As of March 2001 BeppoSAX carried out about 1600 pointings, with typical duration of 20-100 ksec; for AO5 the minimum exposure has been set to 40 ks. Furthermore, due to the implementation of the new gyroless pointing system with a potential loss of observing efficiency in the early phases of testing, the project will aim to minimize the total number of observations to be performed in AO5 . For this reason, programs based on long pointings (rather than repetition of shorter observations on a same target) will be generally preferred.
As in the past the NFI are expected to be selected as the prime instruments most of the time, the WFC will be operated in prime mode to monitor selected regions of the sky. Thanks to their large field of view, the WFC are normally operated, in the so-called secondary mode, to search for transient phenomena, when the NFI perform their sequence of pointed observations. The observing program will include follow-up (TOO) observations of transients with the NFI. The operation capability of BeppoSAX will allow target acquisition usually within 30 hours from its discovery. Shorter reaction times can be achieved in favorable situations, but they cannot be guaranteed. TOO observations are open for proposals, as described is the section 2.2 (but see also sect. 1.1.1).