Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Users Group Meeting 16 August, 2013 Mission Status Update

1. Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Users Group Meeting 16 August, 2013 Mission Status Update J. McEnery

2. Some goals for this meeting • Comments and feedback from the users group on: • Observation strategies white paper process • http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/proposals/alt_obs/obs_modes.html • Next steps • GI program • Outcome after budget adjustment, plans for cycle 7 • Senior review • Of course, comments on suggestions on any aspect of the mission are welcomed!

3. Budget Status • Significant budget reduction in FY2014, somewhat restored in FY2015 • Accelerate planned rampdown – take full planned reduction in 2014, rather than over the next 3 years • Reduce FOT, FSSC staffing, decrease engineering support • ~20% decrease in support for instrument teams • Minimal GI funding in 2014 (originally planned $8M) • Cycle 6 reduced from $8M to $6.8M (factor 5 oversubscription), all funded at end FY13. • Cycle 7 reduced from $8M to $4M, will be funded at beginning of FY15. Gap between Cycle 6 and Cycle 7 will be ~16 months. Likely to have severe oversubscription rate. • EPO funding withdrawn from NASA budget in presidents request • 1 person let go • Trying to keep the rest of the group together until the end of the calendar year in hope that fiscal situation improves

4. Observatory is operating smoothly Star Trackers Noise in star trackers were causing alerts to the FOT (but not science impacts) Fixed by lowering operating temperature FSSC webpage issues Short IT security related downtime on some FSSC pages. Judy Racusin has been appointed as a new deputy project scientist (joining Liz, Dave and Neil) Elizabeth Ferrara is deputy FSSC lead Scientist Cycle 6 GI program included new VERITAS and Arecibo opportunities This week marks 5 year anniversary of science operations Celebration next Monday afternoon, open new exhibit at visitor center Press release on Aug 22 Mission Status Highlights

5. Observations summary (since last meeting) • Almost exclusively in nominal data taking in survey mode • ARRs (2.5 hour autonomous observation in response to GRB) • ~2 per month • 1 Target of Opportunity (ToO) observation • Crab nebula • Nova Del 2013 (today!) • Nadir observations restarted in Summer 2013 • Most have been changed LAT trigger/filter config + point at Earth Nadir • A small number only change LAT config (i.e. stay in regular sky survey) • Calibrations/engineering tests (see Steve’s talk for details) • <24 hours for LAT calibrations • Some data loss (<6 hours) on Aug 2 due to incorrect planning ephemeris

6. High Level Data Releases • Extended weekly data files now available! • Provided pre-release of P7REP data to allow line studies in support of observation white paper evaluation • Sciencetools release (see FSSC presentation) • Rmfit release • In the works (within a month or two) • Revamping LAT GRB summary table • Updated Galactic diffuse model (for P7reprocessed data) • P7 reprocessed data (updated calorimeter calibrations) • GBM localization contours for GRB

7. Multiwavelength Analysis workshops • LIGO-Fermi meeting, March 2013 • Hands on analysis workshop between LIGO/VIRGO/GEO and Fermi-LAT/Fermi-GBM • Tutorials on how to use each other’s data, share how each collaboration responds to alerts • Very successful - plan to do this again. Continuing to work on joint analysis projects • Fermi/VERITAS/HAWC, Dec 2013 • Planned to be an analysis workshop • Goal to optimize how we work together • Joint analysis techniques • Share operations experience etc

8. Fermi Summer School • Mix of experimental, theory and observational work • http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/mtgs/summerschool/2013/ • Science focus on dark matter

9. Fermi Guest Investigators • New guest investigators join the program each year • This is a lower limit on number of Fermi users, as it is mostly limited to US users

10. Publications • Fermi papers per year continues to show a rising trend • Citations to Fermi paper are very high – 2nd LAT catalog is most cited 2012 refereed paper in astrophysics.

11. PhD Theses using Fermi data • The list of PhD theses is still being compiled, so the numbers in the figure above should be considered a lower limit. >160

12. Some outreach items • HQ iPad group working on Fermi with input from Dave Thompson and Toni Venters • Developing Fermi exhibit for GSFC visitors center • Revamped Fermi/Swift booth at AAS • Includes set of science pamphlets • Upcoming press activity • Pulsar feature/podcast • Collision avoidance • Fermi 5-year launch anniversary • Starting to think about a celebration, ideas/suggestions are welcome! • Lots happening in EPO – see Lynn’s talk for details

13. Press Releases • Neutron star antiglitch

14. Press Release • Fermi discovers shockingly bright burst – GRB130427A

15. Press release • The day Fermi dodged a 1.5 ton bullet

16. Press releases • Fermi's Motion Produces a Study in Spirograph

17. Upcoming press releases • GRB130427A • 5 papers submitted to science magazine: Fermi-LAT, Fermi-GBM, Swift, Raptor, NuSTAR • Media telecon, possibly followed by google hangout • Five year anniversary • Variable pulsar in Gamma-Cygni (led by SLAC)

18. Questions?

19. backup

20. GRB table