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O11.1: Diaz, Rosa
Rosa Diaz (Space Telescope Science Institute)
Macarena Garcia Marin (ESA)





Time: Mon 16.00 - 16.15
Theme: Quality Assurance of Science Data
Title: Adding Science Validation to the JWST Calibration Pipeline.

The JWST Calibration Pipeline is a set of steps separated into three main stages; looking to provide the best calibration for all JWST instruments, observing modes, and a wide range of science cases. Careful scientific validation and verification are necessary to determine consistency and quality of the data produced by the calibration pipeline. With this goal in mind, the scientist at STScI have supported validation testing for most of the major builds. Our experience with HST and the realization of the effort it would take to consistently and reliably test after each build, even after launch, motivated us to think about streamlining the process. We started building unit tests to verify that the calibration pipeline produced the expected results. However, the need for a more in-depth scientific validation of the wide range of science cases that will be observed by JWST requires a different strategy; one that not only validates the accuracy of the data but that also provides with reliable metrics for all science cases. We are working on defining a more complete set of science validation tests cases and simulated data that can be integrated within an automated building and testing framework; allowing full science verification and validation of the calibration pipeline in short time scales as well as quality assurance of the calibration products. Archiving this goal has been an arduous task, not only limited by the state of development of the software and the availability of accurate data for testing, but also by the diversity of ideas coming from a large group of scientist from different teams, resources, and conflicting schedules. In this talk, I will present the integration of the science validation testing framework within the build process. I will also discuss the challenges we faced to make this possible, the steps we took, and how this work will help us support the development of the JWST Calibration Pipeline after launch.

Link to PDF (may not be available yet): O11-1.pdf