Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 14:49:31 -0800 (PST) From: Spitzer Science Center HelpDesk Subject: SIRTF: Horizons Memo for Solar System Observers Solar System Observers: ----------------------- Proposal submission deadline: Saturday, February 14, 2004, 12pm PST As many of your are aware, the Horizons system at JPL was hacked Wednesday morning. Their best estimate for the system being back on line is this afternoon, Thursday, February 12. In the meantime we are working to obtain observer-requested ephemeris files directly from Jon Giorgini. In the Spitzer Observer's Manual it states that we need 3 days to get ephemeris files from JPL and deployed in our servers but we are making our best efforts to get the late requests into the system. If JPL is not successful in getting the system back up in a timely fashion we are formulating guidelines for what technical information would be required with proposals on the 14th and how we could work around the missing ephemerides and lack of access to Horizons. We will make these available on the web Friday morning, if necessary. At the beginning of February we discussed what to do in case of an internet slowdown, virus or worm attack, or critical system hack near the close of the proposal call. Our decision was to delay the call only if we were required to shut down the SSC servers or internet access for a prolonged period of time and not to delay if systems outside of our direct control were compromised. The proposal deadline therefore stands and we will send out an update as soon as we have more information from JPL about Horizons.