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Fermi Fermi Gamma-ray Space TelescopeGamma-ray Space Telescope

Users Group MeetingUsers Group Meeting16 August, 201316 August, 2013

Mission Status UpdateMission Status Update

J. McEneryJ. McEnery

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Some goals for this meetingSome goals for this meeting

• Comments and feedback from the users group on:– Observation strategies white paper process

• http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/proposals/alt_obs/obs_modes.html

• Next steps– GI program

• Outcome after budget adjustment, plans for cycle 7– Senior review

• Of course, comments on suggestions on any aspect of the mission are welcomed!

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Budget StatusBudget Status

• Significant budget reduction in FY2014, somewhat restored in FY2015– Accelerate planned rampdown – take full planned reduction in

2014, rather than over the next 3 years• Reduce FOT, FSSC staffing, decrease engineering support• ~20% decrease in support for instrument teams

– Minimal GI funding in 2014 (originally planned $8M)• Cycle 6 reduced from $8M to $6.8M (factor 5

oversubscription), all funded at end FY13.• Cycle 7 reduced from $8M to $4M, will be funded at

beginning of FY15. Gap between Cycle 6 and Cycle 7 will be ~16 months. Likely to have severe oversubscription rate.

• EPO funding withdrawn from NASA budget in presidents request– 1 person let go– Trying to keep the rest of the group together until the end of the

calendar year in hope that fiscal situation improves

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Mission Status HighlightsMission Status Highlights

• Observatory is operating smoothly• Star Trackers

– Noise in star trackers were causing alerts to the FOT (but not science impacts)• Fixed by lowering operating temperature

• FSSC webpage issues– Short IT security related downtime on some FSSC pages.

• Judy Racusin has been appointed as a new deputy project scientist (joining Liz, Dave and Neil)

• Elizabeth Ferrara is deputy FSSC lead Scientist• Cycle 6 GI program included new VERITAS and Arecibo

opportunities• This week marks 5 year anniversary of science operations

– Celebration next Monday afternoon, open new exhibit at visitor center

– Press release on Aug 22

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Observations summary (since last Observations summary (since last meeting)meeting)

• Almost exclusively in nominal data taking in survey mode• ARRs (2.5 hour autonomous observation in response to GRB)

• ~2 per month

• 1 Target of Opportunity (ToO) observation– Crab nebula

– Nova Del 2013 (today!)

• Nadir observations restarted in Summer 2013• Most have been changed LAT trigger/filter config + point at

Earth Nadir• A small number only change LAT config (i.e. stay in regular sky

survey)• Calibrations/engineering tests (see Steve’s talk for details)

• <24 hours for LAT calibrations

• Some data loss (<6 hours) on Aug 2 due to incorrect planning ephemeris

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High Level Data ReleasesHigh Level Data Releases

• Extended weekly data files now available!• Provided pre-release of P7REP data to allow line studies in

support of observation white paper evaluation• Sciencetools release (see FSSC presentation)• Rmfit release

• In the works (within a month or two)– Revamping LAT GRB summary table– Updated Galactic diffuse model (for P7reprocessed data)– P7 reprocessed data (updated calorimeter calibrations)– GBM localization contours for GRB

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Multiwavelength Analysis workshopsMultiwavelength Analysis workshops

• LIGO-Fermi meeting, March 2013– Hands on analysis workshop between LIGO/VIRGO/GEO

and Fermi-LAT/Fermi-GBM– Tutorials on how to use each other’s data, share how each

collaboration responds to alerts– Very successful - plan to do this again. Continuing to work

on joint analysis projects• Fermi/VERITAS/HAWC, Dec 2013

– Planned to be an analysis workshop– Goal to optimize how we work together

• Joint analysis techniques• Share operations experience etc

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Fermi Summer SchoolFermi Summer School

• Mix of experimental, theory and observational work

• http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/mtgs/summerschool/2013/

• Science focus on dark matter

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Fermi Guest InvestigatorsFermi Guest Investigators

• New guest investigators join the program each year• This is a lower limit on number of Fermi users, as it is mostly limited to US

users

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PublicationsPublications

• Fermi papers per year continues to show a rising trend• Citations to Fermi paper are very high – 2nd LAT catalog is most cited 2012

refereed paper in astrophysics.

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PhD Theses using Fermi dataPhD Theses using Fermi data

• The list of PhD theses is still being compiled, so the numbers in the figure above should be considered a lower limit.

>160

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Some outreach itemsSome outreach items

• HQ iPad group working on Fermi with input from Dave Thompson and Toni Venters

• Developing Fermi exhibit for GSFC visitors center• Revamped Fermi/Swift booth at AAS

– Includes set of science pamphlets • Upcoming press activity

– Pulsar feature/podcast– Collision avoidance

• Fermi 5-year launch anniversary– Starting to think about a celebration, ideas/suggestions are

welcome!

• Lots happening in EPO – see Lynn’s talk for details

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Press ReleasesPress Releases

• Neutron star antiglitch

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Press ReleasePress Release

• Fermi discovers shockingly bright burst – GRB130427A

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Press releasePress release

• The day Fermi dodged a 1.5 ton bullet

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Press releasesPress releases

• Fermi's Motion Produces a Study in Spirograph

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Upcoming press releasesUpcoming press releases

• GRB130427A– 5 papers submitted to science magazine: Fermi-LAT, Fermi-

GBM, Swift, Raptor, NuSTAR– Media telecon, possibly followed by google hangout

• Five year anniversary• Variable pulsar in Gamma-Cygni (led by SLAC)

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Questions?Questions?

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backupbackup

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GRB tableGRB table