chandra users’ committee cxc manager’s status report for the period october 2009 – april 2010

Chandra Users’ Committee

CXC Manager’s Status ReportFor the period October 2009 – April 2010

Roger BrissendenCXC Manager

27 April 2009

27 April 2010 CXC Status Report/CUC

Topics

• Program Level Status– Program Management

– Spacecraft

– Science Instruments and Calibration

– Mission Planning

– OCC

– Data Processing

– CXCDS

– Chandra Director’s Office

– Education and Public Outreach

• Mission Metrics

• Chandra Grant Awards


Top Level Summary

• Spacecraft and instruments are performing superbly

• The CXC contract extension for up to 10 additional years was signed in December

• Proposal to NASA Senior Review was submitted in February; presentation to NASA HQ was made in April


Program Level Status – CXC Organization

Education & OutreachLestition

Director's OfficeWilkes

Grants Award SectionSozanski

Online OperationsMission Planning & TestingSpacecraft EngineeringFlight SoftwareFactory Support Team

Flight Operations TeamHurley

Facility Systems TeamIntegration & Ground

S/W MaintenanceGround Ops Team

OCC OperationsEagan

Ops. Science SupportCalibrationMission PlanningSci. Data Sys. PlanningIPI Teams

ScienceTananbaum

Hardware & SystemsSoftware DevelopmentTestArchive OperationsData Processing Operations

Science Data SystemFabbiano

Systems EngineeringHolmes

Chandra X-ray Center Program OfficeTananbaum

Canizares (MIT)Brissenden

MSFC Space Systems Programs & Projects OfficeHefner


Program Level Status – Program Management

• Budget– The CXC’s budget is on track with the FY10 Operating Plan

• CXC contract extension– Contract signed 12/31/09– Extension provides for a base extension to 9/30/13 with two three-year

options to 9/30/16 and 9/30/19– Funding level will allow continuation of science and operations but with

reduced staffing. Implications for the level of community support will be discussed in future meetings.

• NASA Senior Review– Submitted proposal 2/9/10– Presentation to Senior Review panel 4/6/10– Panel’s recommendations expected 4/23/10

• FY12 Operating Plan (PPBE12)– Presented budget to NASA HQ 4/19/10– Guidelines call for $3M decrease in FY11 over previous budget


Program Level Status – Program Management

• Reviews and Conferences– Einstein Fellows Symposium (10/27/09)

– CIAO Workshop (2/1/10)

– CXC Quarterly Review (3/9/10)

– Future Professional Communication in Astronomy II Colloquium and Summit of Information Providers in Astronomy, Astrophysics and High Energy Physics (4/13/10)


Program Level Status – Operations

• Spacecraft– Continues to operate extremely well overall

– Nominal passages through winter eclipse season

• Science Instruments– Instruments are operating extremely well

– ACIS had an unexpected Back End Processor reboot on 1/25/10. An apparent power transient to the BEP caused the reboot and erased patches in memory. Procedures executed to reload the patches and reboot the BEP. ACIS returned to normal operation.

• Operations Control Center– Ground Ops Team schedule changed to two 10.5-hr shifts per day 1/2/10;

now matches Flight Operations Team

– Working on renewal of Authority to Operate for operations ground system; aim for HQ approval 7/10; deadline 9/10



• Mission Planning: Load-interrupting TOOs– Six load-interrupting TOOs during this period

• Data Processing– Automatic processing is current; mean time from end of observation to

delivery to user remains at about one day

• CXC Data System Releases

Version Date Main contents

DS 8.1 09/16/09 Partial linux migration for Ops

DS 8.1.1 10/15/09 Aspect pipeline efficiency fix

DS 8.2 12/15/09 Proposal Planning support for CfP12

CIAO 4.2 12/15/09 Annual Data Analysis release

DS 8.2.1 01/08/10 V&V Bugfix

Sol-10 02/23/10 Tested & verified system against latest OS version;

no software change; Solaris10 upgrade in DS Ops



• Chandra Source Catalog releases

Version Date Main contents

CSC Sky 1.0 10/17/09 Added color-coded FOVs for all Chandra Observations

to Google Earth interface

Xmatch 1.0 10/29/09 CSC-SDSS Cross-match Interface release

CAT 3.2.1 12/4/09 HRC science feedback updates

LimSens 1.0 12/9/09 CSC Limiting Sensitivity Service release;

web interface to access limsens maps

CAT 3.2.2 12/18/09 ACIS data migration updates

CSC Sky 1.1 12/21/09 Added catalog source markers and pop-up data balloons

CAT 3.2.3 1/28/10 New algorithm for HRC pos error-ellipse

CAT 3.2.4 03/24/10 HRC point & compact source processing



• Calibration Database (CalDB) Releases16 individual calibration products plus three CalDB releases:

– CalDB 4.2.0 12/14/09

– CalDB 4.2.1 04/10/10

– CalDB 4.2.2 04/19/10

• GO and Fellows Program, CXC Director’s Office– 2010 Einstein competition opened 8/09; record number of applications

(162) received for 10 fellowships

– Selection committee, with expertise covering the whole Physics of the Cosmos program, chose top candidates 1/14/10

– 10 candidates had accepted fellowships by February

– First Einstein Fellows Symposium held Oct 27-28, 2009

– Grant issuance is current; average time to award < 3 weeks



• Education and Public Outreach– 11 press releases and 19 image releases since last meeting

– Chandra EPO won the IAU International Year of Astronomy 2009 prize for Excellence in Astronomy Education and Public Outreach for the “From Earth to the Universe” exhibit project. The FETTU project was NASA’s sole nominee for the prize and bested 29 other entries from 20 counties and 9 transnational organizations.

– The Webby Awards named Chandra’s “Hot Universe: Exploring the X-ray Universe” an Official Honoree for the Online Film & Video/Technology category in The 14th Annual awards.

– Awarded Smithsonian Scholarly Studies grant to continue Aesthetics and Astronomy study to determine how the public perceives astronomical images and how best to present them to the public


Mission MetricsMUPS Fuel Usage


Mission MetricsThruster Warm Starts


Mission MetricsObserving Efficiency


Data Delivery Effectiveness

As of middle of following month As of 4/8/10

Days to Data Delivery Month Number of Obs

Min Avg Max

Number Deliv

Number Outstanding

Number Deliv

Number Outstanding

Comments

Apr-09 53 0 1 5 53 0 53 0 May-09 62 0 1 5 62 0 62 0 Jun-09 61 0 1 7 61 0 61 0 Jul-09 72 0 1 9 72 0 72 0 Aug-09 62 0 1 19 62 0 62 0 Sep-09 72 0 1 11 72 0 72 0 Oct-09 67 0 2 14 66 1 67 0 Nov-09 68 0 3 15 68 0 68 0 Dec-09 84 0 2 11 84 0 84 0

Jan-10 97 0 2 22 97 0 97 0 Feb-10 79 0 1 5 79 0 79 0

Mar-10 64 0 2 13 64 0 64 0

Variety of difficulties in recent months have increased mean data delivery time slightly. These have been resolved and delivery time is back to usual ~1 day


Grant Award Effectiveness

SAO Grants (2) As of middle of following month

As of 4/8/10

Month of Data

Delivery

Federal Grants

(1,3)

Non-Federal Grants (3)

No. Grants Awarded

No. Outstanding

Avg days to award

(4)

No. Grants Awarded

No. Outstanding

Outstanding Awa rds Proposal no, Comments

Apr-09 2 13 11 2 14 13 0

May-09 0 8 5 3 10 8 0

Jun-09 0 17 14 3 12 17 0

Jul-09 0 17 7 10 13 17 0

Aug-09 0 4 4 0 10 4 0

Sep-09 1 5 4 1 8 6 0

Oct-09 0 1 1 0 13 1 0

Nov-09 0 5 5 0 16 5 0

Dec-09 1 29 29 0 42 29 0

Jan-10 5 60 60 0 32 60 0

Feb-10 1 5 5 0 23 5 0

Mar-10 1 17 17 0 24 17 0 `

• Grants awarded to scientists at Federal institutions as interagency transfers through MSFC. • Grants awarded to scientists at non-Federal institutions through SAO Contracts and Grants Department. • Number of grants eligible for award, for which data were delivered to the observer in the month. • Average days from data delivery to grant award to observer.

chandra users’ committee cxc manager’s status report for the period october 2009 – april 2010

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