Operations CXO Status Report

Friday 8 August 2003 3.00pm EDT

During the last week the observing schedule was interrupted following a high radiation event at 4:39pm on Aug 1 that stopped the daily load and activated the science instrument safing sequence (SCS 107). The event occurred just prior to radiation belt entry and is thought to be due to a 'puffed-up' belt state caused by high levels of coronal stream activity. The loads were replanned and science was re-started at radiation belt exit on Aug 2 with 4Ks of science loss. The 2003 summer eclipse season continued with the spacecraft exhibiting nominal power and thermal performance during eclipses on 8/1, 8/4 and 8/6. A procedure to clear a glitch counter that incremented during the 8/4 eclipse exit was run on 8/5. The counter increment is expected under certain timing conditions. The observing schedule for next week is shown below and includes an observation of AM Herculis coordinated with RXTE.

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NGC 5252               ACIS-S       Aug 10
NGC 5204 X-1           ACIS-S       Aug 11
SN 2002ic              ACIS-S
Radiation Belts
HD37468                ACIS-S/HETG  Aug 12
IC5267                 ACIS-S       Aug 13
NGC 5204 X-1           ACIS-S       Aug 14
Radiation Belts
AM Herculis            ACIS-S/HETG  Aug 15
EXO0422                ACIS-I       Aug 16
RX J2217.9-5941        ACIS-S
SAX J1810.8-2609       ACIS-S
NGC 5204 X-1           ACIS-S       Aug 17
Radiation Belts
2MASS141850+680410     ACIS-S       Aug 18

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All spacecraft subsystems, with the exception of the MUPS thruster A-1 under investigation, continued to operate nominally.

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