The XMM-Newton payload operations are run by the Science Operations Centre (SOC) at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) and include the pipeline data processing. The XMM-Newton Pipeline Processing System (PPS) is based on a dedicated pipeline reducing data from each of the EPIC, RGS and OM science instruments, using the same SAS software packages that are available for users to interactively analyse XMM-Newton data. The pipeline infrastructure used to carry out the processing has been developed by the Survey Science Centre (SSC) in Leicester, UK. Up to March 1st 2012, the SSC was responsible for systematically running and maintaining the pipeline, and processing responsibility was then transferred to the XMM-Newton SOC.
The SOC is responsible for all the services to the community associated with an observatory type science mission like XMM-Newton. In particular, the XMM-Newton SOC uses the re-formatted telemetry (Observation Data Files, ODF, and Slew Data Files, SDF) to generate pipeline data from the uncalibrated files (Sect. 4) and the Calibration Data (CCF, Sect. 5). The SOC archives raw, auxiliary, and processed data and enables access to the Guest Observers (GOs) and, after the end of any proprietary period, to the entire scientific community. In addition, the SOC is responsible for the calibration of the instruments and for the maintenance and optimisation of the Science Analysis Software (SAS), part of whose tasks are invoked by the PPS (Sect. 8).
The Mission Operation Centre (MOC), located at ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany, has the overall responsibility for the XMM-Newton spacecraft operations.