1. Chandra Users’ Committee CXC Manager’s Status Report For the period May 2010 – October 2010 Roger Brissenden CXC Manager 25 October 2010

2. CXC 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

3. 25 October 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 3 Top Level Summary Spacecraft and instruments are performing superbly NASA Senior Review selected Chandra proposal second of 11 operating missions with a score of 9.5 out of 10 “After a decade in operation, Chandra remains an immensely powerful observatory in its prime, and it is well managed.” “The SRC recommends that Chandra be extended with an augmentation with respect to the FY2011 President’s budget and at the in-guide level for FY2012 and beyond. A planned tool for subpixel resolution in standard pipeline processing, user analysis tools, and full archive reprocessing planned for FY2012 should be completed. The SRC recommends restoration of funds sufficient for that purpose in FY2011, recognizing that the recommended level falls short of the in-guide numbers.”

4. 25 October 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 4 Program Level Status – CXC Organization

5. 25 October 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 5 Program Level Status – Program Management Budget –The CXC’s budget is on track with the FY10 Operating Plan –Funded through December 31 CXC contract –Extension provides for a base extension to 9/30/13 with two three-year options to 9/30/16 and 9/30/19 –Period of performance has been modified to allow administration of grants beyond the end of operations NASA Senior Review –Submitted proposal 2/9/10, presentation 4/6/10 –Chandra rated 9.5/10, second of 11 missions –Education and Public Outreach proposal requested for submission 1/24/11

6. 25 October 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 6 Program Level Status – Program Management Reviews and Conferences –Peer Review of Chandra proposals, 21-25 June –Workshop on Accretion Processes in X-rays: From White Dwarfs to Quasars, 13-15 July –Einstein Fellows Symposium, 10 October Awards –Harvey Tananbaum was awarded the 2010 Massey Award for his career accomplishments in high-energy astrophysics

7. 25 October 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 7 Program Level Status – Operations Spacecraft –Continues to operate extremely well overall –Nominal passages through summer eclipse season –We are modifying flight software and ground systems to allow selected spacecraft operations to continue during heightened solar activity while safing science instruments.  Operations include eclipse handling, momentum unloading and maneuvers to ensure planned thermal profile. Increases spacecraft safety margins.  In many cases it will speed up the return to observing following periods of solar activity. Science Instruments –Instruments are operating extremely well Operations Control Center –NASA approved renewal of Authority to Operate the operations ground system 7/23

8. 25 October 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 8 VersionDateMain contents DS 8.2.2May 4Web Reports/TOO Manager DS 8.3Jun 29Pipeline Intrument tools upgrade - full rebuild DS 8.3.1Jul 15Web service patch -- Web only DS 8.3.2Jul 27V&V Error response DS 8.3.2.1Sep 14SDP Error Response patch DS 8.3.3~Oct 27Instrument tool/archive OTS upgrade CIAO 2.1Jul 19Sherpa CIAO patch Program Level Status – Operations Mission Planning: Load-interrupting TOOs –3 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

9. 25 October 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 9 Program Level Status – Operations Chandra Source Catalog releases Calibration Database (CalDB) Releases Contents include two ACIS T_GAIN upgrades, HRC-I BKGRND and background spectra files, and one HRC-I SAMP gain upgrade. –CalDB 4.3.006/11/10 –CalDB 4.3.109/22/10 GO and Fellows Program, CXC Director’s Office –Einstein Fellows Symposium held 19-20 Oct –Cycle 11 grant issuance is current; average time to award < 3 weeks –Developing process to fast-track grants for observations made before official start of observing cycle VersionDateMain contents CAT 3.2.5Aug 10CSCview v1.1 CSC Rel 1.1Aug 10CSC Release 1.1 CAT 3.2.6~Nov 8Crossmatch release

10. 25 October 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 10 Program Level Status – Operations Education and Public Outreach –6 press releases and 8 image releases since last meeting –Working on a televised NASA Science Update for November –Started two new blog series: Women in the High Energy Universe and Chandra Going Toward Solar Maximum –Chandra blogs are being featured by on-line Christian Science Monitor –Created tutorials on public web site to make Chandra archive data more readily usable by the general public (“citizen scientists”) –Participated in USA Science & Engineering Fair on the Mall in DC (Oct. 23-24) –Article on From Earth to the Universe in Spark, the AAS education newsletter

11. 25 October 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 11 Mission Metrics MUPS Fuel Usage

12. 25 October 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 12 Mission Metrics Thruster Warm Starts

13. 25 October 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 13 Mission Metrics Observing Efficiency Observing efficiency had been limited to ~65-70% by radiation belt passages. Available observing time is increasing gradually as Chandra’s evolving orbit reduces time in the belts.

14. 25 October 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 14 Data Delivery Effectiveness

15. 25 October 2010CXC Status Report/CUCPage 15 Grant Award Effectiveness

16. Chandra State of Health Overview Overall health of the Chandra vehicle remains outstanding All subsystems operating on their primary side equipment with only two exceptions –Inertial Reference Units (IRUs) and the Mechanism Controller Electronics (MCEs) –In both cases, the units were swapped to their redundant side for operational considerations and not due to unit failures To date, Chandra has experienced few operationally impacting anomalies; all have been either fully resolved or are being effectively mitigated –Thermal issues have been challenging, but they are well characterized and manageable while maintaining a full and efficient observing program –IEPHIN performance issues being mitigated through use of High Resolution Camera data as alternative source of radiation data for autonomous safing Subsystem performance and operating environment assessed on daily, weekly, monthly, and biannual bases to quickly identify and respond to adverse trends The flight team has spent considerable efforts investigating and preparing for possible future mission impacting events, including development of products for quick response Routine maintenance activities continue to ensure desired performance levels Effects of orbit evolution well understood and being addressed 16

17. Chandra Major Subsystem State of Health 17 Color Key: blue – no known issues green – minor issue but meeting all requirements yellow – moderate issue that minimally affects performance red – major issue affecting performance Overall vehicle health remains excellent

18. Subsystem Lifetime Issues Analyses associated with extending vehicle life include periodic life limiting factors studies which analyze all mission consumables and life-limited items Static hardware items: Dynamic hardware items: 18

19. Of primary interest are fuel remaining and budgeted allocations for items such as thruster warm starts and mechanism moves Consumables Status Consumables are in good shape! 19 TSC Lifetime Translation Steps

20. All three batteries healthy, solar array capability remains above the pre-launch predicted worse case estimates Power Status Plenty of power for the extended mission! 20 DAILY AVERAGE LOAD BUS POWER DRAW

21. State of Health Summary Overall, Chandra vehicle health remains excellent Although minor issues have surfaced, the operations team has ensured that these issues are non-impacting and do not threaten an extended Chandra mission Continued diligence being applied to trending, monitoring, managing thermal challenges, and preparing for anomalies At this time there are no known limitations due to degradation, consumables, aging, or obsolescence that would prevent our meeting Level 1 requirements over the course of a 20-year mission 21