Introduction

The early phases of instrument development are to incubate instrument concepts to a mature enough level to seek funding. The purpose of this on-line documentation is to define the process for developing instrument concepts and designs as well as outline the path that the instrument builders should follow to gain SSC and Keck Observatory approval. For instrumentation projects, principal investigators must seek approval from the SSC before moving forward with any type of funding request.

The incubation process supports a wide range of initiatives that spans from major new facility class instrumentation to small continuous improvement projects for the existing instrument suite and observatory systems. The SSC will confirm the scale of the project and suggest the right path forward if approved.

Due to funding limitations, not every project the SSC deems worthy for continued development will be funded through this process. The SSC will provide all PIs feedback on proposals and guidance for moving forward.

White Paper Call

Dear Colleagues:

W. M. Keck Observatory (WMKO), in concert with its Science Steering Committee (SSC), announces an instrument development call soliciting requests to fund up to $175k in support of:

Instrument concept studies to take ideas for upgrades and instruments and determine feasibility and develop science cases.
Phase A design studies that mature initial concepts for assessing cost and schedule in advance of proposal development. Projects that have already developed feasible designs either internal or external to the WMKO instrument development call may request to pursue system design level activities.
Proposal development efforts to draft and submit proposals to funding agencies. For large projects, instrument teams will have completed phase A activities either internal or external to the WMKO instrument development and are now requesting permission to develop a proposal for a public or philanthropic opportunity.
Mini grants for efforts and equipment costs for either new tools and techniques to improve the observatory scientific productivity or minor hardware capability enhancements.

All reports and endorsement requests should be submitted in pdf format by 20 June 2024 to whitepapers@keck.hawaii.edu, and all requests will be reviewed by the SSC in early July. Status reports must address SSC comments on previous submissions and highlight updates or progress.

All members of the WMKO community are encouraged to participate. All major instrumentation concepts suitable for a large telescope as well as upgrades to our existing instrument suite are encouraged.

Please note that in 2023, WMKO completed a strategic plan, Keck 2035: The W. M. Keck Observatory Strategic Plan (see link below). Based on current recommendations, WMKO encourages teams to review the strategic plan and ensure that development efforts for instrument and technology studies focus on aspects of that plan such as:

1. Adaptive Secondary enabled instrumentation and systems.

2. Near diffraction limited capabilities at the shortest possible wavelengths

3. Enhancing the community’s advantages in cadence, time domain, and large sample programs for precision spectroscopy, photometry, and astrometry.

4. Instrumentation that takes maximal use of the summit conditions with an emphasis on good seeing and UV sensitivity.

5. Demonstration capabilities with science applications for future WMKO instrumentation, ELTs, or space-based missions.

6. Data reduction software that improves or builds on packages for existing instrumentation or develop new tools that address identified needs for strategic science initiatives.

The above topics should not be limiting; white papers are encouraged in any of the areas of interest identified in the strategic plan that is accessible at: https://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/inst/scistratplan/Keck_2035_Science.pdf.

A white paper status template is available at: https://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/inst/common/Instrument_Development/InstrumentDevelopment.php#template. If effort is required from WMKO staff, please specify the hours, and if possible, staff needed to support your project.

Relevance to future new facilities (e.g., EUCLID, LSST (Rubin Observatory), Roman, and ELTs), if any, should be explained. Re-submissions of previous proposals must address SSC comments to the previous submission and highlight updates or progress. Please note that visiting instruments will not be considered.

WMKO funds feasibility and Phase A requests with the goal of developing early designs into a competitive proposal for future general funding opportunities (e.g., the NSF MRI, MSIP, MsRI, and/or ATI programs). Details for the funding categories are below:

Concept designs: In 2024, funds are available for concept and feasibility design studies. The amounts awarded will depend on the number of proposals accepted and the budgets proposed. The request should be no more than three pages in length devoted to text, figures, and tables. Up to two additional pages are allowed for a budget, milestones, and deliverables.

Phase A System Designs: In 2024, funds are available for projects that have already developed feasibility designs either internal or external to the WMKO instrument development call. PIs submitting Phase A proposals are ready to pursue system design level activities in preparation for submitting proposals. Proposals wishing to exceed this amount or that would like a multi-year commitment must provide compelling justification. For Phase A system design proposals, the project description should be no more than 7 pages devoted to science cases, conceptual designs, and a preliminary budget and schedule for the full build of the instrument. Up to two additional pages are allowed for the Phase A system design budget, milestones, deliverables, and references for the proposed work.

Proposal Development: Instrument teams that have completed phase A activities either internal or external to the WMKO instrument development call may request permission and support of minor cost efforts to develop a proposal for a public grant program or a philanthropic opportunity. PIs are encouraged to assess how an allocation of observatory nights may strengthen a proposal either for general use or for some key science initiative. PIs that want to include nights in a proposal must provide a description and justification for the use of those nights. PIs are encouraged to view the web document describing examples and contact the Instrument Program Manager for guidance on night allocations for proposals. Funding is drawn against the total available for Concept and Phase A designs. The request should be no more than three pages in length devoted to text, figures, tables, and budget.

Mini Grants: Minor upgrades for software, DRPs, and hardware to existing facilities to add or enhance current instrument or AO capabilities may be proposed and funded by WMKO. Funding is drawn against the total available for Concept and Phase A designs. The request should be no more than three pages in length devoted to text, figures, tables, and budget. Up to two additional pages are allowed for a budget, milestones, and deliverables.

For all requests, the budget should be in summary form identifying how the money will be spent on major study costs. If effort is required from WMKO staff, please specify the hours and staff needed that are in addition to the funds requested. All requests shall provide administrative and financial contact information for the PIs.

To gain an initial understanding of technical issues such as existing instrument configurations, observatory interfaces, and guidelines for the standard WMKO instrument development process, proposers are strongly encouraged to contact the WMKO Instrument Program Manager, Marc Kassis (mkassis@keck.hawaii.edu).

For descriptions of the instrument incubation process, schedule, funding, night allocation examples, and expectations, please see Instrument Development Incubation Process (https://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/inst/common/Instrument_Development/InstrumentDevelopment.php).

At the July 2024 SSC meeting, the SSC will make a preliminary selection of projects and may request more detailed information on the personnel, technical plans, and budgets. The SSC and the observatory will then select studies for funding, and by the end of August, send two letters to the PIs: one with SSC feedback and a second containing invoicing instructions to receive funding within 30 days after submitting an invoice to WMKO. PIs awarded gifted funds may be requested to provide a brief project status in March or May 2025 and a written report two weeks prior to an SSC meeting in May or June 2025 at which some PIs will be asked to provide a brief overview of the project status and future work. The SSC looks favorably upon groups across the Keck community working in partnerships. Funding must be used in the year(s) approved. SSC approval of a request is NOT an endorsement to seek major funding to build the instrument. Before seeking major funding, the SSC must approve PI request to proceed with a proposal submission.

Sincerely yours,

Jessica Lu and Chuck Steidel, Co-Chairs, Keck Science Steering Committee

Rich Matsuda, Observatory Director

John O’Meara, Deputy Director and Chief Scientist

Marc Kassis, Instrument Program Manager

Schedule

The schedule for developing instrumentation ideas is presented below. There are four sequential steps that are identified.

White Paper - project ideas are presented to kick off discussion.
Feasibility design study - If the SSC approves the white paper, PIs will be provided funds and to develop a feasibility design.
System Design - If the SSC approves moving forward, the PI will be provided more funds to develop a system design for the instrument.
Proposal Preparation - If the System Design is approved, the observatory will provide funds and effort to mature a proposal.

The schedule and process is flexible. As an example, Instruments that have completed a conceptual design prior to approaching the SSC for approval, may a present their conceptual design seeking funding and approval to move into the system design phase. Small upgrade projects may request moving to a proposal phase and skip the concept and system design phase because the scope of the project does not merit that level of planning.

PIs may propose what funding track to pursue, but the SSC will approve the track for the project before moving forward and may suggest a different track than what the PI proposed. At any step, the SSC has the authority to say a project should not proceed. Previous SSC approval is not a green light to seek funding. Requests to seek funding must be approved by the SSC, and it is anticipated that this request will come when entering the proposal development cycle.

White paper templates and formatting

Below are two links that are available that describe the desired formatting for white paper submissions. An MSWord document is a template that may be used, and for non-MSWord users you may feel free to use your favorite editor while fillowing the formatting in the pdf.

PI expectations

Captured in the lists below for each of the steps toward a successful proposal, are the expectations for the PI and the development team. Please note that some of the expectations are presented in the schedule. All approved projects have reporting periods and must provide summaries directly to the SSC or indirectly to the instrument program manager. The June to July time frame is typically the final reporting period and for system designs a review may be scheduled. PIs may not seek full scale development project funding without prior SSC approval. PIs may obtain external funds for concept studies or system designs studies, However, we prefer that PIs obtain SSC approval before proceding with this effort.

General

Funding for awarded projects will be issued in August and end in June.
PIs do not move forward with funding until SSC approves (typically in July)

Concept studies

Propose a new concept or upgrade
Define science cases and top level science requirements.
Design Initial technical concepts, including fit and envelope at the telescope
May Use funds to buy out academic responsibilities, hire engineers or post-docs, fund workshops, etc.
End products:
- Report and proposal to move to the Phase A/system design phase presented to SSC
- Documentation that includes (some of this included in the the appendix of the next proposal)
  1. Mature science cases
  2. Feasibilty and initial designs in the form of DWGs or CAD
  3. DraftInitial estimate of a budget and schedule for the complete instrument project through commissioning
- Budget and schedule for Phase A System Design phase is presented for SSC approval.

System Designs

Develop system design requirements and refine a robust science case
Assess and develop system designs for the most challenging aspects of the instrument
Work with WMKO staff to establish requirements for the location, interfaces, operations, long-term maintenance, and establish the process for the instrument development steps including the review needs.
Refine the science case as needed.
End products:
- Refined science cases
- System designs for the instrument that are advanced from the conceptual designs and sufficient enough to assess costs
- Documentation that shows that technical risks have been identified and an approach to reduce risk is planned.
- Preliminary Budget and schedule for the full scale development through commissioning and ready for external review.
- Work break down structure and preliminary management plan.
- A presentation to the SSC and request to move to the proposal phase.
WMKO will hold a review of the science and technical cases. External reviewers will review the budget, schedule, work break down structure, management plan, and technical risks for realism, and then the reviewer will share recommendation with the team and stakeholders.

Proposal Phase

Plans for developing a proposal to an external private or public funding agency. No proposors may seek external funding without SSC approval.
Keck will award a small amount of funds for proposal development.
if a proposal readiness review was not held, a review of the type described in the previous phase will be held before proposing
WMKO staff will review the budget and schedule to ensure SSC and board desired contingency is included
End products:
- A Proposal with an approved schedule and budget and a mature science case and technical approach.
- Proposal has obtained final approval to proceed by the WMKO Board.

Available Funding

Although it will depend on the number of projects in each of the incubation steps, the funds that are anticipated to be available for these activities are $175k.

Awarded funds from this process are provided in accordance with the WMKO financial policy to the PI and Co-Is.