Rubin Observatory Plans for an Early Science Program

Rubin Observatory is committed to enabling high-impact science during the first year of operation of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). This document provides the plans for a dedicated Early Science Program designed to realize that goal. It outlines the strategy for obtaining observations during commissioning to enhance opportunities for Early Science and presents plans to implement incremental template generation to augment alert production in the early phases of the survey. The Rubin Operations team will work closely with the science community to design the Early Science Program so as to maximize the time-domain and solar system science achievable in the first year of operations. This is a living document; both it and the Early Science Program will continue to evolve over the course of commissioning and pre-operations in response to the state of the as-built system and to community guidance.