XMM-Newton Status Report



Introduction

This is not an official status report, but merely a collection of items I received that I think are useful for the Instrument Teams, especially the RGS Team at SRON. Because it it made by just copy/paste from my mail it is not always the latest news.

Pre-Launch

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Howard Nye
12/04/99 03:12 PM

To:   Dietmar Heger/esoc/ESA@ESA, Jean Clavel/vilspa/ESA@ESA, Mauro
      Casale/vilspa/ESA@ESA, Ram=F3n Mu=F1oz/vilspa/ESA@ESA, Edmund
      Serpell/esoc/ESA@ESA, Jorge Fauste/vilspa/ESA@ESA, Neil
      Cheek/vilspa/ESA@ESA, Damien Texier/vilspa/ESA@ESA, Oscar
      Ojanguren/esoc/ESA@ESA, Daniel De Pablo/vilspa/ESA@ESA
cc:   Frank Dreger/esoc/ESA@ESA, Gottlob Gienger/esoc/ESA@ESA, Alan
      Smith/esoc/ESA@ESA, Hubert Barre/estec/ESA@ESA, Fabio
      Giannini/estec/ESA@ESA, Walter Flury/esoc/ESA@ESA
Subject:  XMM : Web Site to Monitor Solar Proton Levels

Please find below E-mail from Robert Laine, recommending we routinely check
the NOAA Space Environments Center web site (NOAA/SEC, http://sec.noaa.gov/) 
to monitor the level of potentially damaging solar protons.

Dietmar : Please confirm that we will be checking this from the PC in the
DCR and adding it to the routine Spacon tasks list
Jean : I assume you will set this up on your side too !

Best regards

Howard

------ Forwarded by Howard Nye/esoc/ESA on 04/12/99 15:05 --------------

Robert Laine
04/12/99 14:01

To:   Howard Nye/esoc/ESA@ESA, Fabio Giannini/estec/ESA@ESA, Hubert
      Barre/estec/ESA@ESA
cc:   Fred Jansen/estec/ESA@ESA
Subject:  Chandra radiation protection

Dear colleagues,
please find attached a note from Chandra team. In point one it give the URL
for proton warning.
I think that ESOC should set a PC and hook it to that URL such that we can
get the same warning as used on Chandra.

Helios cleared the base OK on time. So we are next in line..."au suivant..."

Regards

--------- Forwarded by Robert Laine/estec/ESA on 04/12/99 13:53 ----------


"Steve O'Dell"  on 04/12/99 02:36:35

To:   fjansen@estsa2.estec.esa.nl, martin@smoker.msfc.nasa.gov, Robert
      Laine/estec/ESA
cc:   a.brinkman@sron.nl, mjlt@star.le.ac.uk, Steve.O'Dell@msfc.nasa.gov,
      rcameron@cfa.harvard.edu, tony.lavoie@msfc.nasa.gov
Subject:  Chandra radiation protection


Dear Fred,
You must be quite excited with the XMM launch only a week away. Good luck!
I wanted to update you on what we are doing to protect the Chandra science
instruments against radiation damage. You may already know most of this, but I
wanted to be sure that you are aware of what we have learned.
As you know, we believe that protons with energies of 0.1--0.5 keV caused the
CTI degradation of the ACIS front-illuminated CCDs. It is possible that other
weakly penetrating species (perhaps 0.4--2-MeV O+) could also produce some of
this damage. However, we figure that if we protect the instruments against a
high flux of protons, we also shall be protecting against a high flux of other
potentially damaging species.
(1)  Protection against solar protons:
We are using real-time data from the ACE (Advanced Composition Explorer) EPAM
(Electron, Proton, and Alpha Monitor) detector, to warn of enhanced
solar-proton radiation. ACE is in an L1 orbit, so it is about an hour upstream
from the Earth. The real-time EPAM data (see attached Figure 1 below) cover 5
proton energy bands from about 0.05 MeV to 1.9 MeV; so, it is ideal for
detecting potentially damaging solar protons. The NOAA Space Environments
Center (NOAA/SEC, http://sec.noaa.gov/) provides near-real-time web and ftp
access to these data. The Chandra X-ray Center (CXC) automatically checks these
data every 5 minutes and alerts appropriate personnel if specified thresholds
are exceeded. We then evaluate the data and trends to determine whether we
should intervene to protect the science instruments.
(2)  Protection against magnetospheric protons:
We are scheduling protection of the science instruments during transit of the
"radiation belts". To do this, the Off-Line Software (OFLS) uses a simple
de-centered magnetic-dipole model for predicting radiation-belt entry and exit.
This simple model is NOT good enough. Based upon CXC analysis of data from the
on-board EPHIN (Electron, Proton, and Helium Instrument; essentially identical
to the detector on SOHO), we are now adding a 13-ks pad on either side of the
radiation belt predicted by the model used by the OFLS. Thus, we believe that,
at this time of year, we must protect the ACIS FI CCDs below about 70,000-km
altitude. In fact, the ACIS FI CCDs experienced some additional damage (CTI
degradation of about 2*10^-6) within the magnetosphere, but outside the
"radiation belt".
We thus realize that the de-centered dipole and the AP8MAX proton predictions
are NOT good enough. There are regions outside the "radiation belt" --- e.g.,
transient events in the dawn-sector quasi-trapped region between geosynchronous
orbit and the magnetopause (see attached Figure 2 below) and in the
magnetotail --- in which the proton flux is high enough to produce significant
degradation of the FI CCDs, especially when integrated over the life of the
mission. Our current criteria (using the 13-ks pad or shutting down below
70,000-km altitude) is adequate for now; however, in the next few months, we
need to develop a better model, in order to improve the observing efficiency
and to predict magnetotail crossings (about a half-year away).
(3)  Autonomous safing
As a back-up to intervention against solar protons and scheduled safing
against magnetospheric protons, we are using the EPHIN as a radiation monitor
to trigger autonomous safing of the instruments. In fact, all safing
procedures, whether or not triggered by EPHIN, now include safing the science
instruments. The following autonomous procedures safe the science instruments:
(a) Retract gratings.
(b) Translate focal-plane to midway between HRC and ACIS, to protect
immediately against bright-object (sun) damage.
(c) Power down ACIS camera boards.
(d) Mostly close HRC door; power down anti-coincidence PMTs and ramp down
MCP HV.
(e) Translate focal-plane to mostly closed HRC so that ACIS is well hidden
from HRMA.
Regards,
Steve
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philippe Kletzkine
07/12/99 22:41

To:   Robert Laine/estec/ESA@ESA, Roger Bonnet/esahq/ESA@ESA, Dina
      Bauer/esahq/ESA@ESA, John Credland/estec/ESA@ESA, Jean-Jacques
      Dordain/esahq/ESA@ESA
cc:   Hubert Barre/estec/ESA@ESA, Jan van Dooren/estec/ESA@ESA, Daniel de
      Chambure/estec/ESA@ESA, Howard Nye/esoc/ESA@ESA, Fred
      Jansen/estec/ESA@ESA, Andre Van Gaver/esahq/ESA@ESA, Jaap de
      Bijl/estec/ESA@ESA
Subject:  XMM Progress Update, J-3

XMM

The spacecraft has been armed. Hardware-wise, it is in flight configuration
i.e. all red tag items (not for flight) have been removed and all green tag
items (to be installed for flight) have been installed.
The last battery conditioning has been completed.
Spacecraft purging is continuing.

Launcher
The launch vehicle has been armed. The fairing doors have been closed,
after the spacecraft arming.
Preparations for launch, particularly of the ground systems for the
transfer to the launch zone scheduled on J-1, are on-going.
No change of overall schedule.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

December 1999

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fabio Giannini
12/13/99 02:21 PM

To:   Giorgio Bagnasco/estec/ESA@ESA, Daniel de Chambure/estec/ESA@ESA,
      Stefan Thuerey/estec/ESA@ESA, Robert Laine/estec/ESA@ESA, EPIC LUX
      Distribution List , Philippe Ferrando
      , A.Naber@sron.nl, M.Bremer@sron.nl,
      jat@mssl.ucl.ac.uk, J.W.A.den.Herder@sron.nl, L.Dubbeldam@sron.nl,
      Alain CROS , boer@cesr.fr, Fred
      Jansen/estec/ESA@ESA, Rudolf Much/estec/ESA@ESA, David
      Lumb/estec/ESA@ESA, Christian Erd/estec/ESA@ESA, Howard Huckle
      , Phil Smith ,
      bertb@sron.nl, kom@mssl.ucl.ac.uk, mjlt@star.le.ac.uk,
      gev@ifctr.mi.cnr.it, clr@mpehp1.mpe-garching.mpg.de, Dietmar
      Heger/esoc/ESA@ESA, Alan Smith/esoc/ESA@ESA, Hubert
      Barre/estec/ESA@ESA, Mauro Casale/vilspa/ESA@ESA, Kate
      Adamson/vilspa/ESA@ESA, Jean Clavel/vilspa/ESA@ESA, Damien
      Texier/vilspa/ESA@ESA
cc:
Subject:  All 3 EPIC are alive and well, UPDATE

Update at 14:00 13-12-1999 :

MOS2 CCD temp= -41C
MOS1 CCD temp= -27C
p-n CCD temp   = -53C
EPIC Radiators temp all at -110/-112

RGS1 & 2 CCDs temp = -26C

As we are in a delta-V burn, the pitch is ~40Degc and we have sun on the OM
door; temp +25C at the hinge.
ERME temp stable +8/+10C.

We will soon start the MOS1 and p-n ventings.

Ciao, Fabio.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fabio Giannini
13/12/99 06:34

Hi there,

Just finished the venting of MOS2 and the check on MOS1 and p-n.

Everithing nominal:

Bellow pressure MOS1= 4.44 bar
Bellow pressure MOS2= 4.13 bar

Pressure sensor MOS1= 7694mV (camera temp ~8C)
Pressure sensor MOS2= 7460mV (camera temp ~5C)

Pressure p-n (-0.1!!!) cal curve also pressure dependent, but it is
probably OK).

The CCD temperature for MOS 2 is already below the temperature in MOS1
(-30C).

Tomorrow afternoon venting of MOS1 and p-n.


Ciao, and good night.

Fabio, Nicola, Maurizio, Reiner, Ed, Markus.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hubert Barre
12/12/99 14:33

To:   Robert Laine/estec/ESA@ESA, Philippe Kletzkine/estec/ESA@ESA, Daniel
      de Chambure/estec/ESA@ESA, Uwe.Minne@dss.dornier.dasa.de,
      Guenter.Hampel@dss.dornier.dasa.de,
      Bernd.Koesters@dss.dornier.dasa.de, m.ransom@go-ariane.com
cc:   Nicole Lamoureux/estec/ESA@ESA, Isabelle Luthold/estec/ESA@ESA,
      Bernard Jackson/estec/ESA@ESA, Anders Elfving/estec/ESA@ESA, Anders
      Karlsson/estec/ESA@ESA, Daniele Stramaccioni/estec/ESA@ESA, Fabio
      Giannini/estec/ESA@ESA, Alan Smith/esoc/ESA@ESA, Howard
      Nye/esoc/ESA@ESA, Dietmar Heger/esoc/ESA@ESA
Subject:  XMM Operations Report at H0 + 48 Hours .

This is my second personal report , to keep you all informed :

At the time of writing , it is exactly  46 Hours and 40 Minutes since XMM
has taken off from KOUROU .

As of now  ( H0 + 46 Hours , 40 Minutes , few Seconds ) :
- XMM has passed the first Perigee  , and is now at about  10,000 km above
the Earth .
- Both parts  ( Delta-V1 & 2  ) of the first PRM ( Perigee Raise Maneuvre )
have been completed successfully , as planned .
- The Perigee was actually raised from 826 km ( Initial virtual Perigee
P-0 )  to 4891 km . ( The maneuvre was performed in the right direction and
along the right vector ) . This Perigee P-1 took place at 12:32 UT this
Sunday 12 Dec. 99 .
- So far : some 1516  Tele-Commands have been sent from ground , NONE
having been rejected on-board .
- All sub-systems are Nominal , and all operating Units are on A-Side (
Prime Branch ) .

The XMM Operations Team ( ESOC + ESTEC ( PX + TOS ) + DORNIER ) remains
concentrated on the job .

Salutations Amicales .
- Hubert  BARRE - 12 December 1999 -

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hubert Barre
14/12/99 07:54

To:   Robert Laine/estec/ESA@ESA, Philippe Kletzkine/estec/ESA@ESA, Daniel
      de Chambure/estec/ESA@ESA, Uwe.Minne@dss.dornier.dasa.de,
      Guenter.Hampel@dss.dornier.dasa.de,
      Bernd.Koesters@dss.dornier.dasa.de, m.ransom@go-ariane.com
cc:   Nicole Lamoureux/estec/ESA@ESA, Isabelle Luthold/estec/ESA@ESA,
      Bernard Jackson/estec/ESA@ESA, Anders Elfving/estec/ESA@ESA, Anders
      Karlsson/estec/ESA@ESA, Daniele Stramaccioni/estec/ESA@ESA, Fabio
      Giannini/estec/ESA@ESA, Alan Smith/esoc/ESA@ESA, Howard
      Nye/esoc/ESA@ESA, Dietmar Heger/esoc/ESA@ESA
Subject:  XMM Operations Report at H0 + 88 Hours .

For information , below is my  personal report Nb. 03 , on 14 December 1999
:

Counting from Lift-Off in KOUROU , XMM is now flying  for 88 Hours .

Short  status report  :
- XMM has passed  its second Apogee .
- The second  PRM  ( Perigee Raise Maneuvre )  , carried out at Apogee 2
has been completed successfully , as planned .
- The Perigee was actually raised from 4891 km  ( Perigee  P-1 )  to 6480
km .
- This Perigee P-2 will be passed Today at   11:41 UT  .
-  In total  2267  Tele-Commands have been executed on-board , NONE having
been rejected .
- All sub-systems are Nominal , and all operating Units are on A-Side (
Prime Branch ) .
- Mirror Temperatures are monitored carefully , and regular updates to the
MTCU Duty Cycles are being uplinked .
- Although fully nominal , the Star Tracker behaviour is being analysed in
details (  " The AOCS behaviour is so good , that we have to find specific
point to maintain our neurones active " ) .
- Right now , XMM is at an altitude of some 57'000 km  and is gliding
towards the earth at a speed of  2.55 km per second .

The XMM Operations Team ( ESOC + ESTEC ( PX + TOS ) + DORNIER ) remains
concentrated on the job .
Since the operations are so smooth , We are thinking to relax a bit the
shift plan ( 24 H per Day on call , but not necessarily on ESOC site at
night , when operations are limited ) .
Yesterday 13 December , our swedish colleagues offered the " Glugg " to
celebrate Santa Lucia ( Have a look to the XMM Web pages ) .

Salutations Amicales .
- Hubert  BARRE - 14 December 1999 -

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hubert Barre
15/12/99 17:09

To:   Robert Laine/estec/ESA@ESA, Philippe Kletzkine/estec/ESA@ESA, Daniel de
      Chambure/estec/ESA@ESA, Uwe.Minne@dss.dornier.dasa.de,
      Guenter.Hampel@dss.dornier.dasa.de, Bernd.Koesters@dss.dornier.dasa.de,
      m.ransom@go-ariane.com, John Credland/estec/ESA@ESA, Jacques
      Durand/esahq/ESA@ESA
cc:   Nicole Lamoureux/estec/ESA@ESA, Isabelle Luthold/estec/ESA@ESA, Bernard
      Jackson/estec/ESA@ESA, Anders Elfving/estec/ESA@ESA, Anders
      Karlsson/estec/ESA@ESA, Daniele Stramaccioni/estec/ESA@ESA, Fabio
      Giannini/estec/ESA@ESA, Alan Smith/esoc/ESA@ESA, Howard Nye/esoc/ESA@ESA,
      Dietmar Heger/esoc/ESA@ESA
Subject:  XMM Operations Report at H0 + 120 Hours .

For information , below is my  personal report Nb. 04 , on 15 December 1999 :

Counting from Lift-Off in KOUROU , XMM is now flying  for 120 Hours and 47
Minutes  .

Short  status report  :
- XMM has passed  its third  Apogee , at  11:13  UT Today .  Apogee 3 altitude
was 114'003 km .
- The third  PRM  ( Perigee Raise Maneuvre )  , carried out at Apogee 3 has been
completed successfully , as planned today , between 12:10  and  12:48  UT .
- The predictions for this maneuvre are :
     - Delta-V  =        23.92 m/s
     - Fuel Mass usage  =     39.5  Kg
     - Perigee Altitude target  =  7355 km .
Those predictions will be verified by an Orbit Determination to be carried out
in the next hours .
- The Perigee 2  - before this maneuvre - was actually  6485 km .
-  In total  2627  Tele-Commands  ( at 15:19 UT Today ) have been executed
on-board , NONE having been rejected . This number includes 2 Time-Tagged
Tele-Commands to command the RF antennae switch .
- All sub-systems are Nominal , and all operating Units are on A-Side ( Prime
Branch ) .
- Mirror Temperatures are monitored carefully , and regular updates to the MTCU
Duty Cycles are being uplinked .

Today , a general meeting took place to optimise the timeline , based on the
very successfull operations conducted up to now . A new schedule has been agreed
concerning the opening of the Mirror Assemblies Doors ( MAD's )  on Friday 17
December , and then the  Optical Monitor Door ( OMD ) on Saturday 18 December
1999 .

The XMM Operations Team ( ESOC + ESTEC ( PX + TOS ) + DORNIER ) remains
concentrated on the job .
Since the operations are so smooth , the shift plan has been amended :  24 H per
Day on call , working hours on ESOC site between 08:00 and 20:00 , plus as
dictated by specific operations  .

Robert LAINE , the XMM Project Manager , is expected to visit ESOC and the
Flight Control + Project Support Teams , here at ESOC , on Thursday afternoon
and Friday morning .

XMM / ARIANE 504  label is now added to the list of satellites operated by ESOC
, on the large boards of the MCR ( Main Control Room ) .

Salutations Amicales .

- Hubert  BARRE - 15 December 1999 -
     XMM Project
     Systems Engineering & Operations Manager

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi everybody,

another good news for the XMM .

today at 14:00 GMT the Optical Monitor door has been succesfully opened.


The 3 mirror doors where also succesfully opened yesterday.

Ciao, Fabio

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear all,

Today, Sunday Dec. 19th, we switched on the Radiation Monitor. Everything went
smooth and now ERMS is working as fine as possible. Tomorrow will be the 
perigee pass and belt crossing.

For the moment space weather is rather quiet, according to ERMS: Count rates are
about 1 - 3 c/s, depending on the energy band All parameters have been set
to their nominal values.

Merry Christmas

Michel Boer, Alain Cros, Fabio Gianini, Mauro Casale, Stefan Thuerey, Hubert
Barre

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PAYLOADS

The EPIC Radiation Monitor was switched on at  11:14:58 (DOY 353). All
parameters were within expected ranges; values for some key parameters are 
reported here below:
 
Temperature of the detector: -26.9 C
Temperature of the Electronics box: 7.5 C
Voltage: 4.9 V
Current: 195 +/- 35 mA

The following operating modes were successfully entered and commissioned: 
Standby, Slow, Fast, Storage. All mode transitions were exercised and 
successfully executed with and without usage of the on board test generator. 
This was also the first time that the Science Telemetry Virtual Channel (VC-7) 
was activated;  the VC-7 TM was properly processed in all instrument 
operating modes.

At completion of the commissioning test program, the instrument on board 
parameters (e.g. high voltages, detection and warning flag thresholds) were 
set to their operational values and the instrument configured for Fast mode.  
Some further tuning of the on board parameters was required, namely for the 
Low Energy and High Energy discriminator thresholds, to minimize the 
noise level.
Since the whole activity was conducted around apogee the first measured 
count rates were relatively small, typical values being in the range 1 - 3  
cps for all seven energy bands. 

The Radiation Monitor commissioning activities, including fine tuning of the on 
board settings, was completed at 16:00. The instrument is currently 
operating in Fast mode (i.e. producing a set of  seven count rates and 
three complete spectra over different energy ranges every 4 second); it will 
remain in this configuration during several revolutions for collection of 
radiation data. 



[last update: 16 Dec 1999 by M. Bremer]