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We invite members of the UK community to propose value added contributions to the commissioning of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory as part of LSST:UK’s in-kind package. This call for proposals follows acceptance of the commissioning element of our in-kind proposal, and initiates the detailed development and approval of the UK’s commissioning team and plans. Our in-kind “recipient group”, namely Rubin’s System Integration Test and Commissioning (SITCOM) team, have identified on-summit support of wavefront sensor sub-system commissioning as a high priority, in addition to a wider team that analyses commissioning data remotely in part-time roles while based at their home institute. All such roles are envisaged as lasting 1-2 years during the 2022 and 2023 calendar years. Our in-kind proposal included 3 staff years of new STFC funding for UK commissioning contributions, split roughly 50-50 between our summit and remote teams. Given the limited funding, and the exciting nature of this opportunity, we anticipate that most members of the UK commissioning team will be unfunded, volunteering a fraction of their research time. Whilst we envisage most of the proposals submitted in reponse to this call will come from groups that submitted an Expression of Interest in 2020, this call is open to all Uk colleagues regardless of previous expression of interest. This call includes background information on the process followed to date, examples of value-added contributions sought by SITCOM, and details of the rights and responsibilities of SITCOM team members, including individuals who join through this call. This call for proposals is coordinated with the recent Announcement of Opportunity for Community Engagement with Rubin Observatory Commissioning Effort in the US and Chile, however UK colleagues are only eligible to respond this UK-specific call. Proposals in response to this UK-specific call must be prepared using this template, and submitted to lusc_pm@mlist.is.ed.ac.uk before 5pm UTC September 1530, 2021. Questions or concerns about this call for proposals may be directed to Graham Smith (gps@star.sr.bham.ac.uk) and Bob Mann (rgm@roe.ac.uk).
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Proposals should be emailed as a pdf file to lusc_pm@mlist.is.ed.ac.uk before 5pm UTC, September 15 30 2021. Please include “Proposal for UK contribution to Rubin commissioning” in the subject line of your submission email. Safe receipt of each proposal will be acknowledged by email from Terry Sloan or George Beckett (LSST:UK Project Managers) following the submisison deadline.
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