A 12-month study into the feasibility of a ``Science First Look'' is being started at ARI. The motivation and purpose of this study can be summarized as follows:
Scanning science spacecraft such as Hipparcos, Planck and GAIA need a global, coherent, interleaved reduction and calibration of many months of measurements to reach their target levels of precision. It is therefore, on one hand, very difficult to immediately assess the proper functioning of all elements at the required levels of precision and stability. It is, on the other hand, for the same reason of utmost importance to quickly get a handle on the inherent quality of the elementary measurements. Learning only from the primary science reduction that some subtle effect has degraded the measurements would effectively mean the loss of many months of data and mission time.
Thus the purpose of this study is:
- to make possible a rapid "Science First Look" health monitoring of a delicate scientific spacecraft at the targetted level of precision of the science instrumentation.
In addition, a prototype software for the central astrometric pre-processing steps needed to perform a Science Quick Look is planned to be produced and to be delivered into the general GAIA data analysis prototype system GDAAS at Barcelona.
The aim of this study is not to produce an operational system for a given mission, but to explore the basic needs and possibilities for the solution of the basic problem stated in the first paragraph.