ROSAT Guest Observer Facility


ROSAT Status Report # 14

November 13th 1991


Satellite and Instrument Status

The new AMCS onboard software allowed a successful resumption of normal pointing operations on November 4th, marking the end of the long pointing phase and the start of AO2. More than two hundred pointings were carried out in the long pointing phase, most of them lasted one day. The scheduling constraints varied quite frequently and required rapid adjustments by both MPE and GSOC mission planning staff. The longterm timeline for AO2 runs from November 2nd to April 15th. Further AO2 observations through mid-June, 1992, have yet to be scheduled. The first week of AO2 has been completed without problems.

The PSPC has developed a slightly higher background rate over the past few weeks. This increased background extended over the whole sensitive area of the detector but was confined to the lowest pulse height channels. A hot spot near the edge of the field of view was also observed. Investigations revealed that the hot spot countrate has increased from about 0.001 to about 0.01 counts/sec over the last ~six months. Purging of the detector gas and switching the gas supply from tank B to tank A (to exclude the possibility of different gas composition) reduced the hot spot countrate and the countrate in the lowest pulse height channels by approximately a factor of 2. Although no immediate danger for the detector operation could be identified, the high voltage of the detector was lowered from 3060 to 3000 volts on October 14 . As a consequence the lower energy range limit of the detector has raised from about 70 to about 100 eV. Calibrations at the reduced voltage have shown that there is no change in the spectral resolution of the detector.

Detailed analysis of the long term behavior of the PSPC counter is under way.


AO3

The official release date of the third call for pointed observing proposals, AO3, is Friday, November 15, 1991. The official NASA Research Announcement has been held up in press, and so will not be available for approximately two weeks. Supplementary documents are again available upon request. For this announcement the supplementary material includes reprints of the ROSAT Mission Description, the MIPS User's Guide, and the PROS Description. Brief updates to the Mission Description detailing changes in the instrumentation and proposal procedure, the MIPS User's Guide, and an updated observation catalog will be issued. Persons interested in receiving these documents should contact Alan Bunner at NASA Headquarters. (e-mail address ames::"abunner@nasamail"; postal address Code SZ, NASA Headquarters, 600 Independence Avenue S.W., Washington, D.C. 20546).

The format of AO3 proposals is similar to that of AO2 proposals. The scientific proposal consists of a set of standard forms with slight changes and a scientific justification of maximum length four pages of which no more than three may be devoted to text. One major change in the justification section is that it should follow a specific format: a statement of the scientific problem and how the specific ROSAT observation will address it, a feasibility section, and a listing of all relevant existing and planned ROSAT observations. Details about what is to be contained in each of these sections will be found in the update to the mission description, the text of which will be E-mailed to this distribution in a separate mailing.

Proposals will be due in NASA Headquarters by close of business, Monday, February 3, 1992. AO3 observations are envisaged to start in June 1992.


Revised Budgets

Now that the bulk of the AO2 timeline has been released, those individuals with scheduled priority C targets should submit revised budgets so that grants can be awarded. In addition, those PI's with A or B targets who have not submitted revised budgets should do so. Revised budgets should be sent to:

Doug Bennett
Code 668
Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771

.


Next Status Report #15 Previous Status Report #13

Menu Select another report ROSAT GOF Return to the ROSAT GOF

Curator: Michael Arida (ADNET); arida@milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov
HEASARC Guest Observer Facility


Please use the Feedback link if you have questions on ROSAT.

This file was last modified on Tuesday, 14-Sep-1999 11:47:03 EDT

NASA Astrophysics

  • FAQ/Comments/Feedback
  • Education Resources
  • Download Adobe Acrobat
  • A service of the Astrophysics Science Division (ASD) at NASA/ GSFC

    ROSAT Project Scientist: Dr. Robert Petre

    Responsible NASA Official: Dr. Andy Ptak

    Privacy Policy and Important Notices.