Chandra Users’ Committee CXC Manager’s Status Report For the period October 2009 – April 2010 Roger Brissenden CXC Manager 27 April 2009

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 2 Topics Program Level Status –Program Management –Spacecraft –Science Instruments and Calibration –Mission Planning –OCC –Data Processing –CXCDS –Chandra Director’s Office –Education and Public Outreach Mission Metrics Chandra Grant Awards

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 3 Top Level Summary Spacecraft and instruments are performing superbly The CXC contract extension for up to 10 additional years was signed in December Proposal to NASA Senior Review was submitted in February; presentation to NASA HQ was made in April

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 4 Program Level Status – CXC Organization

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 5 Program Level Status – Program Management Budget –The CXC’s budget is on track with the FY10 Operating Plan CXC contract extension –Contract signed 12/31/09 –Extension provides for a base extension to 9/30/13 with two three-year options to 9/30/16 and 9/30/19 –Funding level will allow continuation of science and operations but with reduced staffing. Implications for the level of community support will be discussed in future meetings. NASA Senior Review –Submitted proposal 2/9/10 –Presentation to Senior Review panel 4/6/10 –Panel’s recommendations expected 4/23/10 FY12 Operating Plan (PPBE12) –Presented budget to NASA HQ 4/19/10 –Guidelines call for $3M decrease in FY11 over previous budget

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 6 Program Level Status – Program Management Reviews and Conferences –Einstein Fellows Symposium (10/27/09) –CIAO Workshop (2/1/10) –CXC Quarterly Review (3/9/10) –Future Professional Communication in Astronomy II Colloquium and Summit of Information Providers in Astronomy, Astrophysics and High Energy Physics (4/13/10)

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 7 Program Level Status – Operations Spacecraft –Continues to operate extremely well overall –Nominal passages through winter eclipse season Science Instruments –Instruments are operating extremely well –ACIS had an unexpected Back End Processor reboot on 1/25/10. An apparent power transient to the BEP caused the reboot and erased patches in memory. Procedures executed to reload the patches and reboot the BEP. ACIS returned to normal operation. Operations Control Center –Ground Ops Team schedule changed to two 10.5-hr shifts per day 1/2/10; now matches Flight Operations Team –Working on renewal of Authority to Operate for operations ground system; aim for HQ approval 7/10; deadline 9/10

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 8 Program Level Status – Operations Mission Planning: Load-interrupting TOOs –Six load-interrupting TOOs during this period Data Processing –Automatic processing is current; mean time from end of observation to delivery to user remains at about one day CXC Data System Releases VersionDateMain contents DS 8.109/16/09Partial linux migration for Ops DS /15/09Aspect pipeline efficiency fix DS 8.212/15/09Proposal Planning support for CfP12 CIAO 4.212/15/09Annual Data Analysis release DS /08/10V&V Bugfix Sol-1002/23/10Tested & verified system against latest OS version; no software change; Solaris10 upgrade in DS Ops

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 9 Program Level Status – Operations Chandra Source Catalog releases VersionDateMain contents CSC Sky 1.010/17/09Added color-coded FOVs for all Chandra Observations to Google Earth interface Xmatch 1.010/29/09CSC-SDSS Cross-match Interface release CAT /4/09HRC science feedback updates LimSens 1.012/9/09CSC Limiting Sensitivity Service release; web interface to access limsens maps CAT /18/09ACIS data migration updates CSC Sky 1.112/21/09Added catalog source markers and pop-up data balloons CAT /28/10New algorithm for HRC pos error-ellipse CAT /24/10HRC point & compact source processing

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 10 Program Level Status – Operations Calibration Database (CalDB) Releases 16 individual calibration products plus three CalDB releases: –CalDB /14/09 –CalDB /10/10 –CalDB /19/10 GO and Fellows Program, CXC Director’s Office –2010 Einstein competition opened 8/09; record number of applications (162) received for 10 fellowships –Selection committee, with expertise covering the whole Physics of the Cosmos program, chose top candidates 1/14/10 –10 candidates had accepted fellowships by February –First Einstein Fellows Symposium held Oct 27-28, 2009 –Grant issuance is current; average time to award < 3 weeks

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 11 Program Level Status – Operations Education and Public Outreach –11 press releases and 19 image releases since last meeting –Chandra EPO won the IAU International Year of Astronomy 2009 prize for Excellence in Astronomy Education and Public Outreach for the “From Earth to the Universe” exhibit project. The FETTU project was NASA’s sole nominee for the prize and bested 29 other entries from 20 counties and 9 transnational organizations. –The Webby Awards named Chandra’s “Hot Universe: Exploring the X- ray Universe” an Official Honoree for the Online Film & Video/Technology category in The 14th Annual awards. –Awarded Smithsonian Scholarly Studies grant to continue Aesthetics and Astronomy study to determine how the public perceives astronomical images and how best to present them to the public

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 12 Mission Metrics MUPS Fuel Usage

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 13 Mission Metrics Thruster Warm Starts

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 14 Mission Metrics Observing Efficiency

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 15 Data Delivery Effectiveness Variety of difficulties in recent months have increased mean data delivery time slightly. These have been resolved and delivery time is back to usual ~1 day

27 April 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 16 Grant Award Effectiveness