Data is obtained by aggregating all available open-source mission observing schedules and translating them into the appropriate ACROSS data models. The ACROSS system has a data-ingestion service that runs a cron-job task for each telescope, grabbing the latest planned (or completed) schedule at that time. Each cron task is scheduled to align with when new schedule information is typically made available by that mission, ensuring ingested data stays as current as possible.

A major caveat to how this is done is that if a given schedule is updated in-between cron tasks, there is a chance that the data repository might not capture that update. When a schedule is ingested, a checksum is generated based on common schedule metadata (date-range, status, type, telescope id, etc.). When a schedule is submitted, the checksum ensures that the same schedule isn't duplicated. Note that this means older versions of a schedule are retained — previously ingested schedules are not deleted when a newer version is added, preserving a historical record of how schedules have changed over time.

If you have access to your observatory's scheduling information and want to submit it to the ACROSS API, please reach out to the ACROSS support team. You will need to:

1. Register a client with credentials for your observatory's telescope.
2. POST schedule data to the API schedule endpoint.