The sequence of dates for the current first in-flight Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for Herschel Open Time (OT1) is as follows:
20 May 2010: The Herschel OT1 Announcement of Opportunity is issued. Phase 1 OT1 proposals can be submitted.
3-4 June 2010: A Herschel Observation Planning Workshop will be organised by the HSC in ESAC, Madrid, and simultaneously by the NHSC in IPAC, Pasadena.
22 July 2010 12:00 UT: Submission deadline for Phase 1 OT1 proposals. Start of technical and HOTAC evaluation process for these proposals.
2 August 2010: Submission deadline for NASA data exploitation funding for investigators based in the USA only, see Chapter 12, Special information for US-based investigators.
11-15 October 2010: HOTAC meeting, after which the recommendation regarding OT1 proposal time allocation will be provided to ESA's Director of Science and Robotic Exploration (D/SRE) for final decision.
1 November 2010: Announcement of approved proposals and start of Phase 2 data entry.
Note that 12:00 UT refers to 12:00 hours (noon) Universal Time (UT=GMT). Central European Summer Time (CEST) is UT+2 hours on 22 July 2010.
After the the current AO process there will be one additional call cycle for observing programmes: GT2 and OT2 proposals, currently foreseen to take place in approximately one year's time, as specified in Chapter 10, Further calls for proposals.