming to this format will be declared noncompliant and may be rejected without further review.

Only proposals led by a PI who is employed by U.S. institutions will be considered for funding.

Fermi science team members already receiving support from the Project are eligible for support but must provide a compelling justification in the Expertise and Resources document for the award of additional funds under the GI Program. It is the intent of this program that most of the available GI funding be awarded to proposers not formally associated with Fermi.

NASA does not anticipate awarding contracts in response to proposals submitted to this program element, because it would not be appropriate for the nature of the work solicited.

Submission of Phase-1 Proposals to the Fermi GI Program

The Fermi GI program will use a two-phase proposal submission process. The first phase will be the submission and evaluation of the science/technical justification. Proposals must include a management section with a statement of work and an estimate of the resources needed to accomplish the goals of this work. The required proposal forms must be submitted through RPS. The Phase-1 peer review will be executed in a "dual-anonymous" fashion, where not only are proposers unaware of the identity of the members on the review panel, but the reviewers do not have explicit knowledge of the proposal teams (see Specific Instructions for Dual Anonymous Peer Review Phase-1 Proposals).

Proposals requiring more than one year of effort (Large proposals) must include a schedule and a list of expected deliverables and/or milestones for each year of the requested support. This schedule will be considered in the evaluation of progress reports prior to years two and three.

Each proposer who anticipates requesting funding must provide a budget estimate, i.e., an estimated maximum of the total cost to NASA (including overhead) of his/her proposed investigation. A field for entering the total budget is provided on the RPS Cover Form.

In the second phase, proposers whose Phase-1 proposals are accepted will be invited to submit a Phase-2 budget proposal through their home institution. Proposers must append, as an NSPIRES attachment, a budget narrative for each year of proposed work and specify what they expect to accomplish at the end of each of the years proposed. Every line item in the NSPIRES budget needs to be explained in the accompanying text. All proposal materials will be submitted electronically.

Proposers to the Fermi GI Program must adhere to the following procedures for proposal submission:
Proposers will submit their Phase-1 proposals electronically through the RPS website at: https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ark/rps/. Instructions for doing so are provided at the FSSC web site at: https://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/proposals/.

Target lists are submitted through the RPS form. All proposals involving joint-program correlated observations or Fermi pointed observations, must include a target list.

Due to the nature of prospective investigations within the Fermi GI program, the Scientific/Technical/Management section of proposals is limited to four pages for Regular proposals and six pages for Large proposals, instead of the default 15 pages specified in the NASA Guidebook for Proposers. Figures are included within these four- or six-page limits but not references. An additional page must be added to describe the technical details of proposed joint gamma-ray, radio, or optical observing programs.

The standard ROSES requirement for a table of contents in the body of the proposal is waived.

No supporting material (e.g., Curriculum Vitae, pending/current support) is required or allowed other than what is specified in the supplemental documentation concerning the dual-anonymous review procedure.

The Scientific/Technical/Management section will be uploaded to the RPS website as a PDF file.

All Phase-1 proposal materials must be submitted electronically by 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date for this program given in the summary in order to be considered in the proposal review for this cycle of the Fermi GI program. Note that the 4:30 p.m. deadline replaces the standard midnight deadline.

Instructions for the submission of ROSES proposals are given in the ROSES Summary of Solicitation and, for topics not addressed there, refer to the NASA Grant and Cooperative Agreement Manual (GCAM). Fermi GI proposers must follow these instructions, except where they are overridden by the instructions given in the Astrophysics Research Program Overview (D.1) or in this program element.

Specific Instructions for Dual Anonymous Peer Review Phase-1 Proposals

The overarching objective of dual-anonymous peer review (DAPR) is to reduce bias in the evaluation of the merit of a proposal. Under DAPR, not only are proposers unaware of the identity of reviewers, but the reviewers do not have explicit knowledge of proposers.

Proposers should consult the "Guidelines for Proposers to ROSES GO/GI DAPR Programs" under "Other Documents" section on the NSPIRES webpage for this program element for instructions on writing proposals appropriate for dual-anonymous peer review. The instructions here and in that document supersede the default instructions given in the GCAM and the ROSES Summary of Solicitation. Proposers will also be required to upload a separate "Expertise and Resources Not Anonymized" document, that is not anonymized. The "Guidelines for Proposers to ROSES GO/GI DAPR Programs" posted under "Other documents" on the NSPIRES page for this program element contains complete information on how to write this separate document.

To meet the objectives of DAPR, review panels will be instructed to evaluate the anonymized proposals based on their scientific merit, without initially taking into account the proposing team qualifications. As a final check, and only after the evaluation is finalized for all proposals, the panel will be provided with the "Expertise and Resources Not Anonymized" document. The panel will review the E&R document to validate that the proposers have the qualifications and capabilities required to successfully execute the proposed science investigation.

A summary of the key factors for PIs to keep in mind are:

Proposals must eliminate language that identifies the proposers or institutions, as discussed in the Guidelines for Proposers to ROSES GO/GI DAPR Programs.

PIs are required to upload a one-page "Expertise and Resources Not Anonymized" PDF through ARK as a separate upload when submitting the science justification. This document must not be anonymized.

NASA understands that dual-anonymous peer review represents a major shift in the evaluation of General Observer / General Investigator proposals, and as such there may be occasional slips in writing anonymized proposals. However, NASA reserves the right to return without review proposals that are particularly egregious in terms of the identification of the proposing team.

A summary of the key requirements for preparing anonymized Phase-1 proposals is provided in the table below.

Item	Requirement
Anonymization	Phase-1 proposals are anonymized. Phase-2 (cost) proposals are not anonymized.
Submission	Phase-1 proposals are submitted through ARK/RPS. Phase-2 (cost) proposals are submitted through NSPIRES.
References	References must be in the [1], [2] format.
Work Plan	Include an anonymized one-paragraph work plan in the Science-Technical-Management body of the Phase-1 proposal.
Proposal Length	See Proposal Length and Format.
Separate "Expertise and Resources Not Anonymized" Document	This document provides a list of all team members, their roles, expertise, and contributions to the work. The document should also discuss any specific resources that are key to completing the proposed work.

Evaluation of Phase-1 Proposals Submitted to the Fermi GI Program

Proposals will be evaluated by a peer evaluation panel with respect to Relevance and Merit, as defined in Section 12 of the NASA Grant and Cooperative Agreement Manual. The evaluation of intrinsic merit of a proposal shall also include:

The suitability of using the Fermi observatory and data products for the proposed investigation;

The extent to which the investigation enhances the anticipated science return from the Fermi mission;

The degree to which the proposed investigation places demands upon mission resources (this is particularly relevant for pointed observations); and

In the case of Progress Reports (i.e., requests to continue multiyear projects), demonstrable progress towards the stated milestones of the original science proposal. Progress Reports should not be anonymized.

For development of analysis methods, correlative observations or theoretical investigations, the evaluation criteria of a proposal shall include the degree to which the investigation directly advances Fermi science goals.

Submission and Evaluation of Phase-2 Proposals

Subject to the availability of funding, successful Phase-1 proposers will be contacted by the NASA Selecting Official and invited to submit a cost proposal in Phase-2. Upon notification of selection of a Phase-1 proposal a proposer must respond as follows:

Follow the instructions for submitting a Phase-2 proposal given in the selection notification from the Phase-1 review. Phase-2 (cost) proposals must be submitted through the NASA NSPIRES electronic proposal website (https://nspires.nasaprs.com/) by an Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) of the proposing organization.

The total budget may not exceed the budget estimate the proposer provided in the Phase-1 proposal.

Budget Details are limited to three pages, and the Budget Narrative is limited to two pages. Any substantive changes from the budget management plan already submitted in Phase-1 must be justified explicitly.

NASA program personnel (as opposed to peer reviewers) will evaluate the Phase-2 cost proposals against the third evaluation criterion, cost realism and reasonableness, and will also compare the proposed cost to available funds, as allowed by Section V(a) of the ROSES Summary of Solicitation. Note that since the Phase-2 proposals will not be peer reviewed, the requirement to redact the budget information (per Section IV(b)(iii) of the Summary of Solicitation) is waived. All costs should be included in the proposal. Proposers should note that Phase-2 (cost) proposals should not be anonymized.

Item	Requirement
Expected budget and number of new awards pending adequate proposals of merit.	The selection of ~35 Regular proposals with average awards of $75K and generally less than $80K per year, and 1-2 Large proposals with average awards of $125K per year and generally less than $150K per year. Deviations from these targeted figures are possible.
Maximum duration of awards	1 year for Regular proposals and up to 3 years for Large proposals (see Classes of Proposals section).
Due date for Notice of Intent to propose (NOI)	Option not available
Due date for Phase-1 proposals	See the Cycle 19 Schedule.
Planning date for start of investigation	5-10 months after proposal due date.
Page limit for central Science-Technical-Management section	4 pp for regular proposals, 6 pp for large proposals; 1 additional page is required to describe joint program observations (see Proposal Length and Format). Page limits include figures but not references. See Specific Instructions for Dual Anonymous Peer Review Phase-1 Proposals.
Relevance	This program is relevant to the Astrophysics questions and goals in the NASA Science Plan.
Overview of this solicitation	See the ROSES-2025 Summary of Solicitation.
Requirements for content of proposals	For Phase-1 see Specific Instructions for Dual Anonymous Peer Review Phase-1 Proposals. For Phase-2 see Submission and Evaluation of Phase-2 Proposals section and D.3 Combined General Investigator General Observer Program.
Instructions for proposal submission	For Phase-1 see Specific Instructions for Dual Anonymous Peer Review Phase-1 Proposals. For Phase-2 see Submission and Evaluation of Phase-2 Proposals.
Submission medium	Electronic submission is required; no hard copy is permitted.
NOI submission site	Option not available
Fermi SSC Helpdesk	fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/help/
Programmatic questions contact	David C. Morris Astrophysics Division, NASA HQ Phone: (202) 718-9061 Email: david.c.morris@nasa.gov Antonino Cucchiara Phone: (202) 358-0734 Email: Antonino.Cucchiara@nasa.gov
Technical questions contact	Andrea Prestwich NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Phone: 301-286-4582 Email: Andrea.H.Prestwich@nasa.gov Help Desk: fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/help/
Questions on Fermi capabilities	Elizabeth Hays NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Phone: 301-286-0345 Email: Elizabeth.A.Hays@nasa.gov