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Paper: The Ground Support Facilities for the BeppoSAX Mission
Volume: 145, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems VII
Page: 296
Authors: Bruca, L.; Capalbi, M.; Coletta, A.
Abstract: The BeppoSAX ``Satellite per Astronomia X", a program of the Italian (ASI) and the Netherlands (NIVR) Space Agencies, was launched on April 30th into a circular orbit of 590 km altitude and 3.9 degrees inclination. The Ground Support System components are presented in order to highlight the end-to-end operation approach to the scientific mission. The software systems are described following the forward and backward data flow to/from the satellite: starting from the Observation Proposal reception and archiving, the long term observation scheduling up to the detailed weekly planning and telecommands sequence uplinking, and vice versa the scientific and housekeeping raw telemetry acquisition and archiving, quick look data analysis, data reformatting and distribution as a Final Observation Tape to the Observation Proposal PI. Among these components the Quick-look Data Analysis system is emphasized. The main tasks of this system are both health monitoring of the BeppoSAX instruments and quick-look inspection of the scientific results with the goal of detecting and locating major changes in X-Ray sources and searching for X-Ray transient phenomena up to high energy events as Gamma Ray Bursts. This is carried out by performing both Data Accumulation and Data Presentation and Analysis by using the raw payload telemetry data stored on orbital basis.
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