1 NICMOS OTFR: A Feasibility Study For Improved Scientific Return H. Bushouse, M. Dickinson, and E. Bergeron September 4, 2001 ABSTRACT We examine the feasibility and utility of performing bias drift corrections to NICMOS data in a pipeline environment, with a specific eye towards the use of these routines in an “On The Fly Reprocessing” (OTFR) system. We have investigated the feasibility of the required calibration software implementation, as well as the scientific quality of the data that would be produced by such a system. Our results indicate that the implementation would be quite straight-forward, and that the calibrated data products would offer a vast improvement over the currently-available products and would be immediately usable for scientific analysis with little or no further post-pipeline processing. 1. Motivation The existence of certain data anomalies in the calibrated output products of the current NICMOS pipeline processing programs calls into question the utility of implementing an “On The Fly Reprocessing” (OTFR) capability for NICMOS data. This is due to the fact that it is often necessary for an astronomer to reprocess the data using special standalone techniques not currently available in the standard pipeline in order to produce calibrated products that are suitable for scientific analysis, thus rendering the products of an OTFR system unusable. We have performed a study to assess the feasibility of incorporating the standalone correction techniques into the pipeline system. Because some of the techniques occasion- ally require user intervention or decision making to produce the highest quality products, we wanted to investigate the level of benefits that would be realized if these techniques were applied in a “blind” or automatic fashion to all NICMOS datasets. In the following sections we describe the data anomalies that are present in the current calibrated products, the special techniques that have been developed to remove their Instrument Science Report NICMOS 2001-02