The LOFT Ground Segment
Abstract
LOFT, the Large Observatory For X-ray Timing, was one of the ESA M3 mission candidates that completed their assessment phase at the end of 2013. LOFT is equipped with two instruments, the Large Area Detector (LAD) and the Wide Field Monitor (WFM). The LAD performs pointed observations of several targets per orbit (~90 minutes), providing roughly ~80 GB of proprietary data per day (the proprietary period will be 12 months). The WFM continuously monitors about 1/3 of the sky at a time and provides data for about ~100 sources a day, resulting in a total of ~20 GB of additional telemetry. The LOFT Burst alert System additionally identifies on-board bright impulsive events (e.g., Gamma-ray Bursts, GRBs) and broadcasts the corresponding position and trigger time to the ground using a dedicated system of ~15 VHF receivers. All WFM data are planned to be made public immediately. In this contribution we summarize the planned organization of the LOFT ground segment (GS), as established in the mission Yellow Book 1 . We describe the expected GS contributions from ESA and the LOFT consortium. A review is provided of the planned LOFT data products and the details of the data flow, archiving and distribution. Despite LOFT was not selected for launch within the M3 call, its long assessment phase (> 2 years) led to a very solid mission design and an efficient planning of its ground operations.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1408.6541,
title = {The LOFT Ground Segment},
author = {E. Bozzo and A. Antonelli and A. Argan and D. Barret and P. Binko and S. Brandt and E. Cavazzuti and T. Courvoisier and J. W. den Herder and M. Feroci and C. Ferrigno and P. Giommi and D. Götz and L. Guy and M. Hernanz and J. J. M. in't Zand and D. Klochkov and E. Kuulkers and C. Motch and D. Lumb and A. Papitto and C. Pittori and R. Rohlfs and A. Santangelo and C. Schmid and A. D. Schwope and P. J. Smith and N. A. Webb and J. Wilms and S. Zane},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1408.6541},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
Proc. SPIE 9144, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 91446A