Ground Segment

The ground segment consists of two major elements, the Operations Ground Segment (OGS) and the Science Ground Segment (SGS):

• The OGS, consisting of the ESA and NASA ground stations and the Mission Operations Centre MOC at ESOC, will implement the observation plan within the spacecraft system constraints into an operational command sequence. In addition, the OGS will perform all classical spacecraft operations and maintenance tasks.
• The SGS consists of two components, the INTEGRAL Science Operations Centre (ISOC) and the INTEGRAL Science Data Centre (ISDC).
  • The ISOC will process the accepted observation proposals into an optimised observation plan which consists of a time line of target pointings plus the corresponding instrument configuration.
  • The ISDC will receive the science telemetry plus the relevant ancillary spacecraft data from the OGS. Taking into account the instrument characteristics the ISDC will convert these raw data into physical units. Final data products will be distributed to the observer and archived for later use by the science community. ESA will also keep (the same) archive at the ISOC.