CXC Manager’s Status Report For the period Oct 05 – Mar 06

CXC Manager’s Status ReportFor the period Oct 05 – Mar 06 Chandra Users’ Committee Meeting Roger Brissenden 5 April 2006

Topics • Program Level Status • Program Management • Spacecraft • Mission Planning • Science Instruments and Calibration • OCC • Data Processing • CXCDS • CDO • Education and Outreach • Mission Metrics • Chandra Grant Awards CXC Status Report/CUC

Program Level Status • Program Management • Budget: NASA required a 5% reduction to the FY06 CXC budget in February and steps are being taken to accommodate this mid-year. Plans are not final, but steps will include some reduction to GO funds (aim is to minimize this), freezing open/future-attrition positions and moving staff as needed to fill required functions, and modifying phasing of funds to subcontractors. Further reductions in FY07 would impact CXC functions. • Staffing: The Flight team has undergone a series of staff changes beginning with the retirement of the FOT manager, Leon McKendrick and the promotion of Dan Shropshire to the position. New Ground Team and Facilities Team leads are also being appointed through internal hiring. We are confident in the new FOT and OCC team organization and staffing. • Facilities: The CXC Data System group moved (Dec 05) from offices in Harvard Square to new leased space at Cambridge Discovery Park, about 1.5 miles northwest of 60 Garden Street, that also houses other SAO units. The move was accomplished smoothly, with no disruption to operations. CXC Status Report/CUC

CXC Organization CXC Status Report/CUC

Flight Operations Team Staff Changes Christine Harbison (Operations Manager, Flight Software) left the program Craig Mahon assumed Acting Operations Manager duties in January 2006 Eric Page assumed Flight Software responsibilities in January 2006 Rich Myers assumed SMF management duties in January 2006 Brad Bissell completed transition from MP to Eng Sabina Bucher transitioning to become MP Manager Ken Gage transitioning to become Propulsion / PCAD engineer CXC Status Report/CUC

Program Level Status • Spacecraft • Continues to operate extremely well overall • Nominal passage through winter 2006 eclipses and lunar eclipse on 11/1/05 • Patched Flight Software to raise EPHIN E1300 channel high-radiation threshold • Patched On-Board Computer to eliminate SIM move to mid-point during SCS107, to reduce temperature spikes on translation motor • Completed final build and reviews of recompiled Flight Software; preparing to enter test phase • ACA dark current calibrations 11/12/05, 3/5/06 CXC Status Report/CUC

Program Level Status • Spacecraft (con’t): Anomalies • On 1/12/06, a command overlap condition was identified between the JAN1106A mission loads and the autonomous eclipse exit commanding (SCS 33) that resulted in the Sun Position Monitor being enabled outside the Fine Sun Sensor’s field of view (unexpected state). We disabled the monitor via the appropriate ground commands. Additional Mission Planning Guidelines and load review tool updates are in work to prevent future occurrences. • A brief amount of anomalous telemetry was seen (15 Dec) in the secondary engineering portion of the HRC telemetry stream. The anomalous data had no operational impact, and no corruption of the x-ray event data was observed. The event is under investigation. • Mission Planning • SCS107 ran once (21 Mar) due to high radiation event, requiring replan • 5 load interrupt TOOs: Date Target Days 10/25/05 GRB051022 1 12/22/05 GRB051221 1 01/04/06 GRB051221 (followup) 8 01/11/06 GRB060108 3 03/29/06 SGR 1900+14 3 CXC Status Report/CUC

Program Level Status • EPHIN • Spacecraft temperatures have increased due to degradation of the metalized Mylar insulation • Keeping the EPHIN (Electron Proton Helium Instrument) particle detector cool caused substantial constraints on spacecraft attitudes, restricted observation durations and made mission planning very difficult. • Investigation showed that EPHIN can operate at up to 120F without damage. The Flight Director Board authorized increasing the allowed EPHIN temperature from 96F to 110F, and the trigger threshold of one of the electron detection channels (E1300) by a factor of two. • E1300 threshold increase will decrease false SCS107 triggers due to puffed-up radiation belts • Temperature increase will increase number of 27-volt power supply dropouts, but this is considered not harmful, and is acceptable to the engineering team and the EPHIN principal investigator • These changes have resulted in more flexible mission planning CXC Status Report/CUC

Program Level Status • Science Instruments • Instruments are operating extremely well • The HRC Engineering (‘proof of concept’) unit will be integrated with the spacecraft simulator (the Avionics and Software Validation Test set) to allow testing new or modified HRC on-orbit procedures directly with the simulator. • OCC • The OCC ground system was successfully migrated from Silicon Graphics to Linux-based computers 29 Nov. Operations continued seamlessly, with no disruption. • Telex/RTS was selected to replace the voice communications system; delivery expected May 06. CXC Status Report/CUC

Program Level Status • Data Processing • Automatic processing is current; median data delivery time 31.1 hours from end of observation to delivery to user • Complete data reprocessing (Repro 3) began 15 Feb; incorporates most recent algorithms and calibrations; 8 months of data (starting Jan 05) reprocessed to date • CXC Data System Major Releases Version Date Main contents DS 7.6.4 Nov05 Multi-obi V&V fix; obs completion policy CIAO 3.3 Nov05 Science tools & library upgrades; new tools; cycle 8 proposal tools DS 7.6.5 Dec05 Cycle 8 proposal s/w; charge time update DS 7.6.6 Jan06 Implement new observ policy in archive DS 7.6.7 Feb06 Repro 3 s/w; telem & aspect enhancements Also: 6 data system patches (Nov, Dec [2], Jan, Feb, Mar) – s/w fixes & updates CXC Status Report/CUC

Program Level Status • Calibration Database (CalDB) Releases 2 releases: v. 3.2.0 (21 Nov), v. 3.2.1 (15 Dec) incorporate updates in 10 calibration product areas • GO and Fellows Programs • Cycle 8 Call for Proposals was issued 16 Dec; proposal deadline was 15 March • 726 proposals were received; process went smoothly • 9th Chandra Fellows cycle: Record 88 applications received (accepted electronically, by 9 Nov); peer review 18 Jan, 5 Fellows selected (from Spain, U.S., Italy, Japan; to Rutgers, Inst. Adv. Study, CfA, Michigan, Penn State) • Education and Public Outreach • 13 press activities • 1 press conference & release at January AAS, with 6 images • 8 press releases, 5 image releases • 32 major print articles, incl. 2 in USA Today; 269 major web articles; 2 items on broadcast news (NRP, Voice of America) CXC Status Report/CUC

CXC Manager’s Status Report For the period Oct 05 – Mar 06