The Cycle Plan is the baseline schedule approved by SOFIA senior management. These schedules are subject to change depending on budget and operational constraints. Details such as targets and exposure times for each flight series are finalized about a month before the beginning of the series.
The table below gives information about the Cycle 5 Flight Series. The flight plan tables for series that have been planned are available via the links, and they contain information about the flight legs including the targets being observed, and the total durations. Generally, the layout of observations is not expected to change in any major way, but since the posted plans are approved several weeks before the flight dates, the actual flight plan may differ from the posted ones in minor ways.
Cycle 5 Flight Series (posted March 7, 2017)
Flying on SOFIA: General Information
*During the re-planning of the fall 2017 schedule the OC5-M series ID was dropped to avoid planning confusion.
Name | Instrument | Flight Date | Number of flights | Base |
---|---|---|---|---|
OC5-B | FIFI-LS | - | 8 | Palmdale |
OC5-C | EXES | - | 6 | Palmdale |
OC5-D | FORCAST | - | 3 | Palmdale |
OC5-E | HAWC+ | - | 7 | Palmdale |
OC5-F | EXES | - | 3 | Palmdale |
OC5-G | GREAT | - | 7 | Palmdale |
OC5-H | GREAT | - | 12 | Christchurch |
OC5-I | FIFI-LS | - | 4 | Christchurch |
OC5-J | FORCAST | - | 6 | Christchurch |
OC5-K | FORCAST | - | 10 | Palmdale |
OC5-L | FLIPO | - | 4 | Daytona Beach |
OC5-N* | HAWC+ | - | 18 | Palmdale |