On October 16, 2023, the Einstein Probe mission announced the call for observing proposals during the first year of EP scientific operations (Cycle-1).

The EP launch is currently scheduled at the end of 2023. Once in orbit EP will conduct a series of tests, performance verification and instrument calibration during the first 6 months, after which scientific operations will be started.

In the science operational time, the WXT survey is the basic operational mode of EP designed to monitor the sky to detect transients and monitor variable sources. During the survey mode, WXT will monitor pre-planned sky regions, whilst FXT will be normally pointed to pre-selected targets to perform pointed observations, termed FXT Survey Target Observations (FSTO). There are two types of observing proposals available in Cycle-1 including the FSTO observations (non-ToO observations) performed by using FXT and the anticipated-ToO for known X-ray sources.

This call is open to EP STP members and associate members, as well as non-STP members as EP Guest Observer (GO) program.

All the Cycle-1 information can be found on the following EP Observing Proposal System (EOPS) website, including proposer's guidance, proposal-supporting documents, tools and access to the EP proposal submission interface.

EOPS website: https://ep.bao.ac.cn/ep/proposal_submit/user_proposal_create_guide