The 35th annual conference on Astronomical Data Analysis Software & Systems 2025 in Görlitz, Germany

The SOFIA Data Center (SDC) was founded in 2024 at the Institut für Raumfahrtsysteme, Universität Stuttgart, Germany. Its goal is to re-reduce the entire scientific and technical databank of the former airborne observatory SOFIA, using an updated and enhanced version of the data reduction pipeline package "Redux". The resulting data will be re-archived in the form of a "Virtual Observatory" hosted by the University of Stuttgart's Data Repository.

Among the pipeline enhancements being actively developed is a new flux calibration for SOFIA's field imaging spectrometer FIFI-LS. Calibration is performed by comparing over 7 years of far-infrared measurements of Mars with known flux models. The methodology improves upon previous calibrations by utilising a fully time-resolved model of the Mars surface brightness, a flux-conserving spatial/spectral resampling algorithm, and aperture photometry which accounts for the instrumental PSF and apparent size of the planet.

The resulting flux "response curves" show an improved accuracy and reduced variation between SOFIA flights, and better reflect physical principles and instrument characterisation than their predecessors. This raises the integrity of the final data products - crucial astrophysical diagnostics such as the fine structure cooling lines [CII] and [OI]. Other developed and planned pipeline enhancements are also presented, such as an improved atmospheric correction, and a generalised three dimensional resampling algorithm.