Table of Contents
Herschel Space Observatory operations have been conducted in a decentralised manner. As can be seen in Figure 5.1, the Ground Segment has comprised of the following elements:
Figure 5.1. Herschel Space Observatory Ground Segment during flight operations. For post-Operations, the MOC branch is no longer used, nor is HOTAC. Otherwise the interactions remain essentially identical in post-Operations to the Operations model, although with modified aims and priorities.
A Herschel Science Centre (HSC), provided by ESA, located at ESAC, Madrid. The HSC, supported by the NASA Herschel Science Center (NHSC), located at IPAC, acts as the point of interface to the science community and the outside world in general.
The HSC is supported by the Herschel Science Team, for the maximisation of the scientific return of the mission, and was supported in Operations, by the Herschel Observing Time Allocation Committee (HOTAC) for the selection of observing proposals.![[Note]](../../admonitions/note.gif)
Note Note the different convention of spelling of "Centre": this is not a typo. ESA and Herschel use British English spellings as standard, NHSC uses American spellings. Three dedicated Instrument Control Centres (ICCs), one for each instrument, provided by the respective PI. Each ICC has been responsible for enabling the operation of and continues to support the calibration of its instrument in post-Operations.
A Mission Operations Centre (MOC), provided by ESA, located at ESOC, Darmstadt, which has been responsible for the execution of all in-orbit operations. MOC's role has ended with the end of in-orbit operations, although some support has continued during a transition phase of three months after switch-off, to ensure the final consolidation of data and the successful closure of outstanding issues