Development of the Waseda CALET Operations Center (WCOC) for Scientific Operations of CALET

Abstract

The CALET project aims at a long duration observation of high energy cosmic rays onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The CALET detector features a very thick calorimeter of 30 radiation-lengths which consists of imaging and total absorption calorimeters. It will directly measure the cosmic-ray electron spectrum in the energy range of 1GeV–20TeV with 2 % energy resolution. The data obtained with CALET onboard ISS will be transferred to JAXA using two data relay satellite systems operated by NASA and JAXA, respectively. To operate the CALET onboard ISS, the CALET Ground Support Equipment (CALET-GSE) is being prepared in JAXA. Simultaneously, Waseda CALET Operations Center (WCOC) is being established to perform operations and monitoring related to the scientific mission. The real-time data received by CALET-GSE is immediately transferred to WCOC. Scientific raw data are also transferred to WCOC on an hourly basis after time-order correcting and complementing replay data. Mission operations at WCOC includes the following roles: 1. Real-time monitoring and operations: To monitor the CALET observation and its status in real-time, Quick Look (QL) programs are developed to visualize and summarize both cosmic-ray event data and housekeeping data. Operators at WCOC use QLs to understand the CALET situation and validate the observation on orbit in 24 hour. Upon necessity, appropriate commands will be issued through CALET-GSE. 2. Operation planning: Scheduled command sequences are utilized to control the CALET observation mode on orbit. Calibration data taking such as pedestal and penetrating particle events, low energy electron data taking at high geomagnetic latitude, and other dedicated trigger modes can be scheduled along with the ISS orbit. 3. Scientific data processing: The scientific raw data called CALET Level-0 data are processed to CALET Level-1 data, and Level-1 data are distributed to the collaboration for scientific analysis. Quick analyses based on both Level-0 and Level-1 data are performed and their results are used to feedback for better operation planning and real-time monitoring. In this contribution, we will review the role of WCOC and report WCOC development.