2)
The peak level of the present solar cycle 23 would likely not be
recorded, just as the peak of solar cycle 22 and solar cycle 21
were missed - no complete observations through the maximum of a
solar cycle exist
3) Loss of instrument and data validation. The validation of the
UARS SOSLTICE data and the evaluation of the performance of that
instrument would have been greatly improved by overlap with the
SORCE SOLSTICE.
During the month of September, SORCE received some positive signs
that UARS may be continued - albeit at a reduced level. It is still
conceivable that a "full-up" comparison of the SORCE SOLSTICE
and UARS SOLSTICE will be realized! LASP and SORCE were pleased
to hear of the possibility of more UARS SOLSTICE data, as it would
be a great benefit to the study of solar science.
The SORCE Science Team has been trying to
work toward a schedule of at least two Science Team Meetings per
year. We had anticipated this increased level of activity beginning
this year, but trying to work around the highly volatile project
schedules has been challenging. Although we had been planning our
next meeting to concentrate on instrument calibration and characterization,
and to hold the meeting in conjunction with the NEWRAD meeting the
end of October, we now find it necessary to change these plans.
The NEWRAD meeting has been postponed until the spring of 2002,
and since the SORCE instrument activities are still intense and
highly variable, we wish to delay the calibration/characterization
meeting until after the beginning of the new year. In fact the rescheduled
time may well coincide with the delivery of the Instrument Module
to Orbital now expected in January. We will announce the agenda
and location of this meeting as soon as plans are formulated. At
about the same time we will schedule our next full scale Science
Team Meeting which will concentrate on the science - solar, atmosphere,
and climate. Please contact Greg Kopp, a SORCE TIM scientist, 303-735-0934
(phone) or email Greg.Kopp@lasp.colorado.edu if you have any questions
or need information.
SORCE
Science Operations
An initial release of the instrument planning and scheduling system
- known as OASIS-PS, was made on August 31. This preliminary release
marks the completion of all generic user interface and scheduling
capabilities, instrument-specific schedulers, planning data product
formats, and limited instrument memory management capability. In
general, development is ahead of schedule and the next major release
is scheduled for the end of December 2001, marking the conclusion
of development activities and the completion of all remaining requirements.Telemetry
data ingest and access capability development is proceeding on schedule
with the operations readiness of the instrument module.
|
Database
tables and ingest software are in place to receive raw packet
data, as well as analog and discrete telemetry items. Science
packet database tables have been defined and are in the process
of being implemented. The TCAD (telemetry checking and display)
software that is used routinely for other satellite operations
at LASP is now in place and ready to support analysis of instrument
data. Science packet data extraction routines are now produced
automatically as a product of the C&T database translators,
much like the OASIS-CC (real-time operations system) database
is kept in sync with the C&T database contents. The science
packet data extraction routines have been tested with actual instrument
data. The telemetry data access software design is complete and
implementation is nearing completion.
We are nearing completion of the SOLSTICE instrument processing
algorithms, such that data from the UARS SOLSTICE instrument can
be processed as validation of the SORCE data processing system,
and testing is expected to begin soon. Prototype SOLSTICE Level
3 and Level 2 algorithms are now implemented and nearly ready
for testing, as are most of the level 1B calibration algorithms.
Some common TIM and SIM algorithms are completed, and other TIM-specific
irradiance generation algorithms are now being designed. In the
coming weeks, regular meetings will begin with the TIM instrument
scientists to formulate and discuss science algorithms.
The science data system software is now being rebuilt automatically
on a nightly basis; all released code is checked out of CM (configuration
management), compiled and executed. Software documentation for
all modules is also regenerated into HTML pages
The SORCE command and telemetry database design was improved in
the last month to permit a more streamlined representation of
the SORCE telemetry system. This modification optimizes the definition
of telemetry packets and telemetry items in the database, reducing
the number of unique telemetry definitions and the size of the
command and telemetry handbook. These modifications have also
permitted the machine generation of routines to extract telemetry
data from packets, a capability that has now been integrated into
the C&T (command and telemetry) translators and serves as
the basis for the science telemetry ingest software.
Upcoming
Meetings: SORCE Scientists and Engineers plan to present papers
and attend the following meetings:
- MIWG
KSC, Florida October 23, 2001
- AGU,
San Francisco, CA December 2001
- SORCE
Calibration Workshop Gaithersburg, MD January 2002
- NEWRAD
at NIST, Gaithersburg, MD delayed to Spring 2002
To submit information
please contact: Kathy.Lozier@lasp.colorado.edu |
