1 / 12

Lessons Learned from SOFIA

Lessons Learned from SOFIA. Erick Young SOFIA Science Center 25 April 2012. Basic Parameters. Mission Duration –Facility designed for 20 year operational lifetime User Base – General astronomical community Archive data volume – For first 100 hours of science operations SI Data: 17 GB

sidone
Download Presentation

Lessons Learned from SOFIA

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Lessons Learned from SOFIA Erick YoungSOFIA Science Center25 April 2012 Implementing Portals to the Universe

  2. Basic Parameters • Mission Duration –Facility designed for 20 year operational lifetime • User Base – General astronomical community • Archive data volume – For first 100 hours of science operations • SI Data: 17 GB • Engineering: 900 GB • Instruments – 7 First Generation + Occasional New Opportunities • Wavelength Coverage -0.6 – 1500 mm ( 20 – 500 mm prime) • Program model – GO and Instrument PI • Proposals/cycle – 133 US and 39 German in Cycle 01 • Users/cycle - ~50 teams • Funding model – GO grants + Instrument Team Grants • Default Proprietary Period – 1 year Implementing Portals to the Universe

  3. What’s being done well Implementing Portals to the Universe

  4. Highlight 1 – Early Science • Successful completion of “Early Science” • Demonstration phase of PI and shared risk GO science with the FORCAST mid-IR Camera and GREAT Heterodyne spectrometer prior to completion of all the development work on the observatory • Essentially a dry run of Normal Operations • Early involvement of the Instrument Scientists was crucial to successfully executing the flight series • Pre-flight preparations in the lab • Procedure and observing-script development • Support of Guest Observers • Support of observations • Post-flight data support • Operations Staff willing to go the extra mile was a key success element • None of the early flights were trouble free and skilled Telescope Operators, Flight Planners, and Mission Directors were essential Implementing Portals to the Universe

  5. Highlight 2 – Software Tools • Reuse or adaptation of existing tools for Two phase proposal process • Phase 1 uses adaptation of STSci-developed APT for proposal input • Phase 1 input does not require detailed observation planning, and allows the proposers and review panels to focus on scientific content. • Phase 2 uses SOFIA-specific adaptation of Spitzer-developed SPOT • The prime potential user base (Spitzer and Herschel observers) is already familiar with SPOT. • Use of AOTs limits phase space to manageable scope • Unique aspects of SOFIA required development of custom tools • Flight planning software that knows about airborne constraints needed to be developed Implementing Portals to the Universe

  6. Highlights 3 – International Partnership • The international partnership between the US and Germany has helped the project maintain an even keel • Different fiscal and political calendars have helped to smooth out the inevitable programmatic fluctuations • Partners need to continually work to make to relationship effective • Frequent communications • Combined leadership in the Science Mission Operations • Deputy Science Center Director is German • Coordination of science opportunities and proposal calls • Currently separate TACs but close in time • Coordinated selection of observations • Combined scheduling queue for Guest Investigators Implementing Portals to the Universe

  7. Challenges Implementing Portals to the Universe

  8. Challenges 1 – Development vs. Observations • Balancing of facility development and science activities • Key resources are the operational team and the aircraft itself and the needs to support observations sometimes conflicts with the needs to • Combining engineering and science cultures requires effort • In NASA much of the development effort is process oriented while the observer’s goal is product. Implementing Portals to the Universe

  9. Challenges 2 – Minimizing Operational Costs • Operational costs will always be a larger element of the SOFIA budget than for a typical space mission • For a space mission, the major hardware costs are finished at launch • Airplane maintenance, fuel, and crews will be continuing costs over which we have limited control • Key is maintaining scientific productivity • Efficient operations • Advanced instrumentation • Maintenance of the facility • Ensuring all the effort is productive effort Implementing Portals to the Universe

  10. Challenges 3- Maintaining Staff • Maintaining the Science and Mission Operations Staff • Instrument scientists and operators will go on flights, operate instruments, and provide support for GO’s • Flight crew also includes Mission Directors, Telescope Operators, and Flight Planners • Science Center is also responsible for maintaining Facility Instruments • One key is maintaining a vigorous scientific environment • Emphasizing the value of research by the staff • Providing opportunities to do research • On the operational side, making sure the work environment is rewarding • Avoiding “burn out” Implementing Portals to the Universe

  11. What are the constraints in current policies? Implementing Portals to the Universe

  12. Policy Constraints • It is important to find the right balance between NASA software development standards and the ability to flexibly adapt to changing software needs. • Tailoring of Systems Engineering processes is important as we go from proposals to uplink to downlink to pipeline to archive • Annual budget process is nuts. Implementing Portals to the Universe

More Related