The Life Cycle of an HST Proposal

1. The Life Cycle of an HST Proposal Diane Karakla INS User Support Coordinator

2. Cycle Announcement made to community Policies Document Instrument Capabilities

3. Many branches at STScI involved in soliciting proposals, their implementation, planning and scheduling, to execution and the preparation of final data products Phase I Proposals • Questions from potential PI’s start to come in through STScIHelp Desk (help@stsci.edu) or personal contact: • feasibility, • instrument capabilities/modes, • ETC’s • policy question • Staffed by DA’s in INS • Questions routed to appropriate experts

4. Astronomers Proposal ToolAPT • PI creates & submits proposal using APT • - developed and maintained by the Astronomical Planning & Support Branch in OED

5. APT Visit Planner - scheduling constraints PI Constraint CVZ opportunities 56 day intervals due to orbital precession

6. Proposal Submission Activity The “gold rush”

7. Phase I Proposal Contents • Abstract • Scientific justification • Target list • Instrument configurations • Orbit request (primary and parallel) • Approximate scheduling constraints CONFIDENTIAL

8. Phase I Proposalpdf file Science Policies Division maintains database of all Phase 1s

9. STIS failed ACS, NIC cryocooler NIC, STIS, WFPC2

10. Peer Review Cycle 17 Telescope Allocation Committee (TAC) • Meets on-site in mid-May • 12 Panels, each with 10-12 astronomers • Panels meet first, then TAC (panel chairs & a few at-large members) • Awards orbits (typically just approves orbit request) GOALS: objectivity, programs of broad interest, balance small, med, large programs

11. Director’s Review • TAC presents recommendations to Director • Technical reviews performed for special cases • Those with scheduling concerns: • resource-intensive ToOs, Moving Targets, Large and Treasury • Outsourced Calibration programs internal review • Large archival demands • Director consults other STScI staff • Approves cycle with any noted modifications (comments to PI and internal database for later review) • Successful proposers are notified On to PhaseII !

12. The “Odds”

13. Special Cases • Guaranteed Time Observer (GTO). Phase II only. • SNAPs. Improve telescope observing efficiency. • Pure Parallel • Joint Chandra/NRAO/Spitzer etc. (GO) • Pre-defined # orbits awarded for HST by TACs of these other telescopes • Multi-Cycle GO • Outsourced CAL GO • Targets of Opportunity (ToO) GO or GTO • Director’s Discretionary (DD) programs submitted at any time; special review process. Time critical. Recommendations made to TAC

14. Phase IIProposal Processing

15. Proposal Processing • Principle Investigator (PI) submits Phase II proposal using APT. • within 6 weeks of notification of acceptance. Deadline is early July. • Programs contain detailed information in exposures and visits. • Program Coordinator (PC)inObservation Planning Branch loads Phase II into Proposal Library (PLIB) and begins preliminary ground system processing. • Program Verification performedby PC: • has TAC approved orbit allocation • hassame targets and instrument configurations as were approved by TAC • must conform to any TAC-mandated changes • must not duplicate other observations. • Minor differences (target changes or filter changes) are resolved by an Instrument Scientist. • Major differences (# orbits, instrument usage, or duplications) must be reviewed by the Telescope Time Review Board (TTRB).

16. Patterns ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pattern_Number: 1 Primary_Pattern Secondary_Pattern Pattern_Type WFPC2-BOX Pattern_Purpose DITHER Number_Of_Points 4 Point_Spacing 0.559017 Line_Spacing 0.559017 Coordinate_Frame POS-TARG Pattern_Orient 26.56505 Angle_Between_Sides 143.130102 Center_Pattern NO ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit: 05 Visit Priority: <none> Visit Requirements: SAME ORIENT AS 04 On Hold Comments: <none> Additional Comments: <none> Exposures -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Exp | Target | Instr | Oper. | Aper | Spectral | Central | Optional | Num | Time | Special Num | Name | Config | Mode | or FOV | Element | Waveln.| Parameters | Exp | | Requirements --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 NGC-5053-N WFPC2 IMAGE WFALL F814W ATD-GAIN=15,CR-SPLIT=NO 1 1100 S PATTERN 1 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 NGC-5053-N WFPC2 IMAGE WFALL F814W ATD-GAIN=15,CR-SPLIT=NO 1 1100 S PATTERN 1 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub Exposures ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Target | Exp | Instr | Oper. | Aper | Spectral | Primary | Secondary | Iteration |CR-SPLIT |Orbit |Duration Name | Num | Config | Mode | or FOV | Element | Pattern Pos | Pattern Pos | Num |Num |Num | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NGC-5053-N 1 WFPC2 IMAGE WFALL F814W 1 none none none 1 N/A NGC-5053-N 1 WFPC2 IMAGE WFALL F814W 2 none none none 1 N/A NGC-5053-N 1 WFPC2 IMAGE WFALL F814W 3 none none none 2 N/A NGC-5053-N 1 WFPC2 IMAGE WFALL F814W 4 none none none 2 N/A NGC-5053-N 2 WFPC2 IMAGE WFALL F814W 1 none none none 3 N/A NGC-5053-N 2 WFPC2 IMAGE WFALL F814W 2 none none none 3 N/A NGC-5053-N 2 WFPC2 IMAGE WFALL F814W 3 none none none 4 N/A NGC-5053-N 2 WFPC2 IMAGE WFALL F814W 4 none none none 4 N/A Phase II Proposal formatted listing Dither Box Visit Level Special Requirement Available from program info web page Individual Exposures

17. PDF of Phase 2 Program Info Web page

18. PDF of Phase 2

19. APT PLIB ASSIST POPS CASM TRANS SPIKE MOSS PMDB SPSS CMD SCS PASS Proposal Implementation Program Coordinators Long Range Planning Group Short Term Scheduling Branch Phase 2 Reviews Pure Parallels Visits & targets SPIKE links Moving targets Proposal Mgmt DB GSs added SPSS SPSS CMD SCS Process flow PASS Data flow

20. Planning & Scheduling Steps - Making Sense of Alphabet Soup • PLIB and APT: store the proposal (every version!) and check for syntax errors, illegal instrument configurations; create input files for TRANS. • Transformation (TRANS): converts proposal into database insertion files containing visit structure information (# orbits, visit #, exposure times, instrument and filters used, targets observed). • Proposal Management Database (PMDB): observation information used by schedulers in Science & Mission Scheduling Branch (SMSB). • ASSIST Database: proposal processing and status tracking for INS & PCs. • New Guide Star System (NGSS): guide star searches and bright object alerts. (PI has performed bright object check with APT/Aladin). • SPIKE: evaluates scheduling constraints of individual programs. • Science Planning and Scheduling System (SPSS): combines proposal information, guide star information, spacecraft constraints, and instrument management for onboard execution. Produces a test calendar.

21. PC Toolbox

22. More Processing Steps • Confirmation Charts: for target coordinate confirmation; made by PC. • Moving Object Selection System (MOSS): for Solar System targets only. • calculates viewing constraints and orbital information of target so SPSS can determine tracking parameters. • *NEW* Parallel Observation Processing System(POPS): finds pure parallel opportunities from COS primary proposals. Pure Parallel program PI’s will use this system in APT when constructing Phase II program. Will be done after ingest of normal GO programs. • INS reviewers are assigned by expertise to all GO, GTO & SNAP proposals, some get ContactScientist (CS)e.g. Large and Treasury • GOALS: safe, feasible, science is optimized • Plan windows produced by Long Range Plan (LRP): needed for planning analysis. Windows are no longer than 2 month intervals. • Galley proof created by PC and approved by PI.

23. Field of View GS STIS PC examines FOV for sanity check WFPC2 ACS NIC observation

24. Spike report Preferences Planned Observation Constraints

25. Possible Problems… • No guide stars: PI must change constraints (ORIENT, BETWEEN) or choose a new target. (Guide stars are more restricted under 2-gyro ops.) • Scheduling conflict with another proposal(s): adjust scheduling requirements on all or one proposal to best retain scientific goals. • Infeasible orbit structure: need too many consecutive orbits in a visit, or too many CVZ orbits in a cycle. One visit may have to be broken into 2 or more visits. CVZ orbits may have to execute in non-CVZ time. • Changes in instrument performance: follow advice of INS. • Bright object concerns: change target or filters, add ORIENT (to avoid bright field objects)

26. Iterations with PI Proposals are re-submitted and re-worked throughout the cycle for many reasons, in consultation with PC and CS: Changes to observations to improve science (coordinates, exposure times, filters, timing links). Changes in instrument behavior require observation adjustments. Changes in our understanding of instrument behavior or calibration. Scheduling Issues: Conflicts in LRP require adjusting scheduling constraints. Changes in HST ephemeris affect scheduling constraints. ToO activations may disrupt other GO programs, especially those with timing constraints or links. When all problems resolved - program is made Flight Ready

27. INS Reviews Weekly Status Reports CS Toolbox

28. Observation Failures - File a HOPR! • Guide staracquisition failures • Targetacquisition failures (coronagraphy) • Telescope or instrument safing • error in target coordinates or exposure time calculation (PI error) • Implementation errors (our fault!) Causes of re-scheduling: • ToO activation • Servicing mission (SMOV) observations • Telescope or instrument safing

29. HST Long Range Planning

30. APT PLIB ASSIST POPS CASM TRANS SPIKE MOSS PMDB SPSS CMD SCS PASS Proposal Implementation Program Coordinators Long Range Planning Group Short Term Scheduling Branch LRP SPIKE Weekly SMSs SPSS SPSS CMD SCS Engineering & Data Mgmt Process flow PASS Mission Schedule & Command Loads Data flow

31. The Challenges of Planning HST Observations • Create a balanced, efficient, feasible Long Range Plan (LRP) for HST (Science Mission Scheduling Branch, (SMSB)). • Keep the LRP as stable as possible • Allow for the “unplanned” • Manage Supply vs. Demand Cycle boundaries are not as clean as you might think! Only about 80% of visits are completed during the defined Cycle.

32. The New Cycle LRP Build • Begins after majority of Phase II programs are processed through guide stars (NGSS) by PCs - usually a week or two after proposal deadline. • LRP covers about 18 months of observations • SPIKE software used to add visits on top of the current operational LRP. Assigns plan windows. • Attempt to assign visits in order from most to least tightly constrained. • Attempt to distribute visits across planning interval (for efficiency, and conflict resolution). • Allow room for visits that are not ready at the time of the build (calibrations, HOPRs, DDs, ToOs) • ~2 orbits per day (out of 72 schedulable orbits per week). • Plan windows of different observations overlap.

33. SAA Impacted Orbits Earth rotates under HST ~15 orbits a day; only 5-6 SAA-free

34. The Battle for SAA Free Orbits • Demand for SAA-free orbits is higher than the number available • E.g. Many NICMOS programs request SAA-free • signal to noise • All visits schedule well in SAA-free, but not SAA-impacted orbits, so efficiency increases when more SAA-impacted orbits can be used.

35. Beloved SAA-hiders • An SAA-hider is a visit that can schedule in its estimated number of orbits entirely or partially during the SAA-impacted orbits of the day. • The target is occulted by Earth at the same time the telescope is passing through the SAA. • SAA-passages are “hidden” by occultation so full target visibility window is available for scientific use. • The more SAA-hiders we have: more efficient LRP! • Limited resource due to the structure of available visits.

36. LRP Resource Plot Cycle 16 ends North Point towards Sun Total Orbits Fewer SAA hiders

37. Daily and Weekly Monitoring -A Juggling Act Ever-changing supply of observations: • Calendars (SMSs, built with SPSS) are built weekly • Unschedulables suddenly schedule • DDs, ToOs are activated • HOPRs are filed and approved • Cal observations come in • Telescope performance changes • safings, better instrument calibrations • PIs make changes • Software updates are made

38. Daily and Weekly MonitoringForSmooth Operations • Maintain stability as much as possible at visit and overall plan level • Keep Plan Windows current and available to PI and PC for timely processing • Provide schedulers with appropriate list of available candidates to build efficient calendars quickly • Anticipate over- or under-subscribed regions in advance and try to resolve before a problem arises

39. Spacecraft Efficiency

40. HST Science and Mission Scheduling Operations

41. Scheduling Operations Timeline • Reserve attitude independent TDRSS contacts • Update TDRSS schedule based on actual spacecraft attitude • Update TDRSS schedule for rejected contacts/services Fri t-17 Mon t-14 Thu t-11 Mont-7 Wed t-5 Mon t-0 Sat/ Sun Sat/ Sun • gather visits from LRP/other sources • Science • Calibration • Engineering • build calendar • select guide stars • generate SMS Verify LRP • CMD signoff • MS/CL product distribution to Flight Operations • populate data processing • support DB • Process ephemerides • Generate MS/CL Process ephemerides SMS start

42. t-11: calendar building (STSB) • Gather visit information from LRP. Thursday am. • Summarize/review scheduling issues. • Assign scheduling priorities. • Look for linked visits. • Analyze individual visit scheduling opportunities. • Begin calendar build (layered approach): • MUSTs (highly constrained) • SHOULDs • CANs (as many as you can) • Supersnaps (regular GO with no constraints, plan windows in future) • SNAPs

43. t-7: PASS products PASS = POCC Applications Support System POCC = Payload Operations Control Center Mission Schedule (MS) • After final ephemeris, TDRSS schedule built… • expands Science Mission Schedule (SMS) statements and adds: • Solid-State Recorder (SSR) management • communication management: antenna and transponder usage • FHST, guide star acquisition details • Command Loads (CL) • binary executables • separate command load (CL) files for NSSC (instrument) and 486 (spacecraft) computers • CL files are packaged into “loads” for up-link to HST • NSSC every 12 hours • 486 once per day

44. t-5: product distribution • Distribute products to HST Flight Operations (Wed): • HST engineers review and approve loads before uplink • Flight Ops Team (Goddard): • Uplinks command loads • Monitor executing activities • Command Solid State Recorder playback/downlinks No More Changes!

45. t-0: execution of SMS • Database population of observation records for ground system data processing (Data Processing & Archive Services branch (DPAS)) • OPUS converts telemetry stream to usable FITS data files. Includes pipeline processing of data, and archiving of data. • Data retrieved by PI using MAST

46. Executing Timeline interruption • SI/Spacecraft Anomaly Recovery: Health and Safety SMS’s SI/Science recovery SMS’s • Targets of Opportunity Can intercept executing timeline at CL boundaries • Turnaround time constrained by 2 NSSC CL loads/day • in principle: 24-hour turnaround! • in practice: quickest accomplished is ~36 hours