The concept of having `key projects' was considered by the committee. A GO key project would be an observation or series of observations addressing an important scientific problem not adequately covered by the GTO program. The resources of the group preparing the key project and the length of observing time requested would make investigations possible that might not be accomplished with the usual GO proposals. The Committee recommended that we consider making up to 20% of the AXAF GO time available for key projects. Key projects would be defined by proposers and reviewed before the main body of GO proposals. The exact mechanism for soliciting, preparing and selecting key projects was deferred for later discussion. The ASC will prepare a straw man set of rules and circulate it before the next meeting. The possibility that GTOs might contribute time and participate in key proposals was also discussed.
It is expected that some long observations will be handled with key projects. The possibilities for very short observations may be limited by the scheduler, the slew time, and command-load capacity. The ASC will present information on these limits at the next meeting.
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