Instrument Operations for TIMED, Cluster, & Stereo

1. Instrument Operations for TIMED, Cluster, & Stereo C. P. Holmes Sun-Earth Connection MO&DA Program NASA Hq

2. TIMED • Launched Dec 2001 • Operated at Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Lab. • Downlink at JHU/APL and USN (Fairbanks) • Four Instruments • SABRE - Hampton University (PI) and Langley Research Center • GUVI - Aerospace Corp (PI) and JHU/APL • SEE - U. of Colorado • TIDI - NCAR (PI) and U. of Michigan • Instrument payload operations centers organize commands and forward to JHU/APL for uplink • The TIMED science center forwards level-0 processed data to instrument sites and hosts distribution of higher level products. • Intimate coordination of spacecraft/instrument operations during calibration maneuvers and other special operations

3. Cluster • Four spacecraft launched in August 2000 • Operated by ESA at ESOC [Darmstadt] • Downlink via ESOC network: Vilspa, Maspalomas, Redu plus the DSN • Eleven instrument PIs and instrument centers distributed throughout Europe and USA • Payload operations coordinated at Rutherford Laboratories • Gathers commands from instruments operations centers • Organizes and forwards to ESOC for uplink • Organizes the level-zero data for distribution to instrument centers • Data distributed through several ‘mirror’ sites in Europe and USA(GSFC) • The Science Operations Working Team coordinate special maneuvers and other operations. • Periodic meetings - typically semiannually • Monitors daily spacecraft and instrument operations

4. STEREO • To be launched late 2005 • 2 spacecraft in heliocentric orbits • Downlink via the DSN • Mission operations at JHU/APL • Four instrument suites: • Instrument operations and processing from NRL, UNH, UCB, and GSFC • Science data distribution via the Stereo Science Center at GSFC and the Solar Virtual Observatory

5. STEREO’s Mission Operations • STEREO’s mission operations approach reduces costs while enhancing science return by using two autonomously designed spacecraft, and by separating spacecraft and instrument operations. • Each of the twin observatories can carry out many functions on its own, including sensing its position, orientation and orbit, and react accordingly. Since autonomous spacecraft are easier to operate, the spacecraft and instruments can be controlled from separate locations. • Worldwide experts over a wide range of specialties are teaming to carry out the STEREO mission. Each of the four instrument principal investigators, or PIs, will have direct control of their instruments and experiments from Payload Operations Centers situated at four locations worldwide. • The Payload Operations Centers will forward commands daily to the STEREO Mission Operations Center located at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, in Laurel, Md. Here, instructions for the instruments and spacecraft will be combined and uplinked to each of the observatories once daily using NASA’s Deep Space Network. The APL-based Mission Operations Center will also oversee downlinking data from both observatories, forwarding it electronically to the STEREO Science Center at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., and to each of the Payload Operations Centers. From http://stereo.jhuapl.edu

6. The Virtual Solar Observatory • Beginning prototype development • Organized by the solar data services • SDAC • NSO • Stanford • Montana State Univ • Small box approach but ‘extensible’ • See the Design Proposal and other info at http://virtualsolar.org