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[31.04] Swift GRB Operations and Open Discussion

J. Nousek (Penn State)

The hallmark of the Swift GRB Explorer mission is the ability to rapidly respond to science opportunities presented by the discovery of new GRBs and Targets of Opportunity (ToO). A critical part of this rapid response is the interaction between the scientific community and the Swift Mission Operations Center (MOC) staff.

The Swift team plans to continuously provide for scientific review of spacecraft response to newly discovered GRBs, and to allow for ToO input from the general community. We expect important feedback on Swift schedule planning from follow-up teams and GRB theorists.

Swift plans to dedicate both an Observatory Duty Scientist and a Burst Advocate to the immediate assessment of new GRBs. How this will work, and how the community can interact with the Swift planning will be presented. We encourage feedback on our plans, and will allow time for questions and discussion.

This work is supported at Penn State by NASA Contract NAS5-00136.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: nousek@astro.psu.edu

Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#2
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.