Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter DataManage

Thursday, 12 September 2024, 16:15   (S22)

The SOFIA Data Center (SDC)

Bernhard Schulz and the SDC Team
DSI, Universität Stuttgart

During 783 scientific flights, SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy of DLR and NASA, collected a considerable volume of scientific data. After the end of flight operations in September 2022, NASA supported a post operations phase for a bit over a year, which allowed for a limited data reprocessing of Cycles 5 to 9 only. Eventually all data were made available in the Infrared Science Archive at IPAC. To complete the job and insure a full exploitation of the considerable investment in SOFIA, the German SOFIA Institute (DSI) in Stuttgart submitted a proposal to DLR, to create a SOFIA Data Center (SDC) with a more comprehensive plan for a five year post operational phase. The proposal was accepted and funded, with the SDC starting in July 2024. This contribution will discuss our plans to perform a more comprehensive reprocessing of all stored SOFIA data using upgraded data processing pipelines, with improved pointing reconstruction, derived from guide camera imagery and new corrections for atmospheric water vapor and instrumental effects. Along with the technical and operational engineering data of the telescope, the science data - re-ordered by astronomical criteria - will be stored in a searchable, VO-compatible, publicly accessible archive. The newly formed SDC draws from the experienced work-force of the former DSI. Once the SDC work is complete, the archive will be transferred to the new German Astrophysics Center (DZA) as a long-term home. We expect to work with the German and international astronomical community to promote the exploitation and publication of rare Mid- and Far-Infrared data, establish a powerful scientific resource for the time after the mission, and bridge the gap until the next space- or stratospheric infrared observatory becomes available.