SOFIA Mission Operations: Plans and preparations for Early Science

The NASA Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has now seen its first light and is scheduled to begin Early Science observation flights later this year. The Mission Operations team at the NASA Ames Research Center has been preparing to carry out its many core responsibilities in support of Early Science. Initial preparations include laying out approved observations across the observing cycle and allocating targets to science instrument runs, or flight series, within the cycle. Then for each flight/mission within a series, the Mission Operations team will generate detailed mission and science plans and associated products, as well as execute the necessary pre-, in-, and post-flight activities, including the handling of the resulting data. Throughout this process, Mission Operations will interface with, and act as a bridge between, their counterparts on the Science and Aircraft Operations teams. This paper will review in some detail the plans for conducting SOFIA mission operations during Early Science. We will describe the major mission operations activities and associated artifacts, along with the underlying foundational components of the supporting team and personnel roles, facilities, tools, and interfaces. We will also review mission operations development activities and preparations to date, including the training and simulation program.