The Road to Launch and Operations of the Spitzer Space Telescope

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The Road to Launch and Operations of the Spitzer
Space Telescope

• Robert K. Wilson, Charles P. Scott
• Spitzer Project
• Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• California Institute of Technology

June 19 23, 2006 SpaceOps 2006 Conference Rome,
Italy
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Spitzer Space Telescope Project Status Report
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Spitzer Space Telescope
Stephans Quintet

• Salient Features
• Heliocentric orbit trailing the Earth
• 85 cm Beryllium telescope operating at 5.5 K
• 3 instruments with 3-180 micron wavelength
  coverage operating at 1.5 K
• Launch date August 25, 2003
• Operational life 5yr 5 mo (2.5 year requirement)
  
• Observing time avail. to general community gt 80

• Science
• To search for brown dwarfs and super-planets, and
  to understand the contribution of sub-stellar
  objects to the mass of the Galaxy.
• To study proto-planetary and planetary debris
  disks, and to assess the frequency of
  planetary-system formation around nearby
  solar-type stars.
• To determine properties of ultra-luminous
  galaxies and active galactic nuclei, both nearby
  and in the distant Universe, and to understand
  the mechanisms which power these extremely
  energetic objects.
• To study normal galaxies as they were when the
  Universe was less than one-quarter of its current
  size and age, and to understand how galaxies have
  evolved with cosmic time.

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Spitzer Observatory Changes
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Spitzer Focal Plane Instruments
IRS Spectrograph J.Houck Cornell
IRAC Imaging G.Fazio Harvard/ GSFC
MIPS Imaging Spectroscopy G.Rieke U Arizona
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Spitzer Observatory
Telescope
Solar Panel Shield
Outer Shell
Solar Panel
Spacecraft Shield
Spacecraft Bus
Star Trackers and
Inertial Reference Units
Low Gain Antennae
High Gain Antenna
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The Final Artist Rendition
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(No Transcript)
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Chronological Changes to Spitzer
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Spitzer Design Comparisons / Evolution




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Critical Design Review Failure

• October 2000? Black October
• Failure of the Operations Critical Design Review
• 13 Major Findings
• Organization Roles and Responsibilities
• Integrated Critical Path Schedule
• Operational System Test Laboratories Fidelity,
  Operations Capabilities, Availability
• System Documentation Baselining and Configuration
  Management
• Virtual Machine Language (VML) Compiler
  Completion, Validation and Operations
• Training and Anomaly Scenarios
• Database Control across Project
• Command Sequence Development and Verification
• Mission Operations in Assembly, Test and Launch
  Operations (ATLO)
• Constraints and Flight Rules
• Data Distribution to Users
• Mission Support Areas
• In-Orbit-Checkout
• Need for Delta CDR
• 97 Recommendations for Actions (RFA)s
• 21 Months to Launch (then scheduled for July 2002)

Major Concern to Launch
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Post CDR Actions Taken

• Clear that project was understaffed
  inexperienced
• Brought On Experienced New Mission Manager
• Initiated 6 Member Operations Red Team
• Operations
• Ground Data Systems
• Validation and Verification
• Uplink Engineering
• Downlink Engineering
• EEIS Engineering
• Integrated Scheduling
• Address the Problems
• Discovered a great resonance with historical
  environment
• Extremely Long Development Phase
• 1983 thru 2001
• Faster / Better / Cheaper
• Software Inheritance
• Distributed Operational Environment
• Initiated Detailed Action Plan to move project
  from CDR to the Operations Readiness Review (ORR)

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Organization Roles and Responsibilities

• Established the Operational MOS Organization
• Completed Preliminary Version of the Operations
  Management Plan
• MOS Operational Line of Authority Established
• Eliminated the Management Council
• Provided a Line of Authority Consistent with
  Operational Needs

Post IOC Ops Organization
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Operations OrganizationIOC/SV Phase
Project Manager Deputy Project Manager Project
Scientist
Project Office
Mission Operations Office Mission Manager
SIRTF Science Center Director Deputy
Director Manager Deputy Manager
IOC OPS System Lead Mission Operations
Assurance Administrative Support
System Engr. Coordination Configuration
Management
System Engineering Team Instrument Support
Teams IRAC IRS MIPS Science Operations Teams
Observatory Planning Scheduling Team
Pipeline Operations Pipeline Data Quality
Analysis Database Administration Observer
Support Team Uplink S/W Development and
Maintenance Team Downlink S/W Development and
Maintenance Team SOS Information System
Operations Team Science Data Management Software
Dev. Maintenance Team
Information Technology Security
Flight Engineering Office
Multi-Mission Support Office
Infrared Array Camera Instr.
Infrared Spectrograph Instr.
Multi-band Imaging Photometer Instrument
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Operations OrganizationNominal Operations
MMSO Manager
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Operational System Test Laboratories (OSTL)
Fidelity, Operations Capabilities, Availability

• OSTL / STL are identical Hybrid Simulators
• Engineering Models
• Math Models
• Science Models (both math and engineering)
• Usage
• Observatory
• To perform Flight Software Development and Test
• To support ATLO
• Operations
• To support Block (Macro), Command and Sequence
  Testing
• To support Operational Test and Training
  activities
• Fidelity Certification
• Formal plan developed and executed to certify
  models and system in support of the ATLO and
  operations development
• Developed cooperative relationship between flight
  and ground including weekly scheduling of
  resources
• Scheduled movement to Denver and transition to
  Operations
• Established Simulation Policy to determine what
  level of simulation was required

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Mission Operations in Assembly, Test and Launch
Operations (ATLO)

• Several Concerns
• Development organization was not going to fly the
  mission, what of corporate knowledge?
• Lack of confidence in Flight Software Development
• Inadequate System Testing in ATLO schedule
• Approach
• 2nd Set of Eyes
• Operational Staff to participate in all of ATLO
  in right seat / left seat roles
• Initiated significant additional operational ATLO
  testing include approximately 30 days of
  Operations testing on the Observatory prior to
  launch
• 10 Incompressible Tests including Week in the
  Life test

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In-Orbit-Checkout

• Development
• Developing the IOC operations implementation plan
  beginning 9 months prior to launch with only a
  mission activity plan in place
• Determining just how much flexibility was needed
  in IOC (given workforce constraints)
• Getting the flight software and ground software
  stable enough to test sequences prior to launch
• Getting the IOC activities built and tested in
  the operations software test lab (OSTL)
• Managing the complex IOC timeline (with ground
  constraints) quickly and accurately with no time
  or money to develop additional tools
• The separation of science operations and mission
  operations created a challenge and was not the
  optimal organizational structure
• Operations
• Moving from real-time command operations to the
  one-week absolute-timed sequences in week 11
• The transition was too early from the perspective
  of instrument readiness, i.e., instruments still
  needed the flexibility of changing upcoming
  activities based upon previous campaign results

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Operations

• One instrument operating at a time for 3 to 7
  days (14 to 21 days)
• Eight observing modes
• Downlink every 12 hours for 40 min (once per day
  for IRS)
• 11 hours of average data recording rate at 90
  kbps
• Approximate 21 Lossless compression
• Approximately 4 Gbits every 12 hours
• No science during downlink
• Accommodate missing one DSN pass
• Required on-board memory is 8 Gbits, plus
  redundancy
• 7-day autonomous operations
• 60 days In-Orbit Checkout, 30 days science
  verification
• 90 efficiency during nominal operations

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IOC Pre-Launch Plan vs. What was Flown
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How efficiently did we operate?
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Super Fluid Helium Usage
Spitzer Super Fluid Helium Consumable
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Operational Changes

• Maximize Science Efficiency
• Reduced Non-Science Activities
• Reduction in Spacecraft Calibration Activities
• Reduction in DSN Contacts
• Optimize Science Planning
• Improvements in Operational Procedures
  Processes
• Improvements in Operational Tools
• Maximize DSN Downlink Data Rates
• Move to 70m or 34m Arraying
• Minimize Helium Usage
• Eliminate Mass Gauge Measurement
• Pulse Mode Helium Usage Measurement
• Maintain Science Observation Cycling
• IRAC to IRS to MIPS
• Extend Observation Campaign Lengths
• Warm MIPS Campaigns
• Segregate MIPS into Warm (8.5 K) and Cold (5.6 K)
  Campaigns beginning in Cycle 3

Eta Carinae Nebula
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Driving Science Objectives

• The Early Universe
• Study of the formation and evolution of galaxies,
  looking back to an epoch when the Universe was no
  more than one-fifth of its current size and age
• Ultra-luminous Galaxies and Active Galactic
  Nuclei
• Study of the most luminous objects in the nearby
  and distant Universe, objects which may radiate
  predominantly in the IR and have thousands of
  times the power output of our own Milky Way
  Galaxy.
• Brown Dwarfs and Super Planets
• Understanding the formation, composition, and
  structure of objectives with masses between
  0.001 and 0.1 times that of the sun
• Proto-planetary and Planetary Debris Disks
• Study of material around nearby stars which is
  indicative either of a planetary system in
  formation or of a more mature planetary system
  which replenishes the circum-stellar matter

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The Early Universe--Theme
Spitzer Hubble Team up to Find Big Baby
Galaxies in the Newborn Universe
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Ultra-luminous Galaxies and Active Galactic
Nuclei
Images of Interacting Galaxy Pair Arp 65 (A
possible precursor to an Ultra-luminous IR Galaxy)
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Brown Dwarfs and Super Planets
Spectrum finds Planetary Building Blocks in
Surprising Place (About Brown Dwarfs)
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Proto-Planetary and Planetary Debris Disks
Glimpse Legacy Team Image of RCW 48 Each Circled
Star (in Right Image) shows a Circum-stellar Disk
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Lessons Learned

• Establish a single Operations Organization under
  a single manager
• Early in development phase create an Integrated
  Schedule
• Use experienced organization where possible
• Early participation of Ops in Observatory
  development and testing activities is essential
• Use Ops tools to perform spacecraft subsystem,
  science instrument and system testing
• Minimize duplication of existing GDS
  capabilities, fully utilize supported
  (institutional) GDS tools
• Avoid point solutions by building nominal
  processes before designing the In-Orbit-Checkout
  (IOC) processes
• Operational Readiness Tests (ORT) need to cover
  the most stressful situations
• Give a lot of thought to IOC and to Ops training
  and rehearsals
• Plan 24/7 DSN Coverage for entire IOC and SV
  periods
• Do not take for granted the easy or routine
  parts of the mission
• Value of Inherited H/W and FSW is always
  overstated

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SPITZER
Successfully Completed 2.5 yr Cryogen Mission
Requirement