A New Era for HST Phase I Development and Submission

B. Blacker, C. Burkhardt, A. Koratkar, and J. Younger

Space Telescope Science Institute
3700 San Martin Drive
Baltimore, Maryland 21218 USA


As the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) moves into it's Second Decade of
observations, we are embarking on bringing our Phase I submission
system into the 21st Century as well.  Proposing for Hubble Space
Telescope (HST) observing time and archival research proceeds in two
phases.  In Phase I, the scientific merits of the proposal are
considered. Only accepted proposals enter Phase II, where the
observations are specified in complete detail.

With the advent of state of the art technology and the excellent
prototyping work that has brought the Astronomer's Proposal Tool
(APT), formerly the Scientist's Expert Assistant (SEA), from a concept
3 years ago, to an approved Project for implementation, at the Space
Telescope Science Institute, HST's Phase I submission will be an
integral part of the APT.  We have always tried to maitain our Phase I
strategy of keeping the interface simple, as well as having a minimal
learning curve.  This strategy will be maintained in the APT.

In this paper we will present our concept for the Science definition,
and Phase I proposal development and submission tools.  We also
discuss how we are transforming our Current Call for Proposals
Document into a policy only, electronic document, using innovative
tools and XML.  We will provide all links to existing documentation as
well as provide all of the relevant information available via the tool
as on-line "context-sensitive" help.