What's New in 26A?

NRAO and GBO Users' Policy.  The NRAO and GBO Users' Policies have been updated and include the following:

  • Constraints on Opportunities (Section 3.2.4): Starting with the 26A semester there will be the following constraints for VLA proposals with a PI from a non-US institution.
    1. Only scheduling priorities A and B will be allocated time; no filler time.
    2. The priority A and B time will be further restricted by applying a country cap of 10% and a total foreign cap of 30%.
  • Proprietary Period (Section 5.5.4): Beginning with the 26A semester the proprietary period will be increased from one to two years for all PIs.
  • Use of AI (Section 3.3.2): Starting in 26A, proposers that use AI tools during proposal preparation should select the checkbox under the "AI Usage" section on the proposal's "General" page in the Proposal Submission Tool.

New VLBA Shared Risk Observing mode: Y3+VLBA has been added as a shared risk observing (SRO) mode for the 26A semester.

Additional open-skies availability on the VLA: By the start of the 2026A semester, VLASS observing will be complete with no further needs for VLASS carve-out time. As a result, the A and D configurations will be on average 2-3 weeks longer compared to the last 8 years.

Reminders:

  • Joint Proposals. Joint Proposals with ALMA or JWST need to be submitted to the facility requesting the larger amount of observing time. See Joint Proposals for details.
  • Dissertation Plans.  The Dissertation Plan requirements (Section 7.2) were revised to specify that the plan must be written by the student.  Students that have dissertation plans as part of their NRAO profile will be REQUIRED to update their plans following a strict thesis template.  The LaTex and  Word formats are available online.
  • PST Proposal Template.  The NRAO offers an optional Latex template for proposals.  Proposers are strongly encouraged to use this template for all proposal types - Regular, Large and DDTs and to follow the appropriate guidelines for font size, page margins and references.
  • The GBT will not accept Large proposals.  Large proposals for the GBT are only accepted during B semester proposal calls.  Any Large proposal requesting the GBT will be rejected without consideration for the 26A proposal call.
  • The GBT will not consider any proposals requesting the UWBR.  The UWBR is still undergoing engineering changes and has not yet begun commissioning observations.  Any proposal requesting the UWBR will be rejected without consideration for the 26A proposal call. 

See the NRAO and GBO Users' Policy page for more details.

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Founded in 1956, the NSF NRAO provides state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. NSF NRAO telescopes are open to all astronomers regardless of institutional or national affiliation. Observing time on NSF NRAO telescopes is available on a competitive basis to qualified scientists after evaluation of research proposals on the basis of scientific merit, the capability of the instruments to do the work, and the availability of the telescope during the requested time. NSF NRAO also provides both formal and informal programs in education and public outreach for teachers, students, the general public, and the media.

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