Polar Project Status October, 2002

1. Polar Project Status October, 2002

2. State of the Spacecraft • The Polar spacecraft and instruments are healthy. Only the plasma wave instrument and the MICS sensor portion of CAMMICE have suffered major faults; PWI now operates only during eclipse. • Polar has initiated semi-annual attitude maneuvers to extend orbit normal operations for auroral imaging and optimize fuel usage. • At ecliptic normal, despun platform control and auroral viewing is limited to an ~4.5 hour segment of each 17 hour orbit. March 18, 2002 – half flip to ecliptic normal Fall 2002 – half flip to orbit normal Spring 2003 – full flip to orbit normal for southern winter auroral viewing Fall 2003 – half flip to ecliptic normal (permanent) CAMMICE, CEPPAD, EFI, HYDRA, MFE, PIXIE, PWI, SEPS,TIDE, TIMAS, UVI, VIS PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 2

3. Status of the Science • Polar completed a prolonged observation campaign through the dayside equatorial magnetopause region with unprecedented high-temporal and spatial resolution. Now conducting a similar campaign across the nightside equatorial magnetosphere. • Polar, IMAGE, Cluster, Wind and Geotail will hold a collaborative workshop on the dayside magnetopause and cusp at Yosemite in Feb. 2003. • Polar’s auroral science progressed to studies of the conjugate aurora. Some initial findings: • Onset brightening first seen in southern hemisphere with northern hemisphere onset detected ~1 min. later • Expansive phase brighter in southern hemisphere but located ~45min earlier in local time in the north. • A JGR special section on "Causes of the Aurora" will appear soon. thermal plasma, accelerated by circularly polarized waves, is regularly seen in the dayside boundary layers More than ten "great" conjugate events have been captured including this substorm onset on 1 Nov 2001 PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 3

4. Mission Operation and Ground Data Processing: Then and Now <4.172$M 4.144$M Polar, Wind and Geotail mission operations and ground data processing combined ~7.625$M PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 4

5. Status of the Mission Operation and Ground Data Processing Re-engineering 9 re-engineering tasks were originally identified: Unattended spacecraft contacts for data playbacks Cross-training of flight operations personnel Re-hosting the CMS for security and obsolescence issues Re-hosting of NRT data service Automation and re-hosting of KP processing Simplifying online distribution of LZ and ancillary data Automation of CD production Re-hosting of the project web site Streamlining NRT to include LZ processing and QL FOT cost Reduction CHDF and SPOF cost reduction Future of Wind Completed, in “ring-out” phase In acceptance testing Started In planning phase, initial testing complete PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 5

6. Ground Data Processing:What was Lost? What was Gained? With respect to Polar, Wind and Geotail, all data services previously required from the ISTP/CDHF and ISTP/SPOF have been retained. • ISTP services no longer provided: • systematic collection of data products from associated missions • KP CD distribution (impact is to Russian and South American data repositories) • dedicated program assistance center • off-hours data processing or problem response • automated data pushing to clients • quality control services of the ISTP/CDHF • problem response and quality control services of the ISTP/SPOF • Services improved: • open ftp access to the full data set • HTR data produced in addition to KP, software easily updated • automated processing brings faster turn around of products PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 6

7. Who Gets the Credit: The Ground Data Processing Re-engineering team The success of the re-engineering effort is due to the cooperative efforts of several groups at GSFC who provided full- and part-time programming, system admin, design and management expertise. With specific tasks & consulting by: The core team: PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 7

8. Long Term Funding Profile • The PWG infrastructure held within CSOC has decreased dramatically over the past year. Some CSOC cost estimates for FY03 do not reflect this decrease. • Conducting future mission operations under the current contracting mechanism does not appear to be economically feasible under the current long term funding profile. PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 8

9. Contracting for Future Mission Services A six-month NOI to remove mission operations services from the CSOC contract was submitted. Arrangements for continued operations are being actively pursued. PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 9

10. Regarding Data Availability • ISTP required special event archiving, rather than the full data set, as has become common with recent missions. Data accessibility was the responsibility of the project. • Many Polar instrument teams have adjusted their data archiving and accessibility as is possible within their IT infrastructure and funding. • Continuous HTR data from PWI, TIMAS, and TIDE. CAMMICE and CEPPAD soon. • TIDE, PWI and MFE provide interactive data processing via the web. • Additional progress can be made over the next year: • HYDRA has HTR data software, needs to convert format to CDF. • UVI, VIS and PIXIE could archive continuous HTR rather than events. • MFE should update IT infrastructure and/or PWG project should produce MFE KP. • PWG project should create and host software library for access to LZ • PWG project could encourage and/or host additional interactive data processing. • Progress depends on: • MO&DA contract mechanism that allows appropriate control over PWG re-engineering. • Small augmentations to team funding for specific data processing/accessibility tasks. PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 10

11. Summary • The Polar spacecraft and instruments are healthy. • Science progress over the past two years has been particularly robust. Prospects for further breakthroughs with respect to substorm and reconnection physics appears very strong. • Science funding has been relatively stable. FY02 funding was, on average, 90% of FY01 levels. Funding profiles for FY03 are budgeted at FY02 levels. • The new mission operations and ground data processing systems are operating and serving the science community well. Several important re-engineering tasks remain to be completed by the end of December 02. • Conducting future mission operations under the current contracting mechanism does not appear to be economically feasible under the current long term funding profile. • A six-month notice, effective Sept. 30, for discontinuation of CSOC services was submitted. • Arranging for an alternate contracting mechanism for mission operations remains difficult. Several avenues are being pursued. • A plan to implement additional data accessibility improvements is under development. PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 11

12. Backup Slides

13. Summary: Then and Now Polar, Wind and Geotail mission operations and ground data processing combined 2.6$M ~7.625$M PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 13

14. Review of the ISTP Data System(an independent entity to serve the worldwide SEC community) In addition to • data processing and distribution services for GGS (Polar, Wind, Geotail) & IMP-8, • data distribution services for SOHO and Cluster, • operations and science coordination, ISTP served as a one-stop data source by • consolidating and distributing data for 15 additional spacecraft, observatories and T&M programs • providing extensive data and media integrity and quality services. PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 14

15. Initial Courses of Action • The ISTP project office was disbanded and reduction of past ISTP activities occurred during October and November of 2001. • ISTP ground system services immediately reduced were: • QuickLook data processing for special requests only, • key parameter CD distribution reduced from ~12,300 to 156 per year, • no key parameter re-processing, • no key parameter software updates, • no ground based or collaborative mission data processing or ingestion, • no dedicated program assistance center, • no system software updates excepting security patches, • no test or development environment, and • no off-hours data processing or problem response • services of the ISTP SPOF and Command Management System were consolidated with the MOC and the project scientist's office. Note: Items in blue have been restored within the new PWG data processing environment PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 15

16. Initial Courses of Action • Contacted instrument teams regarding requirements for various operations and data services. • Produced prioritized requirements document for Polar, Wind and Geotail. (available at http://tide.gsfc.nasa.gov/studies/POLAR/Polar_Ops_specs_25Jun02.pdf) • Conducted six feasibility studies for alternative approaches 1) the present ground system management under CSOC (2 studies) 2) SPDF at GSFC under the direction of Bob McGuire 3) LASP at U Colorado under the direction of Bill Peterson 4) UC Berkeley under the direction of Bob Lin 5) the NSSTC under the direction of Dennis Gallagher PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 16

17. Results of Feasibility Studies The following conclusions and actions resulted from the review of the studies: • More software and system re-engineering needed to be pursued than provided for by the CSOC/CDHF study and CSOC estimates for flight operations. • Eight re-engineering projects were identified to reduce the number of FTEs by three-quarters. • The re-engineering work should be performed under local control. • The UC Berkeley capabilities for hosting mission operations remain of interest. It was determined that a consolidation of all systems under the PWG Mission Operations Center (MOC) under an ID/IQ contract, as suggested by the SPDF study, offered the most cost effective solution with the least disruption to flight operations and the least risk to spacecraft health and safety. PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 17

18. Plan for Re-engineering PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 18

19. Re-engineering tasks with greatest short term payoff Unattended spacecraft contacts for data playbacks Cross-training of flight operations personnel Re-hosting the CMS for security and obsolescence issues Re-hosting of NRT data service Automation and re-hosting of KP processing Simplifying online distribution of LZ and ancillary data Automation of CD production Streamlining NRT to include LZ processing and QL Reduction of FOT Elimination of CHDF For the future of Wind PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 19

20. Cross-training of FOT Personnel Current After 1 flight ops lead Flight ops lead 6-7 console operators 4-5 console operators Ground System Engineer 2 CMS operators 1 DSN scheduler 2 spacecraft engineers Instrument Engineer DSN scheduler Spacecraft Engineers 1 ground system engineer 1 instrument engineer still to be implemented PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 20

21. Re-hosting the CMS for Security and Obsolescence Issues After Current Bldg. 2 Bldg. 3 spof7.gsfc.nasa.gov outside firewall, receives/relays commands & verifications spof1.gsfc.nasa.gov outside firewall, receives/relays commands & verifications TCP/IP Decnet “push”, identified as security risk FORMATS secure relay across firewall CMS inside firewall, verifies command sequences, etc., re-hosted on new PC CMS inside firewall, verifies command sequences, etc., on older VMS machine Bldg. 3 Bldg. 3 Notes: • Core CMS software remains the same. PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 21

22. Unattended Spacecraft Contacts for Data Playbacks Current Proposed 6-8 console operators, covering 24x7, typically 4 shifts of two operators, Wind: 1 contact/3 days, Polar: 4 contacts/day, All attended contacts 4 console operators, covering 16x5, Wind: 1 contact/3 days, Polar: 3-4 contacts/day, TBD number of unattended contacts Notes: • Fewer attended contacts/fewer “double” attended contacts may mean less convenient or delayed command scheduling. • Errors at DSN sites will mean result in several hours of data loss for Polar and several days of data loss for Wind. still to be implemented PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 22

23. New Science Data System Overview The following Polar, Wind and Geotail services provided by ISTP were retained: • Near Real Time (NRT) data, open line access • Quicklook (spacecraft playback) data, online access • Level Zero data processing, online and CD distribution • Geotail Sirius data processing, online access • Key Parameter data processing, online and limited CD distribution • Ancillary data processing, online access PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 23

24. Automation of KP Processing Before Now TAE GUI interfaces on VAX to shift of operators Automated file processing Custom software & Oracle on Dec Alpha control processing Consolidation to single machine with ready access to data Software library converted to collection of individual processes Frozen software library Extensive quality checking Limited quality checking Notes : • Routine quality checking of KP file production will reside with instrument teams. • New high time resolution and Key Parameter software routines can be readily added by the instrument teams to the software library. PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 24

25. Simplifying Online Data Distribution Before Now Notes: • Data access by open ftp • LZ data older than 2-3 months is gzip compressed • All data is public including NRT, QL, LZ, KP, ancillary PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 25

26. Automation of CD Production Before Now Notes: • DVDs for Polar_all, Wind_all and Geotail_all distribution • Quality control of CD product to be performed by receiver; limited replacements possible PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 26

27. Streamlining NRT Processing to Include LZ and QL Before After Bldg. 23 NRT for Wind & Polar rehosted to Dec Alpha Wind/Polar NRT on older microVaxs Wind/Polar NRT on older microVaxs Wind/Polar NRT on older microVaxs Wind/Polar NRT (on older microVaxs) LZ for Wind & Polar rehosted to Dec Alpha Bldg. 3 Bldg. 3 Wind/Geotail QL & LZ Geotail QL & LZ Polar QL & LZ Unix using LabView & Oracle Notes: • Software port process should be transparent to instrument teams. • File types and formats would remain identical.. • Routine quality checking of LZ data files will reside with instrument teams. • Reprocessing/replacement of LZ data may be limited to 1-2 months after receipt of files. • There will be some data loss. PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 27

28. Schedule for Remaining Re-engineering Activities streamlining NRT to include LZ and QL CD system burning in of new PWG data system transition to new CMS cross-training of flight operations personnel unattended spacecraft contacts for data playbacks Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr 2002 2003 PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 28

29. Concerns on the Project Side With Respect to Mission Operations: • Can we find a contractual environment for operations that is affordable and legal? • Can the re-engineered system collapse to an affordable Wind-only environment after Polar and Geotail end of missions. • What is the minimum data recovery percentage acceptable in light of fiscal constraints imposed on extended mission programs. PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 29

30. Mass and energy coverage of the Polar particle instrumentation packages Polar remains the best instrumented spacecraft in the magnetosphere. PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 30

31. Exploring the Sun-Earth System An alliance of solar, heliospheric and geospace missions for the coordinated study of Sun-Earth system dynamics. PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 31

32. Alliance Objectives The SEC Alliance of spacecraft will expand the scientific productivity of the individual missions by fostering joint scientific analyses of phenomena that originate at the sun, propagate through interplanetary space, and impact the Earth's magnetosphere and upper atmosphere. Targeted objectives include: • Understand the coronal causes of heliospheric disturbances • Determine the evolution of disturbances within the heliosphere • Understand the coupling of solar wind energy to geospace • Understand the coupling of energy from the magnetosphere into the atmosphere PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 32

33. Alliance Activities Sponsor analysis campaigns focused on specific science problems that bridge mission objectives. To date: • Energy transfer across the dayside magnetopause and through the cusp • Propagation of disturbances through interplanetary space Sponsor opportunities for collaboration: • Yosemite 2002: Magnetospheric imaging workshop • Geospace Workshop - Feb 2002 • Joint SOHO-ACE workshop - Mar 2002 • Spring AGU 2002: special sessions sponsored by Alliance members • Tentative Fall 2002: Interplanetary disturbance propagation workshop • Yosemite 2003: The cusp and dayside magnetopause Joint E/PO Activities • EOS Alliance article • Web home page • Aurora poster • Flyers/pamphlets on popular SEC science topics • Updating/re-issuing popular ISTP products PWG Project Status / 23 October 2002 Pg 33

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