Athena mission operations concept with a special view on ToO
Abstract
The operations concept of the Athena X-ray observatory is currently in its Phase 0/A. It has to satisfy two opposing requirements: cost effective operations (i.e. preplanned and minimised coverage)on the one hand and quick reaction to Targets of Opportunity (ToO) on the other hand. We present a possible scenario of operations combining the mission requirements with the gained expertise from missions like Herschel/Planck with respect to L2 operations as well as XMM-Newton and Integral expertise evaluating the possibility and feasibility of special operations for ToO. In order to satisfy the reaction time for a ToO of 4 h the operations concept is a spacecraft High Gain Antenna always pointed to Earth and configured for TC reception. This enables the use of small ground stations for ToO communications. This and the general features of the mission operations ground segment will be presented in detail.
- Publication:
-
Exploring the Hot and Energetic Universe: The first scientific conference dedicated to the Athena X-ray observatory
- Pub Date:
- September 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015eheu.conf...71K