Chandra Users’ Committee CXC Manager’s Status Report For the period October 2014 – September 2015 Edward Mattison CXC Deputy Manager 29 September 2015

CXC Status Report/CUCPage 2 Topics Program Management Mission Operations –Spacecraft –Science Instruments and Calibration –Mission Planning –Operations Control Center Science Operations –CXC Data Systems –Calibration –Data Processing Chandra Director’s Office –GO Program –Einstein Program Education and Public Outreach

CXC Status Report/CUCPage 3 Top Level Summary Spacecraft and instruments are performing superbly –There are no known spacecraft limitations due to degradation, aging or consumables that would prevent our meeting Level 1 requirements over the course of a 25-year mission NASA exercised final option in current CXC contract –Extended contract through September 2019 –NASA is working on a 10-year follow-on contract through 2029 Staff –Ralph Kraft appointed as PI of High Resolution Camera team –Patrick Slane appointed as Assistant Director for Science (continues as Mission Planning lead) –Paul Plucinsky appointed as lead of Operations Science Support team –Flight Directors: Greg Wright (MSFC) has qualified; Scott Wolk in training

CXC Status Report/CUCPage 4 Top Level Summary Response to 2014 Senior Review Committee Recommendations RecommendationResponse SR Develop major, focused scientific projects building upon recent scientific successes. Solicit community input for such key projects. Conducted session on future Chandra science in 15 Years symposium (11/14). Invited chairs of last Decadal Survey as panelists for open session. Will use recommendations in CXC planning. Consulted with CUC; analysis of proposal statistics and balance in process. Completion planned: 12/15/15 SR Maintain funding of General Observer program at least at the current level. Confirmed PPBE plan retains current levels of GO funding, subject to continued funding level from HQ. Completed: 8/15/14 SR Engage younger researchers in long- range planning. Will utilize opportunities through the 15 Years, CUC, peer review, Einstein Fellows program and senior review proposals to actively involve early career scientists. Input invited through Einstein Symp. Completion planned: 12/15/15 SR Ensure orderly transfer to HEASARC of data reduction and analysis software and science data. Develop plan for final calibration, processing and transfer to the HEASARC. Plan to include identification of software. Close action with description of plan and schedule. Identified final turn-over products required by CXC Project Data Management Plan (DR-SE01) 4/3/15. Completion planned: 12/15/15

Top Level Summary Response to Senior Review Committee Recommendations CXC Status Report/CUCPage 5 RecommendationResponse SR To reduce cost, engage senior engineers from other NASA projects to review Chandra mission operations and ground systems, with aim of developing new ideas that may result in cost efficiencies. Convened a team with expertise in mission operations from other missions to examine Chandra’s present mission operations cost model and discuss lessons learned and approaches to maximize efficiency and minimize cost. Review was held May Responding to committee’s recommendations Completion planned: 9/1/15 SR Mitigate effects of flat budgets beyond FY16, which would present significant challenges. Work with HQ through the PPBE process to request inflation in FY17 budget and beyond. Presented budget, with request for inflation offset in FY17-20, to PPBE17 review at NASA HQ 3/31/15. Completed: 3/31/15 Actions to be closed by submission of documents and information to MSFC and presentation at CXC Quarterly Review Following concurrence by MSFC and HQ, the CXC program manager will maintain for record and inclusion in the next Senior Review proposal

CXC Status Report/CUCPage 6 Program Management MSFC Space Systems Programs & Projects Office Baggett (Prog Mgr) Chandra X-ray Center Program Office Wilkes (Director) Canizares (MIT) Brissenden (Prog Mgr) Public Communication Lestition Grants Award Section Sozanski Director’s Office Wilkes Flight Operations Team Hurley OCC Operations Eagan Science Wilkes Science Data System Fabbiano Systems Engineering Holmes Online Operations Mission Planning Spacecraft Engineering Flight Software Factory Support Team Systems Team Integration & Ground S/W Maintenance Ground Ops Team Ops Science Support Calibration Mission Planning Instrument Teams Sci. Data Syst. Planning Hardware & Systems Software Development & Maintenance Archive Operations Data Processing Operations Operational Role Tech. Support Team Management & Facilities Juda/Aldcroft (Flt Dir)

CXC Status Report/CUCPage 7 Program Management CXC Status Report/CUC Contract –Contract currently runs through 30 Sept 2019 –We expect NASA to request a proposal for an extended follow-on contract Budget and Staffing –The CXC’s budget and expenditures are in line with the PPBE-17 plan –Current staffing profile is consistent with PPBE-17 –CXC is funded through 15 Nov 16; Einstein program through 31 Mar 16 Other –Complying with NASA travel restrictions, which have increased administrative burden at CXC and MSFC

CXC Status Report/CUCPage 8 Program Management CXC-organized Conferences and Reviews –Chandra Users’ Committee meeting Oct 14 –Einstein Fellows Symposium Oct 14 –15 Years of Science with Chandra symposium: Nov 14 –Cycle 17 Peer Review June 15 –Workshop: The Universe in High-resolution X-ray Spectra August 15 –Chandra Users’ Committee meeting Sept 15 –Future: Einstein Fellows Symposium Oct 15

Spacecraft –Continues to operate extremely well –4 radiation interruptions during period; 332 ks science time lost –Transitioned to mixed-MUPS configuration for operational flexibility –Patched CTU-A for Dwell Mode (for fast engineering data acquisition) –Normal-Sun Mode on 1/6/15 due to IU-reset (180.6 ks science time lost) –Safe mode on 9/21/15 due to attitude drifting outside of sun-position monitor limit. No hardware problems. (131.9 ks science time lost) Science Instruments –Instruments are operating extremely well –ACIS processing unit spontaneously powered off on 1/11/15 (99.0 ks science time lost); has happened 5 times during mission; thought to be single event upset –Installed patch to Aspect Camera on-board processing, to mitigate acquisition failures due to "multiple stars suspected" flag. –ACA team is pursuing annealing of the CCD at 20C, and has carried out a demonstration of the necessary operations activities. CXC Status Report/CUCPage 9 Mission Operations CXC Status Report/CUC

Page 10 Subsystem functioning perfectly Minor problem but subsystem meets all requirements Moderate problem but manageable Serious deficiency; mitigated Spacecraft Subsystem Status

Operations Control Center –Smooth operations –Installed and tested virtual OCCDS upgrades at backup OCC Mission Planning –14 load-interrupting TOOs during this period; increased number due to two- week loads –Observing efficiency during the period ~72%, near mission maximum but declining due to orbit evolution CXC Status Report/CUCPage 11 Mission Operations CXC Status Report/CUC

Page 12 Mission Operations CXC Status Report/CUC Flight & Ground teams maintained smooth operations through Boston snow storms

CXC Status Report/CUCPage 13CXC Status Report/CUC Mission Operations – Observing Efficiency Observing time has changed due to evolving orbit

CXC Status Report/CUCPage 14 Mission Operations – Consumables Momentum Unloading & Propulsion System (MUPS) Fuel Usage CXC Status Report/CUC

Page 15 Mission Operations – Consumables MUPS Thruster Warm Starts CXC Status Report/CUC A-side thrusters not being used; in reserve B-side thrusters have plenty of margin

CXC Status Report/CUCPage 16 Science Operations CXC Data System Releases DS /5/14P012 Telemetry template update DS /16/14CfP17 Support DS /15/15MTA upgrade for P012CIAO Data Analysis Releases DS /29/15WebReports & cxcusers DB for CfP17 DS 10.46/2/15Annual DS release; complete CXCDS/SW Linux port DS /8/15P013 telemetry upgrade DS /23/15ACIS CC mode grating data processing CIAO Data Analysis Releases CIAO 4.7B2 10/17/14CIAO Beta 2 CIAO 4.712/17/14CIAO Annual Data Analysis Release Sherpa 4/20/15Sherpa standalone release & WF definition CIAO 4.8B6/16/15Internal Beta 1 release

CXC Status Report/CUCPage 17 Science Operations Data Processing –Automatic processing is current; mean time from end of observation to delivery to user remains at about one day Calibration Products released Quarterly ACIS detector gain maps ACIS-S1 low energy gainupdate Annual HRC detector gain maps HRC-I de-gap map update HRC-I QE update HRC-S QE and QE map updates Updates to the extraction region and extracted count fraction in LETG/HRC-S data Products to be released by December 2014 ACIS contamination model update ACIS blank sky background files for the period

As of middle of following monthAs of 9/11/15 Month Number of Obs Days to Data Delivery Number Deliv Number Outstanding Number Deliv Number Outstanding Comments MinAvgMax Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug CXC Status Report/CUCPage 18 Science Operations Data Delivery Avg delivery ~1 day from observation

Month of Data Delivery Federal Grants (1,3) SAO Grants (2) As of the middle of following monthAs of 9/15/15 Non- Federal Grants (3) No. Grants Awarded No. Outstanding Avg days to award (4) No. Grants Awarded No. OutstandingOutstanding Awards Proposal no, Comments Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan *730 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug (1) Grants awarded to scientists at Federal institutions as interagency transfers through MSFC. (2) Grants awarded to scientists at non-Federal institutions through SAO Contracts and Grants Department. (3) Number of grants eligible for award, for which data were delivered to the observer in the month. (4) Average days from data delivery to grant award does not include grants outstanding as of the middle of the following month. * Approval from MSFC to issue grant funds was received after some observations were made and data were distributed, delaying issuance of awards. CXC Status Report/CUCPage 19 Grant Awards Grants are typically awarded within ~2-3 weeks of observation CXC Status Report/CUC

Page 20 Education and Public Outreach Press –12 science press releases, 2 non-science releases; 3 press release postings, 10 image releases, resulting in > 2400 articles in print, web news and science web sites. Monthly estimated audience in tens of millions. Web, Digital, Social Media –Public web site attracts average of ~12.65 million hits per month –Award-winning podcasts remain the #1 download with ~300k hits/month –Social media platform continues to grow, with cumulative ~82k Twitter followers. ~255k Facebook likes, >1.5 million YouTube views, 33k Google+ followers –New initiatives include iPad App architecture, 3D printing, “UltraHD”/hyperwall video output (i.e. images at AAS/IAU), Pixinsight algorithm for smoothing under- sampled data sets Public Outreach –Launched NASA version of “Light: Behind the Bulb” exhibit to expand offerings for International Year of Light. SPIE-sponsored exhibits in US at O’Hare and Atlanta airports and internationally. NASA exhibit (including Braille panels) touring US libraries, 1/mo. Over 600 venues total. See

CXC Status Report/CUCPage 21 Education and Public Outreach (con’t) Education –19 presentations at NSTA, Boys & Girls Clubs, Youth Summer Reading, etc. –National Science Olympiad: supported national competition events and coaches clinics reaching ~200,000 students on over 6000 teams. Filmed legacy training videos for team coaches. –On-line data analysis and software activities accepted for distribution by NASA product review. Future of EPO –EPO guidelines for FY16 still in flux –Separation between public outreach and education not clear –Submitted Co-I proposal to consortium proposal, with STScI as PI, in response to NASA education Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN). Winners not announced as of this date.