National Aeronautics and Space Administration

This page is a record of the known anomalies in processed RXTE GO data. For each day, it documents the problems detected in processing, for instance when there is less data than expected based on the scheduled amount of good time. It lists each ObsId affected, the datamode(s), and an explanation if available. In most cases (except where explicitly noted), the existing data are perfectly useable; there is simply less of it than there should be.

To find a specific observation, either look down the chronological list for the right date, or search for the proposal number of the observation. Exact ObsIds might not match, as they may be part of what is listed as a range of viewing numbers.

This page does not include oddities in calibration observations such as 800 series obsids. And it may not be a complete record of every existing anomaly in GO data, so if any problem not listed here turns up, please let us know at xtehelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov so that we can explain, fix, and/or document it.

Note on using the data: Cases where there is no good time, or "good time listed as zero", are where ObsCat finds no good time based on the attitude and schedule information, and the GTI extensions in all science data files will have intervals of 0.0 to 0.0. These will be ignored by some software, so be carefule to make correct GTI files using the housekeeping information in the filter file to ensure that you chop out any bad data. (See Step 3 in the Reduction of Spectral Data recipe.)

Calendar Day	Mission Day	Obsid(s) Affected	Data Mode(s) Affected	Comments
1996Jan24	753	10354-01-03-00	missing GoodXenon	-
1996Jan29	758	10354-01-08-00 10297-01-01-00	-	Zero length GTI tables
1996Feb04	764	10401-01-02-00	SB_125US_0_49_1S	partition overflowed by 23406 events
1996Feb06	766	10401-01-01-00	SB_125US_0_49_1S	-
1996Feb08	768	10065-01-01-00	E_125US_64M_50_1S F_125US_0_24_249_16S Standard modes	commanding errors
1996Feb19	779	10059-02-06-00	B_500US_1M_0_87_H	EA1 was idled through a RT command
1996Mar06	795	10320-01-01-00(0)	both HEXTE Cluster B(1) modes	HEXTE cluster B(1) detector 2 was safed
1996Apr18	838	10202-02-01-00	E_31US_16M_0_8S	event mode overflow
1996Apr19	839	10202-02-02-00	E_31US_16M_0_8S	ditto
1996May03	853	10213-01-02-00	all PCA GO science modes	scheduling problem
1996Jul28	939	10142-01-01-001	PCA GO science modes	recorder overwrite
1996Jul31	942	10192-02-01-011	HEXTE Cl A(0) science	HEXTE Cluster A(0) remained in IDLE mode
1996Aug09	951	10182-01-01-01	HEXTE Cl A(0) science	ditto
1996Sep22	995	10999-01-00-00	all data	safehold
1996Sep23	996	10265-01-22-01	-	galactic ridge scans with no good time
1996Sep24	997	10265-01-25-01 10265-01-26-01 10265-01-27-01	-	no good time
1996Sep25	998	10265-01-28-01 10265-01-19-03	-	no good time
1996Sep27	1000	10265-01-20-03 10266-01-07-00	-	occulted, no good time
1996Sep28	1001	10266-01-09-00	-	occulted, no good time
1996Oct01	1004	10425-01-01-00	E_4US_16B_0_1S	EA1 turned off
1996Oct06	1009	10321-03-01-03S	-	scan during SAA, no good time
1996Oct18	1021	10040-01-02-000	HEXTE Cl A(0) modes	HEXTE cluster A(0) detector 1 went out
1996Nov01	1035	20801-05-01-00 10311-01-08-00	all science modes	out_saa dropped, EAs & HEXTE recording zeros, GTIs incorrect
1996Nov04	1038	10090-01-01-000 10090-01-01-001	E_16US_64M_0_8S	EA1 going on and off
1996Nov05	1039	10090-01-01-00	E_16US_64M_0_8S	EA1 going on and off
1996Nov09	1043	10088-01-07-01	all GO EA modes	doubled partitions; day boundary problem
1996Nov16	1050	10061-02-03-00	1 ks of F_31US_0_24_249_16S	EA3 failed to come on as scheduled
1996Nov17	1051	10223-01-03-000	3 ks of E_125US_64M_0_1S	continuing EA3 problems
"	"	10200-01-26-00	SB_250US_14_249_2S	scheduling problem related to no slew modes
1996Nov26	1060	20069-01-04-00	GOODXENON2_2S	EA7 scheduling problem
1996Nov26	1062	20402-01-04-00	SB_125US_0_13_1S	EA3 scheduling problem
1996Dec08	1072	20188-01-01-00	-	ObsId is 8 seconds long and is all slew; no good time
1996Dec25	1089	20146-05-02-00	GoodXenon[12]_16s	doubled partitions; day boundary problem
1996Dec31	1095	10088-01-08-04 10088-01-08-030	SB_125US_0_249_1S	EA2 configurations adjusted at GO request
1997Jan05	1100	10145-01-02-07	HEXTE science modes	HEXTE data dropout
1997Jan24	1119	20332-01-01-000	GOODXENON1_16S	SEU at 1997:024:09:49:03 started EA1 running when PCA was idle.
1997Jan28	1123	10085-01-01-10[0]	all GO EA modes	doubled partitions; day boundary problem
1997Jan31	1126	20801-01-04-00	HEXTE science modes	commanding problem
1997Feb17	1143	20181-01-03-00	HEXTE science data dropout 17:18-17:23	commanding problem
1997Feb27	1153	20109-01-09-00	all modes	commanding "dead time between weeks"
1997Mar01	1155	20104-01-01-004	HEXTE Cluster A (0) science	left off after SAA
1997Mar07	1161	20069-03-02-00	-	incorrect index files due to processing glitch
1997Mar22	1176	20033-01-08-00	HEXTE Cluster B's science mode	HEXTE stuck in 'DIAGNOSTIC MODE'
1997Mar30	1184	20316-02-28-00	both HEXTE science modes	ditto
1997Apr28	1213	20321-10-02-00	cluster A(0) science	ditto
1997May04	1219	20033-01-22-00	HEXTE science modes	..again
1997May15	1230	20402-01-27-00	HEXTE Cl A(0) science	...and again
1997May22	1237	20316-01-01-00	all modes lost 600 s	scheduling glitch
1997May28	1243	20018-01-02-00	both HEXTE science modes	HEXTE left in diagnostic mode
1997May31	1246	20018-01-04-00	HEXTE science modes	the day that XTE stopped moving
1997Jun01	1247	20510's	-	... safe hold
1997Jun02	1248	20510's	-	... safe hold
1997Jun17	1263	20146-03-08-00	GOODXENON[12]_16S	GRB hand edit
1997Jun19	1265	20313-01-56-00	HEXTE archive modes	DAP problem
1997Aug07	1314	20310-01-01-08	all science data	commanding problem
1997Aug08	1315	20310-01-02-000	HEXTE science modes	scheduling problem
1997Sep06	1344	20428-01-01-02 20428-01-01-03	GOODXENON[12]_16S	safehold...
1997Sep22	1360	20083-01-02-001 20083-01-02-00	all data	..continued, no ASC telemetry, and buffer overflow of other telemetry
1997Oct03	1371	20187-02-03-00	all PCA modes	commanding problems
1997Nov06	1405	20429-01-07-00	GOODXENON[12]_16S	TOO, EAs 1 and 2 configuration changes mid-obs
1997Nov25	1424	20003-01-52-00	PCA science modes	replan, occult not in Obscat or GTIs
1997Nov27	1426	20155-01-01-06 20035-01-03-07	PCA science modes	ditto
1998Feb06	1497	30062-03-01-02	E_16US_64M_24_8S	overflowed buffer
1998Feb08	1499	30188-01-11-00	E_16US_64M_24_8S	overflowed buffer
1998Feb12	1503	30178-02-01-01	all PCA science modes	direct maneuver, modes off for previously scheduled occult
1998Feb21	1512	20266-01-35-06S	-	no good time, occulted section of scan
1998Feb22	1513	30405-01-01-031	all GO EA modes	doubled partitions; day boundary problem
1998Mar07	1526	30415-02-01-02S	-	zero good time listed
1998Apr01	1551	30171-01-01-00	PCA GO modes lost 1.6 ks	occult from previous target still in DAP after direct slew
1998Apr06	1556	30703-01-14-00	all PCA GO modes lost .8 ks3	scheduling problem
"	"	30256-01-23-00	both HEXTE GO modes lost 0.8 ks	-
1998May06	1586	30411-01-11-06S	-	good times listed as zero, mixed scan/grid/pointed observations
1998Jul03	1644	30084-01-08-00	SB_125US_0_17_1S and SB_125US_18_35_1S missing 2.5 ks	GRB replan
1998Aug03	1675	30413-08-01-01S	-	no good time; in the middle was an attitude corrcetion, obscat incorrectly designates the whole observation a scan
1998Aug10	1682	30016-01-01-02	all PCA GO modes lost 1.3 ks	unscheduled direct slew, previously scheduled occult
1998Sep07	1710	30188-06-02-00	all PCA GO modes lost .7 ks	unscheduled direct slew, previously scheduled occult
1998Sep21	1724	30191-01-05-00 30191-01-06-00 30801-06-23-04 30157-01-41-00 30191-01-07-00 30703-01-34-00	miscellaneous PCA science data losses	recorder overwrite
1998Oct16	1749	30053-01-02-02	1.3 ks of HEXTE archive mode	SEU, safehold...
1998Oct17-9	1750-2	30431-01-01-00[01-9]	all or most science data lost	...continued
1998Oct22	1755	30801-03-13-02	GOODXENON[12]_16S lost 0.5 ks	GRB chase
1998Nov12	1776	30095-01-01-05	GOODXENON2_2S lost 2 ks	data overwrite
1998Nov18	1782	30433-01-02-00 30040-03-02-010	GoodXenon ~ 3.5 ks all GO modes ~1 ks	-
1998Dec01	1795	30019-01-01-00	HEXTE Archive ~ 1.7 ks	-
1998Dec06	1800	30213-1[01]-02-00	-	good time listed as zero, odd slews
1998Dec09	1803	30213-05-03-00	-	good time listed as zero
1998Dec10	1804	30213-0[67]-03-00	-	good time listed as zero
1998Dec15 - 1999Jan07	1809- 1832	30232-02-01-0{0,00,01,03,08} 30053-01-03-{000-02} 40191-01-{01-08,10}-00 40030-01-0{6-15}-00	-	slew to ASM Anti-Sun position during occult
1998Dec25- 1999Jan07	1819-32	40191-01-[01-10]-00	-	observations offset by 2.2 arcmin from requested position
1999Jan01	1826	40174-06-01-00	-	observation offset by 2.8 arcmin from requested position
1999Jan01-15	1826-40	40151-02-0[1-3]-00	-	observation offset by 3.7 arcmin from requested position
1999Jan02-13	1827-38	40174-01-0[1-4]-00	-	observations offset by 2.7 arcmin from requested position
1999Jan{05,12}	183[07]	40177-02-0[12]-00	-	observations offset by 2.8 arcmin from requested position
1999Jan06	1831	40501-01-01-00 40020-01-02-00{0}	miscellaneous science	recorder overwrite
1999Mar14-17	1898-1902	40176-01-03-08 40411-01-12-00 40099-01-05-02 40099-01-05-03 40017-01-04-00 40407-01-03-00 40223-01-18-00R	39% EA5 50-85% EAs1,2,3 70% EA1 30-50% EAs 1,2,3,7 30% EA1, 50% EA3 50% HXT science 30% HXT archive	Missing data due to bit errors in corrupted memory block; See Big Events (% data missing shown)
1999Mar17	1901	40401-01-58-01	all PCA modes	PCUs experience a gain setting switch 3200 seconds after the start of this obsid at 03:05 UTC . See Big Events
1999Mar23-25	1907-9	40051-05-0[34]-00 40411-01-2[12]-00 40037-01-08-00 40413-01-02-00 40401-01-64-00 40801-06-12-05	-	PCUs 3 and 4 at wrong gain setting. See Big Events
1999Mar17,31	1901,1915	40805-01-02-00 40805-01-03-00	all PCA modes	PCA high voltage settings change mid-observations
1999Jun15	1991	40030-03-01-01	-	ObsId entirely in SAA; GTI extensions incorrect.
1999Jul01	2008	40009-01-01-01	missing PCA Std1 and event modes	-
1999Jul05	2011	40009-01-01-01	HEXTE archive	-
1999Jul30	2036	40703-01-23-02	missing PCA data until 00:52:00; missing HEXTE data throughout	Instruments were not commanded back on after out-SAA. PCA was corrected; HEXTE was not
1999Jul30	2036	40418-01-31-00 40414-01-08-00 40139-01-27-00 40801-01-31-93 40139-01-27-01 40135-01-51-[01-11S]	HEXTE data	HEXTE remained off until after the out-SAA at around 07:20:03
2000Jan24	2214	40151-02-43-00 40152-01-92-00 40152-02-92-00	missing PCU0 housekeeping data	other PCUs housekeeping data unaffected
2000Sept03	2437	50011-01-10-00	PCA data modes	HK, GoodXenon modes and Std2 only
2002Mar12	2992	70154-01-05-01	missing PCA Good Xenon Data for 130 seconds	There are three GoodXenon files in the PCA directory. Missing one of the 'pairs'.
2002May15	3056	70014-01-02-00,03	HEXTE event modes	high HEXTE countrate caused repeated overflows of event mode, and about 30% loss of data. Archive modes are not affected.
2003Feb4	3321	70085-01-08-00	PCA & HEXTE Data	satellite in SAA for entire observation, so no data collected; good time listed is faked, for processing reasons. Obs. 70085-01-08-000 on previous day contains full observation of this source.
2003Mar29	3374	80413-01-01-00	TLA_1S_10_249_1S_5000_F CB_125US_1M_0_249_H GOODXENON1_2S GOODXENON2_2S	approx. 2100 sec of data lost in each mode, result of rapid reschedule to catch this source (ie., direct slew of satellite)
2003Mar30	3375	80413-01-02-00	TLA_1S_10_249_1S_5000_F CB_125US_1M_0_249_H GOODXENON1_2S GOODXENON2_2S	536 sec of data lost in each mode, result of rapid reschedule to catch this source (ie., direct slew of satellite)
2003Mar31- 2003Apr1	3376- 3377	70123-01-09-01G 80138-01-02-00G 80801-01-20-45G 70142-01-96-00G 70082-03-24-00G 70078-03-12-[01S-05S] 70142-04-52-10G 80154-05-06-00G 80154-02-17-00G 80801-06-05-06G 80173-01-24-00G 70164-01-73-10G 70153-02-06-00G 80001-01-32-00G 80135-01-02-20G 80045-02-02-02G 80106-01-06-[01S-22S]	no HEXTE Cluster A data	Single Event Upset caused loss of HEXTE Cluster-A data from 17:21 (UT) on Mar. 31 through 18:25 on Apr. 1.
2003Apr1	3377	80145-01-06-04 80801-01-20-38 80406-01-04-04	HEXTE Cluster-A	Cluster-A not in "normal" science mode - no rocking, other peculiarities (result of SEU mentioned in previous entry).
2003Jun21	3458	80418-01-03-02	TLA_1S_10_249_1S_2000_F	3489 seconds of data lost, this mode only (due to rapid scheduling of this TOO)

This page is maintained by the RXTE GOF and was last modified on Wednesday, 24-Aug-2022 11:10:29 EDT.