Space Telescope Science Institute

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STSI) has been established to optimize the use of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) by the astronomical community. STSI, funded by NASA, is charged with supporting and evaluating the HST instruments, planning observations, and treating and archiving the collected data. A current $15 million budget covers a 240 person staff who are currently identifying the HST's response to 500 types of celestial targets, the orbital operational envelope, and planning shakedown procedures. A star catalog is being formatted for use as a pointing guide for the HST sensors, and over 100 programs are already defined for astronomers to control and analyze data displays. The programs are intended for implementation on various types of computers. The main problem during operations will be allocating viewing time while allowing flexibility for changing to targets of opportunity.