Information for grant applicants

This page is intended to provide support for UK researchers planning applications for science exploitation grants to analyse Rubin LSST data. It will be continually updated - the most recent update was on February 5th, 2026 - and any grant applicants not finding here information that they need for their applications are encouraged to contact the LSST:UK Project Leader (@Bob Mann ) or Project Scientist (@Graham Smith ).

• A collection of general background information about the Rubin LSST can be found at https://rubinobservatory.org/for-scientists.

• This webpage contains key numbers for the LSST system and survey, while updated versions of some of those numbers (e.g., expected point source limiting depths in the six bands) can be found in Table 2 of Bianco et al (2022).

• Information about the survey strategy can be found at https://survey-strategy.lsst.io/, including access to the reports of the Survey Cadence and Optimisation Committee.

• A set of slides providing further background information about the Rubin LSST and about UK involvement in it can be found linked from Getting started with the Rubin Observatory and LSST:UKPreview.

• The Rubin Observatory maintain a citable document on Zenodo to support grant applicants. It includes a summary description of LSST data products, releases, tools for supporting analysis, etc. The most detailed reference for the Rubin data products is the Data Product Definition Document (DPDD). Alerts will be made available through a network of Community Brokers, including the UK’s Lasair and data relating to solar system objects is being sent to the Minor Planet Center.

• Much LSST science will be performed through the Science Collaborations.

LSST data products (except the alert stream) are proprietary and international (i.e., non-US/Chilean) researchers can only obtain LSST data rights through in-kind contributions made to the Rubin Observatory or for the benefit of the LSST community in the US. STFC is funding the LSST:UK Science Centre (LUSC) programme to earn data rights for UK researchers: a key point to mention in any exploitation grant application to STFC is that the LUSC programme does not fund any science exploitation, which must, therefore, be supported through exploitation grants sought by data rights holders and completely separate from the LUSC programme.

STFC and the US funding agencies have not yet signed the UK’s LSST Data Rights Agreement, but the in-kind contributions made through the LUSC programme have an agreed value equivalent to data rights for 300 PIs and 1200 Junior Associates; the definitions of these terms come the Rubin Data Policy, but, in the UK terms, faculty and those senior fellows who can lead grant applications are PIs and everyone else is a Junior Associate. This should be sufficient for everyone in the UK who needs data rights to have them, and UK data rights calls are held twice-yearly, so applicants can assume that anyone funded on their grant to analyse LSST data will be able to obtain the necessary data rights.

The Rubin Observatory is currently providing schedule updates in a variety of ways:

• The Observatory transitioned from Construction to Operations in October 2025. It is currently in a period of Rubin Operations Early Optimization prior to the start of the 10-year LSST survey. Weekly updates on the progress during this phase are provided through the Community forum.

• Releases of Rubin Observatory Plans for an Early Science Program (RTN-011): the definitive reference for the Data Previews and Data Release 1, and is updated regularly.

• Videos released through the Rubin Observatory YouTube channel: for example, there is a playlist for all the Rubin Science Assemblies run by the Community Science Team.

The latest information on the Rubin schedule is included in the video of a presentation made to the Science Collaboration chairs on 30 January 2026. It notes that the 10-year LSST will not start before late March at the earliest; science alerts will start earlier than that, at a date still TBD.

Rubin has already release two Data Previews, which are available to data rights holders.

• Data Preview 0: comprised simulated LSST-like data, to help users familiarise themselves with the form of the data products and the tools in the Rubin Science Platform.

• Data Preview 1: comprised data taken with ComCam, the commissioning camera. It was originally released in June 2025, with an update made in January 2026 to correct an issue with the WCS FITS approximation.

A third data preview, Data Preview 2, is due to published by September 2026 and will contain commissioning data obtained with LSSTCam, the full camera. Further details of all data previews can be found in RTN-011.

Following an announcement at the 2025 Rubin Community Workshop, Rubin Observatory announced that it will be making 10 data releases, rather than 11, as originally planned; the first data release, intended to contain data from the first six months of the LSST will not now be happening.

Data Release 1, which will contain data from the first year of the LSST survey, is now due between January and June 2028, and further data releases are expected on a yearly cadence thereafter. Full details of DR1 can be found in RTN-011.