Chandra Users’ Committee
CXC Manager’s Status Report
For the period October 2009 – April 2010
Roger Brissenden
CXC Manager
27 April 2009
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
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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
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Program Level Status – CXC Organization
MSFC Space Systems Programs & Projects Office
Hefner
Chandra X-ray Center Program Office
Tananbaum
Canizares (MIT)
Brissenden
Education & Outreach
Lestition
Director's Office
Wilkes
Grants Award Section
Sozanski
Flight Operations Team
Hurley
Online Operations
Mission Planning & Testing
Spacecraft Engineering
Flight Software
Factory Support Team
27 April 2010
OCC Operations
Eagan
Science
Tananbaum
Facility Systems Team
Integration & Ground
S/W Maintenance
Ground Ops Team
Ops. Science Support
Calibration
Mission Planning
Sci. Data Sys. Planning
IPI Teams
CXC Status Report/CUC
Science Data System
Fabbiano
Systems Engineering
Holmes
Hardware & Systems
Software Development
Test
Archive Operations
Data Processing Operations
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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
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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)
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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
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Program Level Status – Operations
• 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
DS 8.1
DS 8.1.1
DS 8.2
CIAO 4.2
DS 8.2.1
Sol-10
27 April 2010
Date
09/16/09
10/15/09
12/15/09
12/15/09
01/08/10
02/23/10
Main contents
Partial linux migration for Ops
Aspect pipeline efficiency fix
Proposal Planning support for CfP12
Annual Data Analysis release
V&V Bugfix
Tested & verified system against latest OS version;
no software change; Solaris10 upgrade in DS Ops
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Program Level Status – Operations
• 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
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Program Level Status – Operations
• Calibration Database (CalDB) Releases
16 individual calibration products plus three CalDB releases:
– CalDB 4.2.0
12/14/09
– CalDB 4.2.1
– CalDB 4.2.2
04/10/10
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
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Program Level Status – Operations
• 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 Xray 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
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Mission Metrics
MUPS Fuel Usage
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Mission Metrics
Thruster Warm Starts
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Mission Metrics
Observing Efficiency
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Data Delivery Effectiveness
As of 4/8/10
As of middle of followin g month
Month
Nu mber of
Obs
Days to Data Delivery
Min
Avg
Max
Nu mber
Deliv
Nu mber
Outstanding
Nu mber
Deliv
Nu mber
Outstanding
Apr-09
53
0
1
5
53
0
53
0
M ay-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
Jan-10
84
97
0
0
2
2
11
22
84
97
0
0
84
97
0
0
Feb-10
M ar-10
79
64
0
0
1
2
5
13
79
64
0
0
79
64
0
0
Comments
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
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Grant Award Effectiveness
Month of Federal
Data
Grants
Delivery
(1,3)
SAO Grants (2)
As of midd le of followin g
Apr-09
May-09
Jun-09
Jul-09
Aug-09
Sep-09
Oct-09
Nov-09
Dec-09
Jan-10
Feb-10
Mar-10




2
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
5
1
1
month
Non-Federal No. Grants
No.
Avg days
Grants (3)
Awarded Outstanding to award
(4)
13
11
2
14
8
5
3
10
17
14
3
12
17
7
10
13
4
4
0
10
5
4
1
8
1
1
0
13
5
5
0
16
29
29
0
42
60
60
0
32
5
5
0
23
17
17
0
24
As of 4/8/10
No. Grants
No.
Awarded Outstanding
13
8
17
17
4
6
1
5
29
60
5
17
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Outstandin g Awa rds
Proposal no, Comm ents
`
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 gr ants eligible for award, for which data were delivered to the observer in the month.
Average days from data delivery to grant award to observer.
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