9.5.5 Time Estimates

To ensure that we have planned an observation that comes in under the 3-hour MIPS time limit for one AOR, we should get an estimate of total time. There are two ways to do this, both of which require a live network connection to the SSC (note the ``Net Up'' icon in the green bar at the bottom of the Spot screen). (1) Under the ``Tools'' menu in Spot, select ``Recompute All Estimates.'' After thinking for a while, it will place the final best estimates on the main Spot AOR screen under ``Duration.'' To see a breakdown of where most of this time is coming from, again from the ``Tools'' menu in Spot, select ``Show Current Estimates.'' (2) Alternatively, in the AOT window (which you can retrieve from the main AOR listing in Spot by double-clicking on the relevant row), you can click on ``Calc. Obs. Time.'' This latter option is particularly useful for interactively playing with the mapping parameters if you so choose. In either case, the breakdown of where the time estimates are coming from are shown in Figure 9.11^9.1. We indeed come in well under the 3-hour limit. Note that it also tabulates for us the total integration time, in seconds, per pixel. If you are one of the folks who have, with much dedication, read every word of the MIPS chapter of the SOM, you know that MIPS has seconds that are slightly different from real seconds. Spot tabulates times in real seconds, not MIPS seconds.

Figure 9.11: MIPS Scan Map Resource Estimates window. Integration time is in units of real seconds (not MIPS seconds), total time per pixel.