6.4 Overheads
The assessment of the total spacecraft time needed by a program should take into account the overheads associated with various types of observations. Overheads are incorporated into the APT proposal processing algorithm. They are explicitly pointed out here for illustration.
6.4.1 Pos Mode Overheads
Table 6.5 lists the estimated overheads associated with guide star acquisitions, the initial configuring (standby to operate) of the FGS for science observing, the time for slewing the IFOV from target to target in the observing plan, the acquisition of target stars, and finally configuring the FGS at the end of the observing sequence (operate to standby).
The acquisition time of an astrometric target depends upon the target’s magnitude. Fainter stars require longer intergration times (FESTIME) of the fine error signal during the walkdown to finelock. For example, the FESTIME used to acquire a V=10 star is 25 msec, while for a V=16 star FESTIME=3.2 seconds. Columns 2 and 3 in Table 6.6 list an average overhead for each exposure and the recommended total exposure time to be entered on the phase2 proposal (see Table 4.5) as a function of target magnitude. Total time required for a given exposure is estimated by combining columns 2 and 3. The additional overheads indicated in Table 6.5 must be included when determining the total time available for collecting science data. Fortunately, APT calculates and includes all of these overheads when processing a phase2 proposal.
Table 6.5: Pos Mode Overheads
Activity | Duration | Comments |
|---|---|---|
Initial guide star acquisition | 6 min | Two-guide star FineLock (5 min. for re-Acq) |
Initial instrument configuration | 4 min. | Incurred at the beginning of every orbit |
IFOV slew to target | 17 sec + 6 x dist (in arcmin) | for slews between targets in the FOV. |
Astrometry target acquisition:
|
| (Each science target and reference star)
|
Instrument shut down | 2 min. | Incurred at the end of every orbit |
Table 6.6: Pos Mode Overheads and Exposure Time vs. Magnitude
V Magnitude | Estimated Overhead per exposure (minutes) | Exposure Time1 |
|---|---|---|
8–12 | 0.6 | 20 |
13 | 0.7 | 20 |
14 | 2 | 30 |
15 | 3 | 45 |
16 | 8 | 45 |
17 | 8 | 50 |
1 For total spacecraft time, add columns 2 and 3.
6.4.2 Trans Mode Overhead
The overheads for the activities which occur during Trans mode exposures are listed in Table 6.7. The guide star acquisitions, instrumental configurations at the beginning and end of the observing sequence, and astrometry target acquisition activities for Pos mode and Trans mode are identical through the CoarseTrack phase. The FineLock phase in Transfer mode does not depend upon the star’s magnitude. (The star is not really acquired in FineLock. Setting the FineLock flag allows for the transition to fringe scanning under the control of the 486 SSM computer.)
Table 6.7: Trans Mode Observing Overheads
Activity | Duration | Comments |
|---|---|---|
Initial guide star acquisition | 6 min | Two-guide star FineLock (5 min. for re-Acq) |
Initial instrument configuration | 4 min. | Incurred at the beginning of every orbit |
Astrometry target acquisition:
|
| (Each science target and reference star)
|
Time for IFOV to slow and reverse scan direction | 12 sec/scan | This overhead is incurred for each scan, regardless of the scan length or step_size. |
Instrument shut down | 2 min. | Incurred at the end orbit |