STScI Annual Report 2002: A Living Mission

36 improvements
Better Management of Anomaly Reporting
Anomalies sometimes affect the quality of science data from Hubble. When this
occurs, the responsible Institute staff members and astronomers using the
data must be informed. In the past, anomaly reporting involved unrelated tools,
manual effort, and various locations for storing information, which, for example,
made data collection for trending evaluations difficult to accomplish. An Institute
initiative called PROMPT— PRoblem Observation Management ProjecT—has
improved anomaly reporting by automating processes to ensure completeness
and consistency and consolidating information in one database. PROMPT has
three components: AlertObs collects anomoly information through a graphical
user interface, places it in a database, and distributes an alert message to
Institute staff; AlertPI generates the Observation Exception Report, which is sent
to the proposal contact and placed in a database; and AlertAQ processes new or
updated AlertObs anomaly entries and documents them in the archive catalogue.
PHASTGMS Improves Hubble Proposing
The Institute organized the PHASTGMS (PHASe I to Grants Management System)
project to resolve problems encountered in Cycle 10 when the Phase I proposals
were processed. Four groups joined in this effort— the Science Policies Division,
the Grants Administration Branch, the Engineering and Software Services
Division, and the Program Coordinators. The PHASTGMS project established new
procedures for proposal processing, set requirements for tools to maintain the
Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator addresses, created an interface control
document to rationalize transitions between systems and responsible groups,
and supported the use of the Astronomers Proposal Tool (APT) for Phase I
submission, which was in place for Cycle 12. The PHASTGMS improvements will
ensure rapid and efficient processing of proposals as well as the creation of
an accurate database for proposal management and tracking.
Improvements in the Hubble Program Selection Process
The Institute began the Hubble Treasury Program, which the HST Second Decade
committee recommended, to increase the number of large programs and to
pursue strategic science objectives, such as synergism with other missions and
acquiring important data sets that otherwise would not be available for many
years after the end of the Hubble mission. The Director appointed the Hubble
Treasury Program Advisory Committee to provide advice on ways and means,
strategic directions, and opportunities to promote community participation in
the Hubble Treasury Program. After considering the various ways to facilitate
large collaborations, we conducted a well-attended Hubble Treasury workshop in
fall 2002, in which numerous possible Treasury projects were enunciated. We
then formed interest groups, which began the work of formulating proposals for
large observing programs based on these ideas. We plan to repeat this activity
every year in connection with the summer meeting of the American Astronomical
Society. Data sets from Hubble Treasury programs are non-proprietary and
immediately available to the community. After processing, observing teams will
provide 'science-ready' data sets to the archive plus ancillary data products,
such as catalogues. Because supporting observations at other wavelengths add
value to these programs, we will continue to work with other important national
facilities—such as Chandra, SIRTF, NOAO, and Gemini—to coordinate observing
projects on multiple telescopes.