Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme

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EP: Fachverband Extraterrestrische Physik

EP 17: Astrophysik II

EP 17.3: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 15, 2012, 15:00–15:30, V55.02

The pipeline starts in space: On-board data handling of space observatories — •Roland Ottensamer — Department of Astronomy, University of Vienna

The rapid development of detector technologies for space missions with more pixels and higher efficiency leads to scientifically more valuable data, but also to much higher data rates and on-board processing needs. Especially spacecrafts at far distances, such as the Lagrangian point L2 or solar system probes and missions with a limited lifetime cannot afford lengthy downlink periods and must therefore reduce the data to a smaller amount in real-time. An example for this is the Herschel Space Observatory, which is in its third year of highly successful operations.

Depending on a mission's profile, the data may have to be intensely processed with special techniques to fit into the available downlink. An overview of on-board data handling is given together with a perspective of currently planned missions and the implications on the data products are outlined.