STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2016-10-25 (Week 43) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * None INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * Ahead is operating nominally on the main lobe of the high gain antenna. * Attempts to recover Behind have transitioned back to a monthly schedule. See below for details. DISCUSSION AND OPERATIONS CONSTRAINTS ------------------------------------- Week 42 (Oct 17-23) * On day 291 (Oct 17), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost intermittently beginning at 0901z through 0939z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 73 frames of SSR data and 25 frames of real-time data. * On day 295 (Oct 21), during the DSS-45 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 0011z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of one frame of SSR data. See DR # N110408 for more information. * On day 296 (Oct 22), during the DSS-55 support for Ahead, the antenna was red for the entire track. No telemetry or commanding was completed. The SSR pointers were repositioned on the next support with DSS-25 and all SSR data were recovered. See DR #M109614 for more information. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 5.3 Gbits during this week. Week 43 (Oct 24-30) * Oct 25 (Tuesday) is the 10th STEREO Launch Date Anniversary. * PLASTIC is doing real-time commanding today (Oct 25) to increase their MCP voltage. * Ahead has 13 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are four passes at 720 kbps, four at 240 kbps, and five at 160 kbps. * Behind starts the week at an SPE angle of 13.6 degrees. There are no passes scheduled for Behind during the week, as recovery attempts for Behind are back to a monthly schedule. Week 44 (Oct 31-Nov 6) * Daily savings time in the United States ends on Sunday, Nov 6. * Ahead has 13 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. An additional 70 meter track using station 43 for 2.4 hours was added on Monday, Oct 31. There are now two tracks at 720 kbps, six at 240 kbps, and five at 160 kbps. * Behind starts the week at an SPE angle of 13.6 degrees. There are no passes scheduled for Behind during the week, as recovery attempts for Behind are back to a monthly schedule. Week 45 (Nov 7-13) * There will be an IONET vulnerability scan on Monday, Nov 7. This will occur outside tracks, and is not expected to have any effect. * The previously scheduled uplink array passes for Behind on Friday, Nov 11, and Sunday, Nov 13, have been converted to a battery recovery pass with the 80 kW transmitter on station 26 on Friday, and Sunday, and a carrier recovery pass with station 14 on Sunday. * Ahead has 10 tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are four tracks at 720 kbps, three at 240 kbps, and three at 160 kbps. * Behind starts the week at an SPE angle of 13.8 degrees. There are no passes for Behind beyond the recovery passes discussed above. Week 46 (Nov 14-20) * The 93rd momentum dump for Ahead is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov 16, with ignition at 14:30 UT. This will be the 12 dump without the gyros. * Ahead has 11 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are three passes at 720 kbps, one at 240 kbps, and seven at 160 kbps. * Behind starts the week at an SPE angle of 13.9 degrees. There are no passes scheduled for Behind during the week, as recovery attempts for Behind are back to a monthly schedule. Week 47 (Nov 21-27) * Thursday, Nov 24, is Thanksgiving. Both Thursday and Friday are holidays at APL. * Ahead has 13 passes during the week. Three ESA New Norcia passes were added on Monday and Tuesday to make up for the previous shortage, and overall coverage is now nominal. There are four tracks scheduled at 720 kbps, three at 240 kbps, and six at 160 kbps. * Behind starts the week at an SPE angle of 14.1 degrees. There are currently no passes scheduled for Behind during the week. Week 48 (Nov 28-Dec 4) * Ahead has 9 passes during the week, and overall coverage is now nominal. An ESA pass was added, and the number of 70 meter passes was increased from three to four. There are four passes at 720 kbps, three at 240 kbps, and two at 160 kbps. * Behind starts the week at an SPE angle of 14.4 degrees. There are no tracks for Behind scheduled during the week. Week 49 (Dec 5-11) * There's a project interface test with station 26 on day 346 (Dec 11) to test out new DTT software. * Ahead has 8 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are five passes at 720 kbps, two at 240 kbps, and one at 360 kbps. * Passes to attempt to recover Behind are scheduled for Friday-Sunday, Dec 9-11. The battery recovery tracks will use the 80 kW transmitter on station 26. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 43: M Oct 24 (298) T Oct 25 (299) W Oct 26 (300) T Oct 27 (301) F Oct 28 (302) S Oct 29 (303) S Oct 30 (304) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 44: M Oct 31 (305) T Nov 01 (306) W Nov 02 (307) T Nov 03 (308) F Nov 04 (309) S Nov 05 (310) S Nov 06 (311) Daily savings time ends in U.S. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 45: M Nov 07 (312) T Nov 08 (313) W Nov 09 (314) T Nov 10 (315) F Nov 11 (316) Behind: Battery recovery pass with station 26 S Nov 12 (317) S Nov 13 (318) Behind: Battery recovery pass with station 26 Behind: Carrier recovery pass with station 14 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 46: M Nov 14 (319) T Nov 15 (320) W Nov 16 (321) Ahead: Momentum dump, 14:30 UT T Nov 17 (322) F Nov 18 (323) S Nov 19 (324) S Nov 20 (325) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 47: M Nov 21 (326) T Nov 22 (327) W Nov 23 (328) T Nov 24 (329) Thanksgiving F Nov 25 (330) S Nov 26 (331) S Nov 27 (332) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 48: M Nov 28 (333) T Nov 29 (334) W Nov 30 (335) T Dec 01 (336) F Dec 02 (337) S Dec 03 (338) S Dec 04 (339) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 49: M Dec 05 (340) T Dec 06 (341) W Dec 07 (342) T Dec 08 (343) F Dec 09 (344) Behind: Battery recovery track with station 26 S Dec 10 (345) Behind: Battery recovery track with station 26 S Dec 11 (346) Ahead: Project interface test with station 26 Behind: Carrier recovery track with station 14 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2016: * Dec Behind: Resume LGA downlink capability on 70 m DSN 2017: 2018: * Mar 5 Ahead: Mercury transit 2019: * Mar Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 240 kbps for 34 meter * Apr Behind: Switch downlink rate to 240 kbps for 34 meter 2020: * May Behind: Switch downlink rate to 360 kbps for 34 meter * Jun Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 360 kbps for 34 meter * Jun Behind: Switch downlink rate to 480 kbps for 34 meter * Sep Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 480 kbps for 34 meter 2021: * Jul Behind: Switch downlink rate to 720 kbps for 34 meter * Aug Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 720 kbps for 34 meter