I am a Software Systems Specialist for the
Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
(FUSE) Project
in the
Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy
atThe Johns Hopkins University .
Previously, I was the System Manager for the
Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope(HUT) Project,
also in the
Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy
atThe Johns Hopkins University .
I joined the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope(HUT) Project, as a Scientific Programmer in August of 1988. I wrote and maintained several pieces of software for the mission planning phase of the ASTRO-1 mission. By the summer of 1989, I was asked to learn some of the computer system management tasks, and by the summer of 1990 I took the job as HUT System Manager(the pay was better). I provided system management, software support, data flow monitoring and data archiving support for the HUT team at the Payload Operations Command Center(POCC) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama during the ASTRO-1 space shuttle flight. During this time, I also participated in the development and maintenance of a set of software for post-flight data processing. Specifically, I produced the software to read the binary encoded data tapes provided by NASA after the flight. I also worked on the definition and coding required to produce a database of the engineering data gathered. The final products of this processing have been used in-house and delivered to the National Space Science Data Center for public access.
I was able to continue on with the ASTRO-2 HUT team and participate in the ASTRO-2 flight. Before the flight, I was responsible for several computer hardware upgrades, as well as the software ports for the real-time ground support software associated with those hardware changes. I was also responsible for shipping and setting up the computer equipment needed for the preflight testing and calibration of HUT, and for setting up the HUT area in the POCC for the realtime ground support. During the flight, I processed and created the data sets that were uplinked to HUT in preparation for the next shift of observations and supervised the real-time data archiving. After the flight, I provided system and software support for the astronomers as they begin the data processing phase. This includes porting the post-flight software mentioned above to the upgraded computers, and then running the data processing pipeline that put the data into a format that the astronomers can use to evaluate the data.
I joined the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) team as a Software Systems Specialist on November 1, 1996. Before Launch, my long term projects included involvement with the development and maintenance of the software that will be used for FUSE mission planning and science data processing. This includes a SYBASE database, and software that will be ported over from similar systems at the Space Telescope Science Institute, as well as some software that will be developed in house. I am also responsible for the purchase and maintenance of the computers that these software packages will run on.
FUSE launched on June 24, 1999. I am responsible for the operation of the data processing software, as well as the maintenance of the mission planning software, the science data processing software, and the SYBASE database, and the computers that they are all running on. I am also responsible for delivering all of the data to the FUSE Archive that is being operated and maintained by the Space Telescope Science Institute.
nn
The HUT computer cluster consisted of the server HUT4, a SUN Microsystems 4/370 running SunOS 4.1.3. There were 10 other SPARCstation computers attached to this group. My job included purchasing, installing, and maintaining the computers, the operating system and several third party software packages. I also provided user support for about 25 scientists and graduate students.
In addition to the FUSE operational cluster mentioned above, I also maintain a cluster of computers for everyday use by the scientists. The FUSE science computer cluster consists of the server VIOLET, which is now a SUN Microsystems Ultra 10 running Solaris 2.8. There are currently around 35 other SUN computers attached to this group. Included in my responsibilities is the purchase, installation, and maintenance of these computers, the operating system and several third party packages. I also provide user support for about 50 scientists and graduate students.
Last update (minor changes) January, 2006
See the HUT Home Page. I helped design and put together these pages and I am the webmaster for the pages.