14 Dec 2010 11:08

Spacecraft

The spacecraft continues to be in good health and is operating nominally.

A patch was identified for the procedure that is regularly run to update the "bad pixel" table. This table lists the "warm" pixels of the star tracker CCD (see the status report from July/August 2010 for an introduction why this table is regularly updated). The patch is needed to avoid a small jump in the telescope's boresight after the procedure has been run.

Payload

All three instruments continue to operate nominally in the Routine Science Phase.

Ground Segment

Mission Operations
During the reporting period, mission operations have been conducted with the support of the ESA New Norcia ground station. Observational data stored on-board Herschel was received on ground during communication passes lasting approximately three hours.

Archiving
The ground segment is operating nominally. Data products are generated routinely and ingested into the Herschel Science Archive (HSA).

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Legal disclaimer
This report is based on the Herschel mission manager's report dated 9 December 2010. Please see the copyright section of the legal disclaimer (linked from the home page http://sci.esa.int) for terms of use.