FAJ, p. 1

Newton 10 years in orbit

Building, Launch and First Years “a personal view”

Fred Jansen Science Operations Department (SRE-O)

European Space Agency

FAJ, p. 2

The Beginning Lyngby, June 1985, ESA-SP 239

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The Beginning Lyngby, June 1985, ESA-SP 239

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The Awakening Telescope Working Group, Feb 1987

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The Technology X-ray Mirrors

- Mirrors- As late as early 1995 several parallel studies into mirror technologies

were pursued- 5 December 1998 (Sinterklaas !) the flight mirror modules arrived at

ESTEC – 174 integrated mirror shells with a PSF core resolution better than spec ! (actually there were worries wrt. the pixel size of the X-ray cameras adequately sampling the PSF)

- Separate test facility was developed (CSL)- Amount of X-ray testing limited- SciSIM concept developed

FAJ, p. 6

The Technology X-ray Mirrors – Reflections on past and future- Effective area as flown approximately 30-40% of Lyngby-1985 numbers- If “L’Histoire se Répète” we will (possibly) fly the Lyngby defined mission

around 2025-2030

FAJ, p. 7

The Technology Ground Segment (SOC) Development

- Defining the science ground segment was a rather difficult (and at times painful) exercise.

- Almost made it to the Guinness Book of Records for the maximum number of RID’s in any one review

- Following my analysis of the approach to the ground segment development, GSM must be reincarnated zen-buddhist:

“Learning builds daily accumulation, but the practice of Tao builds daily simplification. Simplify and simplify, until all contamination from relative,

contradictory thinking is eliminated.

Laozi (570 BC–490 BC), Chinese philosopher.Daode Jing (250 BC).”

• However ……. It did get us there !

FAJ, p. 8

The Technology Instruments – Main Developments

- EPIC- MOS CCD production and radiation hardness- PN CCD design and production- Data handling

- RGS- Back-Illuminated CCD production and radiation hardness- Grating box production- Data handling

- OM- Independent Red+Blue channels- Power supply- Optical coupling of detector readout

- ‘Main items’- Timely manufacturing of flight representative CCD devices (and

readout electronics) to allow radiation damage effects testing to feed back in flight device production and/or electronics design.

FAJ, p. 9

The Technology Science Exploitation

- From the very beginning it was clear that in order to optimally harvest the scientific potential of Newton, a new approach to data analysis, in the broadest possible terms, was needed.

- The Survey Science Consortium was selected through an AO.- Main items:

- Data rights and SSC follow-up- Software development in a large, distributed, consortium

- Especially in this area successful new approaches on configuration control, daily test builds etc were developed

- SAS + pipeline control now well over 2 million lines of code – largely newly developed.

- Catalogue and catalogue update concept- Distribution of SSC ground based ‘follow-up’ observations

FAJ, p. 10

The Occasional Worry …..

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It could be worse however …….

FAJ, p. 12

The Pre-Launch Panic

- The first AO- Database/Performance problems led to development (in ~2 months of

fully functional backup system – ProSS)- Getting PV+GT program ‘endorsed’ by OTAC – no mean feat – PS

personally paid dinner drinks for several panels- SWAP FM MOS Camera Aug-99- EPIC PN at launch

- 3 working quadrants only- The Chandra Scare

- E-mail 14-Sep-1999- 2 difficult months later …

FAJ, p. 13

The Pre-Launch Panic

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Almost There

- Launch in December to avoid the millennium bug- Even though ground segment not fully ready – parking in space was

cheaper

FAJ, p. 15

The Launch Kourou, 10 December 1999

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A Wonderful New Beginning

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‘Routine Operations’

- With not all the systems ready at launch we met with grave difficulties releasing files to ‘regular’ observers once the first part of PV/GT was over

- Review early-2001

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‘Routine Operations’

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The Success !!!

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The Success !!!

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Intriguing Open Question

- In flight it was quickly discovered that >8 keV background was higher than expected. Always attributed to GCR induced background – yet …

FAJ, p. 22

Conclusion

- The Newton observatory is a GREAT success and a true asset for the scientific community

- It was (and still is) made possible by the hard work of hundreds of engineers and scientists !!!

- For me personally it has been a privilege to work with the dozens of dedicated professionals here at ESOC who work extremely hard to make this all possible !