TESS Data for Asteroseismology: Light-curve Systematics Correction

Data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have produced of the order of one million light curves at cadences of 120 s and especially 1800 s for every ∼27 day observing sector during its two-year nominal mission. These data constitute a treasure trove for the study of stellar variability and exoplanets. However, to fully utilize the data in such studies a proper removal of systematic-noise sources must be performed before any analysis. The TESS Data for Asteroseismology group is tasked with providing analysis-ready data for the TESS Asteroseismic Science Consortium, which covers the full spectrum of stellar variability types, including stellar oscillations and pulsations, spanning a wide range of variability timescales and amplitudes. We present here the two current implementations for co-trending of raw photometric light curves from TESS, which cover different regimes of variability to serve the entire seismic community. We find performance in terms of commonly used noise statistics meets expectations and is applicable to a wide range of intrinsic variability types. Further, we find that the correction of light curves from a full sector of data can be completed well within a few days, meaning that when running in steady state our routines are able to process one sector before data from the next arrives. Our pipeline is open-source and all processed data will be made available on the websites of the TESS Asteroseismic Science Operations Center and the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes.

ОПЕРАЦІЙНИЙ ЦЕНТР БЕЗПЕКИ ЯК ПОСЛУГА НА ОСНОВІ SIEM

This study examines the Security Operations Center, which provides detection and analysis of cybersecurity, rapid response, and prevention of cyber attacks. Security Operations Center technologies are used to provide visibility and enable analysts to protect against attacks. The algorithm of presenting the topic «Security Center» during the teaching of the discipline «Security of programs and data» at the Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian State Pedagogical University is shown, namely the problems of implementation of event monitoring systems «Security information and event management», types of operational centers, methods of building internal operational security centers. Subject competencies are formed in students: to classify, identify and protect information processing facilities from unauthorized access and computer viruses, to develop individual access control and information protection systems. The process of implementing Security information and event management systems at the enterprise is shown, the main mechanisms of this system using a hierarchical model, the main tasks of the security operational center, the key parameters of the Security Operations Center (organizational model, performance of functions that go beyond the tasks, level of authority), basic rules of correlation. The commercial security operations center SOC as a Service is considered, which is designed to help work with a huge amount of information, real-time monitoring and response to attacks. During the laboratory classes, the students analyzed the companies that provide security operations center services (Information Systems Security Partners, Octave Cybersecurity, Infopulse, Omega Security Service) and studied the factors that affect companies when choosing the type Security Operations Center. Key words: Security Operations Center, SEIM-systems, cybersecurity, SOC as a Service.

More than technology: Experiences of Virtual Emergency Operations Centers (VEOCs) during the COVID-19 pandemic response in Canada

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated emergency management offices and organizations across Canada to activate their Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in a virtual capacity due to government restrictions limiting in-person activities and with the goal of reducing the spread of the virus. The aim of this exploratory research paper is to document the personal experiences of Canadian emergency management professionals working in a Virtual EOC (VEOC) environment during the COVID-19 response, including challenges and benefits they experienced, as well as lessons identified. Based on a sample of 81 emergency management professionals and using an inductive coding approach, the survey results illustrate both technological and nontechnological challenges and benefits. The findings highlight the need to incorporate three main elements into VEOC planning and operations: technology, processes, and people.

When emergencies and disasters collide: Lessons from the response to the Magna, Utah earthquake during the COVID-19 pandemic

The following article addresses the complexities of responding to the Magna, Utah earthquake under conditions of the global corona virus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The article begins with a brief mention of the literature on complex disasters along with the research methods employed for the study. Contextual information about COVID-19 and the Magna earthquake are then provided along with general issues that had to be addressed in the public health emergency and after the seismic hazard occurred. The following two sections identify how COVID-19 benefited the response to the earthquake as well as how the virus complicated operations after the tremor. The article then discusses major lessons of this research and provides recommendations for future study and practice. Overall, this research reveals that the responses to these two simultaneous events witnessed successes as well as significant challenges. The appearance of COVID-19 may have limited injuries or the loss of life during the Magna earthquake, and it also enabled an early activation of the emergency operations center (EOC). However, COVID-19 presented unique challenges for evacuation, sheltering, and damage assessment functions. The pandemic also altered the nature of EOC operations, created the need for a virtual response, and had distinct implications for financial accounting and personnel workload.

10-Year Anniversary of the European Proximity Operations Simulator 2.0—Looking Back at Test Campaigns, Rendezvous Research and Facility Improvements

Completed in 2009, the European Proximity Operations Simulator 2.0 (EPOS 2.0) succeeded EPOS 1.0 at the German Space Operations Center (GSOC). One of the many contributions the old EPOS 1.0 facility made to spaceflight rendezvous is the verification of the Jena-Optronik laser-based sensors used by the Automated Transfer Vehicle. While EPOS 2.0 builds upon its heritage, it is a completely new design aiming at considerably more complex rendezvous scenarios. During the last ten years, GSOC’s On-Orbit-Servicing & Autonomy group, who operates, maintains and evolves EPOS 2.0, has made numerous contributions to the field of uncooperative rendezvous, using EPOS as its primary tool. After general research in optical navigation in the early 2010s, the OOS group took a leading role in the DLR project “On-Orbit-Servicing End-to-End Simulation” in 2014. EPOS 2.0 served as the hardware in the loop simulator of the rendezvous phase and contributed substantially to the project’s remarkable success. Over the years, E2E has revealed demanding requirements, leading to numerous facility improvements and extensions. In addition to the OOS group’s research work, numerous and diverse open-loop test campaigns for industry and internal (DLR) customers have shaped the capabilities of EPOS 2.0 significantly.

First Use of ROV Remote Operations from Shore in the Gulf of Mexico

Oil and gas companies across the spectrum are moving toward digitalization. Leveraging technology to access real-time data has allowed companies to streamline activities and gain operational efficiencies while at the same time improving worker safety by reducing the number of personnel required offshore. This evolution optimizes operations by enabling better decision-making by subject matter experts (SMEs) located around the world working as one interconnected team. Functions once performed exclusively by offshore personnel are being carried out today by onshore workers via remote technology. By capitalizing on the ability to communicate offshore via high-speed internet, it is now possible to carry out ROV operations using a team that includes onshore based personnel. A recent project illustrates how ROV activities controlled from an onshore remote operations center in Louisiana were carried out successfully on a production Tension Leg Platform (TLP) in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). The technology used onboard the TLP is not new; operators have been remotely managing a range of functions on offshore assets for years. However, the project does apply this proven approach to ROV piloting operations for the first time commercially in the GoM. Transferring ROV control from the offshore platform to a facility onshore is possible using a communication link that connect real-time data from the offshore asset to the onshore remote operations center (OROC). The two-way communications link provides a redundant system in which controls can be executed either from the offshore platform or from the remote operations center, allowing specialized roles that historically have been executed offshore, including that of the ROV pilot, subsea engineer, and company representative directing the work, to be transferred to a land-based team. The increase in data required from the offshore asset for the GoM project was managed via a dedicated link that provided data transfer at a minimum speed of 3 Mbps upload/download with a fail-safe system that automatically default control to the offshore ROV team in case of any failures in the communication link. Remotely piloting an ROV from shore and coordinating with an offshore crew not only delivered a reduction in HSE exposure but reduced overall personnel costs on the asset by more than 30% for 24 hours of operations. This approach to ROV operations has the potential to reduce costs by reducing the number of workers required offshore even further if additional staff associated exclusively with the project subsea work scope is directed to work remotely from shore.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF NOAA’S AIRBORNE HURRICANE FIELD PROGRAM AND A BROADER FUTURE APPROACH TO FORECAST IMPROVEMENT

Since 2005, NOAA has conducted the annual Intensity Forecasting Experiment (IFEX), led by scientists from the Hurricane Research Division at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic andMeteorological Laboratory. They partner with NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center, who maintain and operate the WP-3D and G-IV Hurricane Hunter aircraft, and NCEP’s National Hurricane Center and Environmental Modeling Center, who task airborne missions to gather data used by forecasters for analysis and forecasting and for ingest into operational numerical weather prediction models. The goal of IFEX is to improve tropical cyclone (TC) forecasts using an integrated approach of analyzing observations from aircraft, initializing and evaluating forecast models with those observations, and developing new airborne instrumentation and observing strategies targeted at filling observing gaps and maximizing the data’s impact in model forecasts. This summary article not only highlights recent IFEX contributions towards improved TC understanding and prediction, but also reflects more broadly on the accomplishments of the program during the 16 years of its existence. It describes how IFEX addresses high-priority forecast challenges, summarizes recent collaborations, describes advancements in observing systems monitoring structure and intensity, as well as in assimilation of aircraft data into operational models, and emphasizes key advances in understanding of TC processes, particularly those that lead to rapid intensification. The article concludes by laying the foundation for the “next generation” of IFEX as it broadens its scope to all TC hazards, particularly rainfall, storm-surge inundation, and tornadoes, that have gained notoriety during the last few years after several devastating landfalling TCs.