Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Users Group Meeting - December 2013 Mission Status Update

1. Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Users Group Meeting December, 2013 Mission Status Update J. McEnery

2. Some goals for this meeting • Comments and feedback from the users group on: • Observation strategy • How to handle PSR B1259 and Eta Car periastron passages • GI program • Possible addition of INTEGRAL to the GI program • Senior review (covered yesterday) • Of course, comments on suggestions on any aspect of the mission are welcomed!

3. Observations: Almost exclusively in nominal data taking in survey mode Nadir observations (for TGF observations) Four target of opportunity observations Crab Sun GRB 131108A Nova Cen SSR fill issues in August Temporarily throttled GBM data, reworking operations procedures to prevent this in future. Safehold trip on October 22 due to exceeding limit on total ang.mom. A false alarm - no actual spacecraft problem. Adjusted limit setting to prevent this from happening again. OIG audit of operating missions INTEGRAL have approached us to explore possibility of joint program Status Highlights

4. Flight Operations Team and Sustaining Engineering activities • Update flight dynamics software • Model sunpoint and spin survey modes, so that data contacts can be scheduled in these modes • Improve modeling of yaw steering and antennae null regions • Model SSR fill rate predictions, page FOT if potential problem is identified • Revamp operations agreement to reflect post-launch changes in operations (especially ToO, non-standard survey and pointed observations) • Engineering studies of modified observing strategy

5. Galactic Center observing strategy survey • A galactic center observation that is also an all-sky survey • Implemented by interleaving slices of inertial point and survey mode observations • Retains all-sky coverage every two orbits (but less evenly than before) • Started on Dec 5, but interrupted by TOO request for Nova Cen, restarted on Tuesday Option 4 Two orbits

6. A minor wrinkle • PSR B1259 reaches periastron in April/May 2014 • Eta Car reaches periastron in summer 2014 • Both are in a region of the sky disfavored by the new strategy, but timing of cycle 7 GI program is too late to allow observing proposals for these events. • Consider transition back to regular survey mode, or modified modes favoring those regions?

7. High Level Data Releases • P7 Reprocessed data (including updated diffuse model) • LAT GRB summary table • http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/observations/types/grbs/lat_grbs/ • Additional catalogs posted to FSSC site – 2nd pulsar catalog, >10 GeV catalog • In the works (within a month or two) • GBM localization contours for GRB

8. LAT GRB Table

9. Multiwavelength 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, Feb 2014 • Planned to be an analysis workshop • Goal to optimize how we work together • Joint analysis techniques • Share operations experience etc

10. Public Outreach • iPad App development continues • Press releases • GRB130427A (science release) • Fermi’s 5 year anniversary • Upcoming press releases • Black widow feature • Grav. lensed blazar observations

11. Questions?

12. backup