1 Universities Space Research Association Science Instrument Pipeline Requirements SSSC 2009 September 29 Erick Young Director SOFIA Science Mission Operat ions

2 Universities Space Research Association Background There was a clear distinction in the level of support between Facility Class Instruments and PI Class Instruments FSI teams were developing basic data processing pipelines which then were integrated into the Data Cycle System FORCAST FLITECAM HAWC Software to be delivered to Science Support Center as a “black box” to run in the DCS An important limitation was that FORCAST and FLITECAM software did not include GRISM support –FIFI LS pipeline development under the EOOP grant in proceeding along similar lines but calibration was included in the scope full calibration of data for a limited number of modes (need to define) –Other instruments were not required to deliver pipelines to the Science Support Center but to support Guest Investigators directly.

3 Universities Space Research Association SMOR - II The Science Mission Operations Review–II was organized in 2007 to assess the readiness of SOFIA to begin operations. –Chaired by Gary Melnick –Members included people familiar with data processing of large and small NASA projects, aircraft operations, and interfacing with the science community –Formal review in Palmdale in February 2008 –Recommendations were made to NASA and generally accepted. USRA has been asked to develop plans for implementing key recommendations.

4 Universities Space Research Association Key SMOR-II Recommendations Processing Requirements –Data products must be usable to general astronomers and not just to those expert in the instruments Flux Calibration Positional Reconstruction Standard data formats and annotation of observations Specialized tools as needed Support for PI-class and German Instruments –In the SMOR-II recommendations: “…the current requirement that allows a lower level of support to users of PI-class instruments must be eliminated in favor of a uniform standard that applies to both U.S. and German Facility- and PI-class instruments.”

5 Universities Space Research Association Key SMOR-II Recommendations, cont’d Importance of User Support –User Support should have greater prominence in the organization. –Support in preparing approved observations is required Access to the Archive –Accessing the SOFIA data archive should be straightforward. –Important ancillary data (such as water vapor levels) should be included and available in the archive –Uniform standards need to be set for documentation of the instruments

6 Universities Space Research Association Actions taken so far FIFI LS is covered under the NASA funded Extend Observing Opportunity Program (EOOP) –Pipeline software is being developed by a team at the University of California Berkeley that will become part of the DCS We have begun work on developing detailed plans to provide uniform pipelines for FORCAST, FLITECAM, and HAWC. We have begun resource estimates for the development of new pipelines for CASIMIR, EXES, and possibly HIPO –These plans are detailed but still in development. In particular, they have not been vetted by NASA. Note that GREAT does not have a NASA-funded EOOP program.

7 Universities Space Research Association Tom Stephens will describe the path forward.