29-30 June 2004

Chandra Users' Committee

Attendees:  Monique Arnaud, You-Hua Chu, Jack Hughes, Vassaliki Kalogera, Bill Latter (by telephone), Julia Lee, Knox Long, Kazuhisa Mitsuda, Chris Reynolds, Alan Smale (ex-officio), Greg Taylor, Allyn Tenant (ex-officio).

The first day of the meeting was dominated by presentations by the CXC staff.  Briefly:

General conclusions:

The CUC is generally pleased with the status of Chandra and the level of user support provided by the CXC.  The science productivity of Chandra is very high, and this is in large measure due to the dedication of its staff.  With the exception of continued question concerning the effect of contaminant buildup on the Optical Blocking Filter of ACIS, there are no major technical problems that are under intensive investigation.

The CXC has been responsive to the recommendations of the CUC in the past, and for that we are grateful. In particular, we see continued progress in terms of the rationalization and systemization of a calibration program.  We also applaud the effort to attempt to find holes in CIAO analysis procedures, using this to establish priorities for development, and especially the focus on what products are needed to close holes that have been identified.  We do not detect any specific areas where user complaints are concentrated. In fact, very few members of the community have complained to us, or indicated that they were unhappy in our informal questions to them. 

Specific Recommendations

Next time

The suggested time for the next meeting is Jan 25, 26th.  This is conveniently after the HST deadline, which is January 21st

Topics for the next meeting are not yet established, but, should include, as noted above a complete discussion of pileup tools and also a more extensive discussion of archival proposals, both as part of the proposal process and in terms of demonstrated science productivity.