NuSTAR has been approved to continue operations through 2025 based on the outcome of the 2022 NASA Astrophysics Senior Review of Operating Missions (the report pdf file is available here) and includes a General Observer (GO) Program.
Last updated: 2025-03-03
A list of proposals and targets selected for NuSTAR GO cycle-10 is available on the NuSTAR HEASARC website. Observations for cycle-10 begin in June 2024.
NuSTAR GO cycle-11 proposals were due on February 19th, 2025, independent peer review is underway, and the selection should be announced in May, 2025 for observations beginning in June, 2025.
Future opportunities to propose for NuSTAR observing time (contingent on results of 2025 Senior Review of operating missions)
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Up to 6500 ks of NuSTAR observing time for standard proposals (< 500 ks) and 2000 ks of NuSTAR observing time for large proposals (> 500 ks) is available. Joint observing time is available for XMM-Newton (up to 1500 ks), Gehrels-Swift (up to 300 ks), and NICER (up to 250 ks) is also available in the NuSTAR AO program. Proposal due date: January, 2026 for observations beginning June, 2026. |
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| Chandra cycle-27 |
Up to 500 ks of NuSTAR observing time available for standard proposals and an additional 500 ks of NuSTAR time available in the Large/Very large program Proposal due date: March 19th, 2025 at 6pm EDT for observations beginning January, 2026. |
| IXPE cycle-3 | Up to 500 ks of NuSTAR observing time available
Proposal due date: August, 2025 for observations beginning February, 2026. |
| NICER cycle-8 | Up to 400 ks of NuSTAR observing time available
Proposal due date: September, 2025 for observations beginning March, 2026. |
| Gehrels-Swift cycle-22 | Up to 300 ks of NuSTAR observing time available
Proposal due date: September, 2025 for observations beginning April, 2026 |
| XMM-Newton cycle-25 | Up to 1500 ks of NuSTAR observing time available
Proposal due date: October 10th, 2025 (1200 UT) for observations beginning May, 2026 |
The NuSTAR GO program
The total amount of time allocated to GO observations is 11.3 Ms (~70% of the total observing time per year) including up to 8.5 Ms of observing time awarded to selected NuSTAR GO program investigations. It is anticipated that approximately 80 investigations will be selected for implementation in each NuSTAR GO cycle.
Of the remaining time (~ 2.8 Ms):
- up to 1.5 Ms of NuSTAR observing time is expected to be awarded to joint NuSTAR/XMM-Newton proposals submitted to annual XMM-Newton Call for Proposals with proposals due in October each year. The list of accepted proposals for cycle-24 is available on the XMM-Newton OTAC results website.
- up to 500 ks of NuSTAR observing time for joint NuSTAR / Chandra observing projects submitted to the Chandra Call for Proposals. Note that an additional 500 ks may also be allocated for Chandra V/LP programs. See CXC website for cycle-26 peer review recommended programs for observations in 2025. The annual due date for Chandra proposals is in March.
- Note: INTEGRAL has completed the final two months of science operations and is now decommissioned (as of March 2025). In the past, up to 100 ks of NuSTAR observing time was made available for joint NuSTAR / INTEGRAL.
- up to 300 ks of NuSTAR observing time for joint NuSTAR / Swift proposals is available in Swift cycle-22, with proposals due in September 2025. A list of proposals selected for cycle-21 is available on the Swift website.
- Note that as a service to the community, "snapshot" (1 - 2 ks) observations are performed by NASA’s Swift mission for most NuSTAR observations (including GO programs).
- up to 400 ks of NuSTAR observing time for joint NuSTAR / NICER proposals is expected to be available in NICER cycle-8, with proposals due in September, 2025. The list of accepted proposals for cycle-7 is available on the NICER GO website.
- up to 500 ks of NuSTAR observing time for joint NuSTAR / IXPE proposals is available in IXPE cycle-3, with proposals due in August, 2025. The list of recommended targets for cycle-2 is available on the IXPE GO website.
For the most complete list of planned and observed targets, as well as any ToOs that may be triggered before the beginning of cycle-11 observations on June 1st 2025, please refer to the NuSTAR Master Catalog at the HEASARC, which may be queried using either Browse or Xamin. The full list of approved NuSTAR ToO programs is available on the NuSTAR SOC website.
The remaining 30% of the observing time will be allocated through the NuSTAR project as follows:
- NuSTAR legacy survey observations (~ 3% of the total observing time)
- NuSTAR PI discretionary time, including unanticipated ToO observations open to the scientific community (~ 17%)
- Calibration observations, engineering tasks, and resolving operational issues (~ 10%).
Please see the NuSTAR HEASARC Page for the latest information about NuSTAR.
Useful links: