Data Set Information
DATA_SET_NAME NEW HORIZONS ALICE PLUTO ENCOUNTER RAW V2.0
DATA_SET_ID NH-P-ALICE-2-PLUTO-V2.0
NSSDC_DATA_SET_ID
DATA_SET_TERSE_DESCRIPTION
DATA_SET_DESCRIPTION
Data Set Overview  :   This data set contains Raw data taken by New Horizons  Alice Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph  instrument during the PLUTO mission phase.   PERSI-Alice (P-ALICE; also ALICE) is a spectrograph on the New Horizons  spacecraft that is sensitive to extreme and far UltraViolet (UV) light  (520-1870 Angstroms). The ALICE instrument comprises a telescopic optics section and a spectrograph section that includes a diffraction grating  and a photosensitive two-dimensional (2-D) detector. The optics and  diffraction grating physical arrangement configure one detector  dimension as a spatial dimension and the other as spectral. ALICE has  two separate entrance apertures that feed light to the telescope section of the instrument: the AirGlow Channel (AGC) aperture; the Solar  Occultation Channel (SOCC) aperture. Both apertures pass light to the  detector through a lollipop-shaped slit comprising two contiguous  sections: a narrow, rectangular slit with a Field Of View (FOV) of 0.1  by 4.0 degrees; a fat, square slit with FOV 2.0 x 2.0 degrees. ALICE has two data-taking modes: pixel list mode records each detector/photon  event location (pixel i.e. spectral and spatial), interleaved with time  sequence events (hacks), allowing sub-second resolution of the photon  events; histogram mode summarizes the per-pixel photon event counts into a 2-D histogram over all detector pixels, collected over an extended  time which can range from a few seconds to several days. From both  modes, the common data product is the histogram (derived on the ground  in the pixel list case), which is functionally equivalent to a  spectral-by-spatial spectrogram (2-D image); other data products are  also provided and described in this data set.   During the Pluto Charon Encounter mission phase starting in January,  2015, there were several sub-phases: three Approach sub-phases, (AP1,  AP2 and AP3); a CORE sequence for the Pluto flyby on 14 July, 2015 (Day  Of Year 195), sometimes also referred to as NEP (Near-Encounter Phase);  three Departure sub-phases (DP1, DP2, DP3). For this second ALICE  delivery for the Pluto mission phase, this data set includes only the  Approach data plus a subset of the CORE and Departure sequences' data  that was downlinked through the end of January, 2016. The rest of the  Pluto data will be delivered in future versions of this data set  according to the schedule worked out by the Project and NASA.   The first Pluto dataset delivery for the P-Alice instrument covers the  data on the ground between 1/15/2015 and 7/31/2015. It includes  functional testing and preliminary observations made during approach,  as well as a selected few observations from the few days up to the  Pluto encounter closest approach. Rho_Leo and Alice_Func are instrument  functional and calibration tests. PC_AIRGLOW is an observation that was  repeated regularly over the 2 months leading up to the CORE sequence.  The VISUV_MAP, Multi_Map, Airglow_Appr, and Airglow_Held observations  are part of the prime science data sets that meet specific objectives  of the mission.   *--- Alice_Rho_Leo  This observation points the P-Alice airglow boresight to the sky  location of Rho Leo to meet the following objectives:  1) Quick flux sensitivity verification,  2) Airglow pointing verification,  3) Detector PHD determination.  There are the two observations included:  Unsaturated PHD observation, a single 30 second Histogram, and a  Rho-Leo observation, another single 300 second Histogram.   *--- Alice_Func_080  This observation is the standard functional wake up Check (HK-TM,  Modes, Checksums and Selftest) with the following objectives:  1) Verify some very basic operations after the instrument has been  deactivated for some period of time (>month),  2) Verify unchanged code (PROM and EEPROM),  3) Verify successful parameter load and values,  4) Verify successful completion of internal selftest,  5) Verify unchanged behavior of the pixelhack problem  6) Perform a standard door performance test run   *--- PC_AIRGLOW 2.1-1.4  This set of observations is the P-Alice airglow observation of Pluto in  histogram mode. Each observation includes 6, 600 second histograms with  Pluto and Charon in the long and narrow portion of the slit. If  you visualize the slit as being the shape of a lollipop, the long  and narrow portion of the slit would correspond to the stick of the  lollipop. This region is known as the 'slot'.   They meet a goal to determine the time variability of Pluto's surface  and atmosphere, and the airglow variability over several rotations. The  long-time base of this observation is to look for variability in  Pluto's atmosphere or excitation mechanisms. Deep histograms are  obtained roughly daily over a few set intervals on approach to document  and study the variability of atmospheric airglow emissions from H, O,  and N atoms/ions, N2 and CO band emissions, and to search for other  emissions such as from S, Ar, and Ne atoms. Pluto will not be resolved,  but it is possible that extended emission in the system could be seen,  though model brightness estimates indicate this is unlikely. Models  predict emission brightnesses of 0.01 to a few Rayleighs.   *--- PC_PIXELLIST  Functional test of P-Alice, with a few minutes of data using Pixel  list.   *--- UNOCC_SUN  Unocculted sun observation.  A series of different exposures, 1 histogram for each, at 1, 10, 100,  and 1000 seconds. This is a histogram instead of pixellist, but  otherwise, it uses the same orientation, observation setup, and same  instrument parameters (voltage, etc) as P_OCC.   *--- PC_VISUV_MAP  PEAL_01_PC_VISUV_MAP_B_12 is a 40 minute P-Alice Histogram on Pluto and  Charon in the P-Alice box, taken 15 days before closest approach. For  these types of observations taken less than 10 days before closest  approach, Pluto and Charon are targeted in the slot. The goal is: Color  and Composition of Non-Encounter Hemispheres of Pluto & Charon. The  scientific motivation is to document the rotational disk-integrated UV  lightcurves of Pluto and Charon, primarily for surface composition, and  to search for spectral features indicative of surface materials such as  H2O-ice. It is expected that only the longer wavelengths will have  small enough opacity to see Pluto's surface, based on current  (1992-2007) gaseous CH4 observations.   *--- PC_Multi_Map_A/B  Multi_Map_A5 has 4, 600 second P-Alice Airglow histograms with Pluto in  the box, similar to PC_VISUV_MAP. These observations are all multiple  300 second Airglow histograms, similar to PC_VISUV_MAP. For the  Multi_Map_B observations, Pluto is aligned in the center of the slot.  All of the PC_Multi_Map observations have the same goals as  PC_VISUV_MAP.   *--- PC_Airglow_Appr  There were 5 total of these observations, with Appr_3 and Appr_4 being  the last 2, taken a few hours before closest approach.  PC_Airglow_Appr_3 has 10, 300 second histograms, and PC_Airglow_Appr_4  has 18, 150 second histograms. They meet a number of primary mission  goals. In addition to the goals for PC_VISUV_MAP and PC_Multi_Map,  these measurements also can be used for Pluto/Charon Hemisphere Surface  Composition Maps, to determine Pluto's Atmospheric Composition (N2, CO,  CH4, Ar), and the secondary goal of searching for emissions from minor  species (e.g., H, or perhaps C) in the airglow spectra.  The observations provide the best practical S/N on the airglow and  information on its spatial distribution with both dayglow and  nightglow. Airglow observations from Pluto are very weak, but are  expected to provide the primary means for detecting certain minor  atmospheric species, including Ar and CO. Typical expected limb  brightnesses are a few Rayleighs or less, with the exception of H Lyman  alpha, which is expected to be 50-100 Rayleighs (note that this should  be darker than the background interplanetary signal from H Lyman alpha,  which should be ~100-200 Rayleighs). Most of these emissions are  excited by photoelectron impact (peaking in emission rate at ~1000 km  altitude), and modeling the observed emissions will yield density  estimates for the parent species. It is important to note that N+  emissions result from dissociation/ionization/excitation of N2, and  provide no information regarding Pluto's ionosphere.  The observations can also be used to generate Pluto- and  Charon-resolved UV surface maps. P-Alice is used for surface  composition studies of the sunlit face of Pluto, mostly looking for  H2O, and the instrument is used as a backup for LEISA composition  mapping. Water ice and certain other frosts have FUV absorption bands  that could be detected by making albedo maps. These observations can  also provide the disk-integrated rotationally resolved UV light curves  of Pluto and Charon, in support of surface composition studies.  Any additional Alice airglow or H Lyman alpha coronal data would be  useful for investigating atmospheric composition. Most of the near  encounter observations are designed for high-resolution surface  studies. Although the Alice instrument has poor spatial resolution, its  time-tagging ability makes it very flexible at taking useful data  whenever there is an opportunity (i.e., whenever MVIC, LEISA, or REX  are making primary observations).   *--- P_Alice_Airglow_Held  These observations are Alice airglow observations of Pluto in held  histogram mode, taken just before closest approach. Held_1 is 180  seconds, and Held_2 is 65 seconds. In addition to the goals from  PC_Airglow_Appr, these observations see the Pluto airglow at the limb.  As with the near-encounter airglow observations, these limb  observations are to ensure we obtain spatially-resolved airglow data.  At the bright limb, Pluto's airglow emissions should be ~10x brighter  due to the extended path length.   Every observation provided in this data set was taken as a part of a  particular sequence. A list of these sequences has been provided in  file DOCUMENT/SEQ_ALICE_PLUTO.TAB.  N.B. Some sequences provided may have no corresponding observations.   For a list of observations, refer to the data set index table. This  is typically INDEX.TAB initially in the INDEX/ area of the data set.  There is also a file SLIMINDX.TAB in INDEX/ that summarizes key  information relevant to each observation, including which sequence  was in effect and what target was likely intended for the  observation.    Version  :   This is VERSION 2.0 of this data set.   The pipeline (see Processing below) was re-run on these data for each  version since the first (V1.0). As a result, ancillary information,  such as observational geometry and time (SPICE), may be updated.  This will affect, for example, the calibration of the data if parameters such as the velocity or orientation of the target relative to the  instrument, or the recorded target itself, have changed.   See the following sections for details of what has changed over each  version since the first (V1.0). Note that even if this is not a  calibrated data set, the calibration changes are listed as the data  will have been re-run and there will be updates to the calibration  files, to the documentation (Science Operations Center - Instrument  Interface Control Document: SOC_INST_ICD) and to the steps required  to calibrate the data.  This P2 Pluto Encounter dataset release provides updates to the Pluto dataset between P1 (data on the ground by 7/31/2015) and P2 (data on the ground by 1/31/2016). All liens from the initial Pluto delivery have also now been resolved. For ALICE it contains only data from the Pluto Encounter period. It includes the additional observations below:  Obs. Name (Request ID), Obs Date, Downlink Start, Downlink End, Obs. Target PEAL_01_Cocc 2015-07-14 2015/263 2015/346 Charon Occultation PEAL_01_C_LEISA_HiResDump 2015-07-14 2015/292 2015/292 Charon observation PEAL_01_O_UnOccSun 2015-07-14 2015/264 2015/264 Unocculted Sun Histograms PEAL_01_O_UnOccSun_B 2015-07-15 2015/335 2015/335 Unocculted Sun Histograms PEAL_01_PCNH_Multilong_1d1 2015-07-13 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto, Ch, Nix, Hyd PEAL_01_PC_Airglow_Appr_1a 2015-07-13 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto and Charon obs PEAL_01_PC_Airglow_Appr_1b 2015-07-14 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto and Charon obs PEAL_01_PC_Airglow_Appr_2 2015-07-14 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto and Charon obs PEAL_01_PC_Airglow_Fill_0 2015-07-13 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto and Charon obs PEAL_01_PC_Airglow_Fill_2 2015-07-13 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto and Charon obs PEAL_01_PC_Airglow_Fill_DOY174 2015-06-23 2015/247 2015/247 Pluto, Charon obs PEAL_01_PC_Multi_Map_A_3 2015-07-02 2015/229 2015/229 Pluto and Charon obs PEAL_01_PC_Multi_Map_A_7 2015-07-03 2015/226 2015/226 Pluto and Charon obs PEAL_01_PC_VISUV_MAP_B_3 2015-06-26 2015/246 2015/246 Pluto and Charon obs PEAL_01_PC_VISUV_MAP_B_6 2015-06-27 2015/244 2015/244 Pluto and Charon obs PEAL_01_PC_VISUV_MAP_B_9 2015-06-28 2015/244 2015/244 Pluto and Charon obs PEAL_01_Pocc 2015-07-14 2015/269 2015/272 Pluto Occultation PEAL_01_PoccEgress 2015-07-14 2015/267 2015/275 Pluto Occultation PEAL_01_P_Airglow_Dep_1 2015-07-14 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto observation PEAL_01_P_Airglow_Dep_2 2015-07-15 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto observation PEAL_01_P_Airglow_Dep_A_1 2015-07-16 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto observation PEAL_01_P_Airglow_Dep_A_2 2015-07-17 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto observation PEAL_01_P_Airglow_Dep_A_3 2015-07-18 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto observation PEAL_01_P_Airglow_Dep_A_4 2015-07-19 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto observation PEAL_01_P_Color_2 2015-07-14 2015/253 2015/253 Pluto observation PEAL_01_P_LEISA_HiResDump 2015-07-14 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto observation PEAL_01_P_LORRIDump 2015-07-14 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto observation PEAL_01_P_LORRI_Alice_Dep_1 2015-07-14 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto observation PEAL_01_P_LORRI_Alice_Dep_2 2015-07-14 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto observation PEAL_01_P_LORRI_Alice_Dep_3 2015-07-15 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto observation PEAL_01_P_LORRI_Alice_Dep_4 2015-07-15 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto observation PEAL_01_X_PLASMAROLL_3 2015-07-14 2015/264 2015/264 Airglow Histogram PEAL_02_PC_Airglow_Fill_2 2015-07-13 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto and Charon obs PEAL_03_PC_Airglow_Fill_2 2015-07-13 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto and Charon obs PEAL_04_PC_Airglow_Fill_2 2015-07-13 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto and Charon obs PEAL_05_PC_Airglow_Fill_2 2015-07-13 2015/292 2015/292 Pluto and Charon obs    Processing  :   The data in this data set were created by a software data  processing pipeline on the Science Operations Center (SOC) at  the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Department of Space Operations. This SOC pipeline assembled data as FITS files from raw telemetry  packets sent down by the spacecraft and populated the data labels  with housekeeping and engineering values, and computed geometry  parameters using SPICE kernels. The pipeline did not resample  the data.    Data  :   The observations in this data set are stored in data files using  standard Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) format. Each FITS  file has a corresponding detached PDS label file, named according  to a common convention. The FITS files may have image and/or table  extensions. See the PDS label plus the DOCUMENT files for a  description of these extensions and their contents.   This Data section comprises the following sub-topics:   - Filename/Product IDs  - Instrument description  - Other sources of information useful in interpreting these Data  - Visit Description, Visit Number, and Target in the Data Labels    Filename/Product IDs  --------------------   The filenames and product IDs of observations adhere to a  common convention e.g.   ALI_0123456789_0X4B0_ENG.FIT  ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^\__/  | | | | ^^  | | | | |  | | | | +--File type (includes dot)  | | | | - .FIT for FITS file  | | | | - .LBL for PDS label  | | | | - not part of product ID  | | | |  | | | +--ENG for CODMAC Level 2 data  | | | SCI for CODMAC Level 3 data  | | |  | | +--Application ID (ApID) of the telemetry data  | | packet from which the data come  | | N.B. ApIDs are case-insensitive  | |  | +--MET (Mission Event Time) i.e. Spacecraft Clock  |  +--Instrument designator    Note that, depending on the observation, the MET in the data filename  and in the Product ID may be similar to the Mission Event Time (MET)  of the actual observation acquisition, but should not be used as an  analog for the acquisition time. The MET is the time that the data are  transferred from the instrument to spacecraft memory and is therefore  not a reliable indicator of the actual observation time. The PDS label  and the index tables are better sources to use for the actual timing of  any observation. The specific keywords and index table column names for which to look are   * START_TIME  * STOP_TIME  * SPACECRAFT_CLOCK_START_COUNT  * SPACECRAFT_CLOCK_STOP_COUNT    Instrument Instrument designators ApIDs **  : : :  ALICE ALI 0X4B0 - 0X4B7 *   * Not all values in this range are in this data set  ** ApIDs are case insensitive   There are other ApIDs that contain housekeeping values and  other values. See SOC Instrument ICD (/DOCUMENT/SOC_INST_ICD.*)  for more details.    Here is a summary of the types of files generated by each ApID  (N.B. ApIDs are case-insensitive) along with the instrument  designator that go with each ApID:    ApIDs Data product description/Prefix(es)  : :  0x4b0 - ALICE Pixel List Lossless (CDH 1)/ALI  0x4b1 - ALICE Pixel List Packetized (CDH 1)/ALI  0x4b4 - ALICE Pixel List Lossless (CDH 2)/ALI  0x4b5 - ALICE Pixel List Packetized (CDH 2)/ALI  0x4b2 - ALICE Histogram Lossless (CDH 1)/ALI  0x4b3 - ALICE Histogram Packetized (CDH 1)/ALI  0x4b6 - ALICE Histogram Lossless (CDH 2)/ALI  0x4b7 - ALICE Histogram Packetized (CDH 2)/ALI    Notes:  ------  1) CDH 1 and CDH 2 refer to the spacecraft redundant Command and Data  Handling systems in general, and here specifically to their  respective Solid State Recorders (SSRs) 1 and 2, where ALICE data  be stored and prepared for downlink. ALICE can send data to SSR  1 or to SSR 2, or, for mission-critical data, to both redundantly.  ALICE shares its channel to the SSRs with the Long-Range  Reconaissance Imager (LORRI), so both instruments cannot store  data simultaneously. ALICE has the capability to store histogram  data to instrument-internal storage, and to transfer it to the  SSR(s) later; such an operation is called a Held Histogram, and  it allows ALICE to take data at the same time that LORRI is taking  and writing data to the SSR(s).   2) Packetized and Lossless refer to the method used on-board to  convert raw, high-speed instrument data on the SSR to low-speed  data ready for downlink. The conversion process is generally  referred to as compression, even though Packetized conversion does  not reduce the data volume In practice, Pixel List data always  use Packetized compression. Histogram data may use Packetized or  Lossless compression. Depending on the actual data contents,  Lossless compression reduces data volume by 60 to 90% or more;  for nominal science data a factor of 3 or more is normal.  Lossless compression is used whenever possible to reduce downlink  data volume. There is no difference, between Packetized and  Lossless compression, in the resultant FITS files after processing  by the Science Operations Center (SOC) data pipeline.     Instrument description  ----------------------   Refer to the following files for a description of this instrument.   CATALOG   ALICE.CAT   DOCUMENTS   ALICE_SSR.*  SOC_INST_ICD.*  NH_ALICE_V###_TI.TXT (### is a version number)    Other sources of information useful in interpreting these Data  --------------------------------------------------------------   Refer to the following files for more information about these data   NH Trajectory tables:   /DOCUMENT/NH_MISSION_TRAJECTORY.* - Heliocentric   ALICE Field Of View definitions:   /DOCUMENT/NH_FOV.*  /DOCUMENT/NH_ALICE_V###_TI.TXT     Visit Description, Visit Number, and Target in the Data Labels  ---------------------------------------------------------------   The observation sequences were defined in Science Activity Planning  (SAP) documents, and grouped by Visit Description and Visit Number.  The SAPs are spreadsheets with one Visit Description & Number per row.  A nominal target is also included on each row and included in the data  labels, but does not always match with the TARGET_NAME field's value in  the data labels. In some cases, the target was designated as RA,DEC  pointing values in the form ``RADEC:123.45,-12.34'' indicating Right  Ascension and Declination, in degrees, of the target from the  spacecraft in the Earth Equatorial J2000 inertial reference frame.  This indicates either that the target was either a star, or that the  target's ephemeris was not loaded into the spacecraft's attitude and  control system which in turn meant the spacecraft could not be pointed  at the target by a body identifier and an inertial pointing value had  to be specified as Right Ascension and Declination values. PDS-SBN  practices do not allow putting a value like RADEC:... in the PDS  TARGET_NAME keyword's value. In those cases the PDS TARGET_NAME value  is set to CALIBRATION. TARGET_NAME may be N/A (Not Available or Not  Applicable) for a few observations in this data set; typically that  means the observation is a functional test so N/A is an appropriate  entry for those targets, but the PDS user should also check the  NEWHORIZONS:OBSERVATION_DESC and NEWHORIZONS:SEQUENCE_ID keywords in  the PDS label, plus the provided sequence list (see Ancillary Data  below) to assess the possibility that there was an intended target.   Specifically for ALICE observations, any observation that has an  observation description or sequence ID that includes the words dump  or held will usually have N/A as its target, but that indicates the  observation was actually taken as part of an earlier sequence and held  held locally in instrument memory (i.e. a Held Histogram; see the  Notes in the Data section below), and the Dump sequence represents the  commands that transferred the instrument data onto the spacecraft  Solid-State Recorders (SSRs). In the cases of Held Histograms, the  user should check the previous sequence in the sequence list. For  other cases note that if the characters _P_, _C_, or _PC_ are in the  sequence ID, then the intended target was likely Pluto, Charon, or  Pluto and Charon together, respectively.    Ancillary Data  :   The geometry items included in the data labels were computed  using the SPICE kernels archived in the New Horizons SPICE  data set, NH-X-SPICE-6-PLUTO-V1.0.   Every observation provided in this data set was taken as a part of a  particular sequence. A list of these sequences has been provided in  file DOCUMENT/SEQ_ALICE_PLUTO.TAB. In addition, the  sequence identifier (ID) and description are included in the PDS label  for every observation. N.B. While every observation has an associated  sequence, every sequence may not have associated observations. Some  sequences may have failed to execute due to spacecraft events (e.g.  safing). No attempt has been made during the preparation of this data  set to identify such empty sequences, so it is up to the user to  compare the times of the sequences to the times of the available  observations from INDEX/INDEX.TAB to identify such sequences.    Time  :   There are several time systems, or units, in use in this dataset:  New Horizons spacecraft MET (Mission Event Time or Mission Elapsed  Time), UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), and TDB Barycentric  Dynamical Time.   This section will give a summary description of the relationship  between these time systems. For a complete explanation of these  time systems the reader is referred to the documentation  distributed with the Navigation and Ancillary Information  Facility (NAIF) SPICE toolkit from the PDS NAIF node, (see  http://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/).   The most common time unit associated with the data is the spacecraft  MET. MET is a 32-bit counter on the New Horizons spacecraft that  runs at a rate of about one increment per second starting from a  value of zero at   19.January, 2006 18:08:02 UTC   or   JD2453755.256337 TDB.   The leapsecond adjustment (DELTA_ET : ET - UTC) was 65.184s at  NH launch, and the first three additional leapseconds occured  in at the ends of December, 2009, June, 2012 and June, 2015.  Refer to the NH SPICE data set, NH-J/P/SS-SPICE-6-V1.0, and the  SPICE toolkit docmentation, for more details about leapseconds.   The data labels for any given product in this dataset usually  contain at least one pair of common UTC and MET representations  of the time at the middle of the observation. Other portions  of the products, for example tables of data taken over periods  of up to a day or more, will only have the MET time associated  with a given row of the table.   For the data user's use in interpreting these times, a reasonable  approximation (+/- 1s) of the conversion between Julian Day (TDB)  and MET is as follows:   JD TDB : 2453755.256337 + ( MET / 86399.9998693 )   For more accurate calculations the reader is referred to the  NAIF/SPICE documentation as mentioned above.    Reference Frame  :    Geometric Parameter Reference Frame  -----------------------------------   Earth Mean Equator and Vernal Equinox of J2000 (EMEJ2000) is the  inertial reference frame used to specify observational geometry items  provided in the data labels. Geometric parameters are based on best  available SPICE data at time of data creation.    Epoch of Geometric Parameters  -----------------------------   All geometric parameters provided in the data labels were computed at  the epoch midway between the START_TIME and STOP_TIME label fields.     Software  :   The observations in this data set are in standard FITS format  with PDS labels, and can be viewed by a number of PDS-provided  and commercial programs. For this reason no special software is  provided with this data set.    Contact Information  :   For any questions regarding the data format of the archive,  contact   New Horizons ALICE Principal Investigator:   Alan Stern, Southwest Research Institute   S. Alan Stern   Southwest Research Institute  Department of Space Studies  1050 Walnut Street, Suite 400  Boulder, CO 80302  USA
DATA_SET_RELEASE_DATE 2016-10-31T00:00:00.000Z
START_TIME 2015-01-25T03:09:59.701Z
STOP_TIME 2015-07-19T07:28:00.881Z
MISSION_NAME NEW HORIZONS
MISSION_START_DATE 2006-01-19T12:00:00.000Z
MISSION_STOP_DATE 2021-09-30T12:00:00.000Z
TARGET_NAME CHARON
PLUTO
SUN
TARGET_TYPE SATELLITE
PLANET
SUN
INSTRUMENT_HOST_ID NH
INSTRUMENT_NAME ALICE ULTRAVIOLET IMAGING SPECTROGRAPH
INSTRUMENT_ID ALICE
INSTRUMENT_TYPE SPECTROGRAPH
NODE_NAME Small Bodies
ARCHIVE_STATUS SUPERSEDED
CONFIDENCE_LEVEL_NOTE
Confidence Level Overview  :  During the processing of the data in preparation for  delivery with this volume, the packet data associated with each  observation were used only if they passed a rigorous verification  process including standard checksums.   In addition, raw (Level 2) observation data for which adequate  contemporary housekeeping and other ancillary data are not available  may not be reduced to calibrated (Level 3) data. This issue is raised  here to explain why some data products in the raw data set,   NH-P-ALICE-2-PLUTO-V2.0,   may not have corresponding data products in the calibrated data set,   NH-P-ALICE-3-PLUTO-V2.0.    Data coverage and quality  :  Every observation provided in this data set was taken as a part of a  particular sequence. A list of these sequences has been provided in  file DOCUMENT/SEQ_ALICE_PLUTO.TAB. N.B. Some sequences  provided may have zero corresponding observations.   Refer to the Confidence Level Overview section above for a summary  of steps taken to assure data quality.   The lollipop-shaped fuzz in images of some ALICE spectra, seen as high  signal levels at the box end of the slit around Hydrogen Lyman-alpha (H  Lya) wavelengths, is due to a characteristic of the detector and  aperture. To make the Micro Channel Plate (MCP) more sensitive to UV  light, it was coated with potassium bromide (KBr) photocathodes from  520 to 1180 Angstrom and with cesium iodide (CsI) photocathodes from  1250 to 1870 Angstrom. A vertical strip - a spectral band of 70  Angstrom centered at ~1216 Angstrom - of the MCP was masked and left  uncoated to reduce the sensitivity of the detector to H Lya  radiation. In the slit portion of the aperture (0.1deg wide x 4deg  high), the diffraction grating keeps the strong H Lya line within that  uncoated band. However, in the 2x2 degree box portion of the aperture  designed to capture the Sun during occultations, the H Lya spreads out  beyond the uncoated 70-Angstrom band over another ~55 Angstroms of more  sensitive photocathode-coated detector on either side. The quantum  efficiencies of the photocathode- coated surfaces are about an order of  magnitude more sensitive to sensitive to H Lya wavelengths than the  bare, uncoated MCP glass, which gives rise to high signal levels from  the box area of the slit i.e. the lollipop fuzz.    Observation descriptions in this data set catalog  :   Some users will expect to find descriptions of the observations  in this data set here, in this Confidence Level Note. This data  set follows the more common convention of placing those  descriptions under the Data Set Description (above, if the user is  reading this in the DATASET.CAT file) of this data set catalog.    Caveat about TARGET_NAME in PDS labels and observational intent  :    A fundamental truth of managing data from some spacecraft missions  is that the intent of any observation is not suitable for insertion  into the command stream sent to the spacecraft to execute that  observation. As a result, re-attaching that intent to the data  that are later downlinked is problematic at best. For New Horizons  that task is made even more difficult as the only meta-data that  come down with the observation is the unpredictable time of the  observation. The task is made yet even more difficult because  uplink personnel, who generate the command sequences and initially  know the intent of each observation, are perpetually under  deadlines imposed by orbital mechanics and can rarely be spared for  the time-intensive task of resolving this issue.   To make a long story short, the downlink team on New Horizons has  created an automated system to take various uplink products, decode  things like Chebyshev polynomials in command sequences representing  celestial body ephemerides for use on the spacecraft to control  pointing, and infer from those data what the most likely intended  target was at any time during the mission. This works well during  flyby encounters and less so during cruise phases and hibernation.   The point to be made is that the user of these PDS data needs to  be cautious when using the TARGET_NAME and other target-related  parameters stored in this data set. This is less an issue for the  plasma and particle instruments, more so for pointing instruments.  To this end, the heliocentric ephemeris of the spacecraft, the  spacecraft-relative ephemeris of the inferred target, and the  inertial attitude of the instrument reference frame are provided  with all data, in the J2000 inertial reference frame, so the user  can check where that target is in the Field Of View (FOV) of the  instrument.    Review  :  This dataset was peer reviewed and certified for scientific use on  12-5-2016.
CITATION_DESCRIPTION Stern, A., NEW HORIZONS Raw ALICE PLUTO ENCOUNTER V2.0, NH-P-ALICE-2-PLUTO-V2.0, NASA Planetary Data System, 2016.
ABSTRACT_TEXT This data set contains Raw data taken by the New Horizons Alice Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph instrument during the Pluto encounter mission phase. This is VERSION 2.0 of this data set. This data set contains ALICE observations taken during the the Approach (Jan-Jul, 2015) and Encounter mission sub-phases, including flyby observations taken on 14.July, 2015; the data are limited to those downlinked from the spacecraft as of the end of January, 2016. The rest of the downlinked data for this mission phase will be delivered in a future data set. Refer to the data set description above and the sequence table provided in the documentation for more detail about which observations are present in this data set. This is version 2.0 of this data set. Changes since version 1.0 include data downlinked between the end of July, 2015 and the end of January, 2016. These include Pluto and Charon occultations, Airglow observations during the weeks before and after the flyby, Approach VIS-UV and multi-maps, color and hi-resolution observations during the flyby, PEPSSI (plasma roll) and LORRI other ride-alongs, Also, updates were made to the documentation and catalog files, primarily to resolve liens from the V1.0 peer review.
PRODUCER_FULL_NAME BRIAN CARCICH
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