GCN Circular 930

As of 2 February 2001, the HETE satellite observatory achieved 
operational status, along with its network of primary ground stations 
and its Burst Alert Network (BAN).  Continued "tuning" of instruments 
and spacecraft parameters, especially of the aspect system, is 
anticipated in "engineering time" over the coming months during a few 
orbits each day, but these activities should not impact HETE's basic 
operational status.  In particular, the HETE Operations Team will 
strive to provide high "uptime" levels for burst detection during 
lunar dark periods, beginning with the 20-26 February dark, so as to 
best support the community of ground-based optical observers. 
Initially, the localization accuracy of GRB alerts will be checked 
prior to issuance of GCN Circulars, necessitating a delay of ~ 1 
orbital period.  Over the next ~1-2 months, we expect to transition to 
a dissemination time for accurate coordinates of  ~minutes.  Rapid 
alerts via the GCN/HETE Notices will be available through the 
"prompt" options (email, sockets, cell phones or pagers) maintained 
by the GCN.  The initial GCN/HETE Notice will specify only that a 
candidate event has been detected within the ~1 steradian FOV of the 
Wide Field X-ray Monitor (WXM) or the Soft X-ray Cameras (SXC). 
Follow-up GCN/HETE Notices will provide additional localization 
information, if any, as soon as it can be derived.

Ongoing updates and further details are provided by the HETE Mission 
Operations Team at the official website:

http://space.mit.edu/HETE/

George Ricker, MIT Center for Space Research
Principal Investigator for the HETE Mission