One primary benefit of outsourcing calibration work is to tap the expertise of external scientists with significant experience in a particular area, making the calibration information about these infrequently-used modes available more quickly. With relatively small investments in calibration, the HST archival legacy would be enhanced. As a test of the concept, two programs have already been outsourced as part of a pilot program. For WFPC2, a project to improve the UV flatfields was outsourced and is currently in progress. Due to the success of that initiative, STScI is now formally soliciting future outsourcing proposals from the entire scientific community.
Projects can involve the acquisition of new data or rely upon the existing archival data.
The list below is intended to highlight some areas identified by STScI as potential outsourcing projects. Note, however, that this list is not meant to be complete and no guarantee of approval by the TAC is intended or implied. One area that could benefit from further study would involve comparisons of groundbased data to existing WFPC2 data, providing direct, independent determinations of the CTE effect. The observations of these late M stars would provide a direct empirical calibration of these effects and reduce the uncertainties in the photometric response of WFPC2 for very red stars. See proposal 8455 for details of the calibration observations taken.