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  "title": "PUNCH SOC processes its first \"image\" from space",
  "content": "![Data from PUNCH/NFI successfully processed into an image with metadata](https://psathyrella.us-west.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did%3Aplc%3Add6rbxnc4ostg26plpmonhcz&cid=bafkreiaz4vmso24awnwer6qzxmm7x2nb67vel44eyyqqhsdjefc2bpzzse)\n\n*The PUNCH SOC correctly associated pointing metadata (left) with test-pattern images (right) downlinked from space by the PUNCH spacecraft.*\n\nThis may not look like much – just a test pattern on the right, and some plots of pointing data on the left -- but it's a big deal to the PUNCH team.  The Science Operations Center (SOC) is the last major subsystem of the PUNCH mission, between the CCD cameras on-orbit and the NASA Solar Data Analysis Center (SDAC) that distributes our data to, well, you.  \n\nThe test pattern on the right was generated on-orbit by the [PUNCH](https://punch.space.swri.edu)/NFI camera itself, in a test mode.  It was processed through the spacecraft's complete data compression system, packetized, downloaded during a ground pass, transferred from a remote antenna site to the Mission Operations Center (MOC) in [SwRI](https://www.boulder.swri.edu)'s Boulder Colorado offices, checked for errors, handed to the Science Operations Center (SOC) down the hall, unpacked and reassembled, combined with \"housekeeping\" data collected on-board NFI at the same time, and finally merged into a single [FITS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FITS) file reminiscent of our final data products, with a complete set of metadata attached.  It's the first data product to be processed end-to-end through all those steps.  \n\nShortly we'll have true calibration camera exposures: darks, LED-stimulated calibration images, and zero-exposure-time \"bias\" images.  In about two weeks, we'll open the shutter doors and start photographing the cosmos.  Exciting times!\n",
  "createdAt": "2025-03-25T04:01:52.214Z",
  "visibility": "public"
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