23 Mar 2012 13:23

Spacecraft

The spacecraft continues to be in good health and is operating nominally.

Based on the improved knowledge of effects that contribute to the pointing accuracy of the Herschel observatory, two measures to further improve the pointing for future observations have now been implemented:

1. higher order corrections (i.e. smaller than the two earlier updates in July and September 2011) in the on-board star tracker model,
2. update of the on-board star catalogue to exclude high proper motion stars and stars of lesser positional accuracy to the maximum extent possible.

With the implementation of these final measures the Herschel Attitude Control and Monitoring System appears to now have been taken to its performance limit; the pointing error has reached a 1-σ value of about 0.85 arcsecond.

Payload

Operations for all three instruments, PACS, SPIRE and HIFI, have been nominal during the reporting period.

Ground Segment

Ground segment operations have been nominal and 100% of the data continues to be recovered. As of 9 March 2012, the approximate completion of the different programme parts was:

For more details of the different programme parts, see the "overview of Herschel observing" linked from the right-hand menu.

For more details of the different programme parts, see the "overview of Herschel observing" linked from the right-hand menu.

Mission Operations
Throughout the reporting period, mission operations have been conducted with the support of ESA's New Norcia ground station. Observational data stored on-board Herschel was received on ground during daily communication passes, each lasting approximately three hours.

A routine station-keeping manoeuvre, or orbit correction manoeuvre, was performed on 2 March. These routine manoeuvres ensure the spacecraft maintains its correct orbit about L2.

Archiving
The ground segment is operating nominally. Data products are generated routinely and ingested into the Herschel Science Archive (HSA).

Future Milestones

• 14 May 2012: Third launch anniversary of Herschel

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Legal disclaimer
This report is based on the Herschel mission manager's report dated 19 March 2012. Please see the copyright section of the legal disclaimer (linked from the home page http://sci.esa.int) for terms of use.