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Completed TRL 3 (started at 3, targeting 3)
M4OPT is an open-source toolkit for multi-facility scheduling of astrophysics observing campaigns. It focuses on extremely rapid follow-up of gravitational wave (GW) and neutrino events with heterogeneous networks of space and ground-based observatories. Joint scheduling of a fleet of astrophysics missions and ground-based facilities is a challenging large-scale optimization problem with millions of variables and constraints. We have prototyped a TRL 3 scheduler to study observing strategies for Dorado (a Phase A astrophysics Mission of Opportunity) and UVEX (a pre-Phase A MIDEX concept). Our prototype shows equal promise for ground observatories, and we expect that the ground-based Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) optical survey, of which GSFC is a partner, will be one of many early adopters. This proposal is a 1-year project to advance the TRL of M4OPT to 5.
Our key innovations are: (1) We represent the complex geometry of the region of interest and the instruments’ fields of view using the Hierarchical Equal-Area isoLatitude Pixelization (HEALPix). (2) We leverage mixed integer programming (MIP), a mathematical optimization theory with commercial software that can routinely solve problems of our scale in minutes. Our approach reliably finds the globally optimal observing plan, which we expect results in improvements of observing efficiency equivalent to tens of percent extensions of mission lifetime. For future missions, it will automate the currently manual and labor-intensive task of planning the science timeline, allowing future astrophysics satellites to respond to targets of opportunity within minutes, instead of hours.
Astronomy has conventionally studied the cosmos through electromagnetic (EM) radiation, but the greatest breakthroughs now come from combining EM observations with other messengers: GWs, neutrinos, and/or high energy cosmic rays. Recent watershed moments included the joint EM-GW detection of the binary neutron star merger GW170817 and the joint EM-neutrino detection of the blazar flare IC170922A. NASA missions were pivotal in both (particularly Fermi, Swift, NuSTAR, HST, and Chandra). The 2020 Decadal Survey will certainly identify multi-messenger astrophysics (MMA) as a key priority.
MMA events pose unique technical hurdles. The non-EM event is generally coarsely localized (up to 10% of the sky in the case of GWs) and the EM emission fades or varies rapidly. Consequently, MMA events require promptly re-tasking facilities to tile large and irregular regions of interest. They also require balletic coordination of observatories in space and on the ground to acquire well-sampled data across the EM spectrum.
Currently, the development of MMA planning software falls to each mission individually. This is wasteful because each project needs to reinvent the wheel and it inhibits coordinated observing with multiple facilities. The proposed M4OPT package will address both issues by providing a common framework for projects to plan and execute MMA observations.
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