ACIS Instrument Support - Monthly Progress Report for September 2006

1.  ACIS Characterization

1.3 Monitor scientific on-orbit performance of ACIS

  ...  Continued monitoring of ACIS CTI, gain, trailing pixel 
pulseheight, detector efficiency, corner pixel distribution, and 
spectral line centroid and width. Updated monitoring web pages.  
(http://space.mit.edu/~cgrant/monitor.html)

  ...  Continued work on memo for the operations team on the 
consequences of a future, unprotected radiation belt transit by ACIS.  
Awaiting final inputs, then will circulate to wider distribution.


2.  Engineering

2.1 Instrument hardware engineering performance

  ...  Continue to monitor long term ACIS instrument performance.
ACIS engineering parameters remain stable.

  ...  Responded to SOT alert of limit violations during diagnostic
housekeeping test.  Violations are expected.

2.3 Instrument science performance

  ...  Participated in "monthly" ACIS operations meeting.  Discussed
just completed 10 video board housekeeping diagnotic run, thermal
issues, etc.

  ...  Did a preliminary assessment of ACIS test which collected
housekeeping data with all ten video boards powered on. These data 
will be compared to that taken in 1999.  Analysis ongoing.

  ...  Updated memo describing newly reported bias map anomalies
(ftp://acis.mit.edu/pub/SPR139-1.0.pdf) including a discussion
of a possible cause.

  ...  Continued daily quick-look processing of ACIS telemetry and 
maintained Web interface to ACIS real-time data.

  ...  Continued to publish the "annotated DOT" timeline reports.


3.  CXC Support

3.1 Provide user support

  ...  Updated ACIS memo listing calibration ObsIDs and observation
characteristics (ACIS Memo #165).

3.2 Provide data analysis support

  ...  Participated in CXC Cal/Ops modelling discussion group.  

  ...  Continued to maintain ACIS calibration database of ground and 
flight data products.

4.  OCC Support

4.1 Use of MIT/ACIS EGSE at OCC

  ...  Continued support and maintenance of ACIS EGSE software and 
hardware at the OCC.

  ...  Continued work on improving configuration management of the ACIS
workstations in the TST area of the Chandra OCC.  Work nearly complete.


Outreach:

None

all recent memos available at http://space.mit.edu/ACIS/iacis.html