The first useful result of this work will be an upgrading of the Asterix application AST2XSP which converts Asterix spectra to XSPEC spectra. This will be upgraded to write the new FITS spectral file format (also handling associated background spectra), and will convert in the reverse direction.
Shortly after AST2XSP would follow AST2XCR and AST2XIM to convert between Asterix and XRONOS and XIMAGE formats. These three applications (or rather three faces of one application) would serve as test beds for the Asterix interface work and provide an interim solution for those requiring data reformatting. It is estimated that these programs will be available within 2 to 3 months. Asterix applications would then start to be converted with intention that most would be done by the next release late in the year.