STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2018-09-18 (Week 38) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * It was announced last week that after four years of attempting to re-establish communications with the Behind observatory, NASA has directed to cease recovery operations with the last support on October 17th. INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * Ahead is operating nominally on the main lobe of the high gain antenna. * Behind has transitioned to a monthly schedule to attempt to recover the spacecraft. DISCUSSION AND OPERATIONS CONSTRAINTS ------------------------------------- Week 37 (Sep 10-16) * On day 254 (Sep 11), during the DSS-34 support, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 02:59UTC. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 3 frames of SSR data. * On day 254 (Sep 11), the DSN configuration issue that delayed receiving data from the ESA Malargüe station last week on days 249 and 250 (Sep 6th and 7th) was corrected. All data has been transferred and data products for days 249, 250, and 251 have been regenerated. * On day 256 (Sep 13), during the DSS-35 support, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 06:49UTC. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 40 frames of real-time telemetry and SSR data. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 4.5 Gbits during this week. * There were no recovery passes for Behind during the week. Week 38 (Sep 17-23) * Day 260 (Sep 17) station 14 monitor data were received late. This did not impact operations. * There will be a telemetry subsystem assessment review on Wednesday, Sep 19, from 9-12 AM, 13:00-16:00 UT at APL. Webex invitations have been sent out. Please let APL know ahead of time if you plan to attend in person, so that security passes can be obtained. * Ahead has eight passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are five passes at 720 kbps, two at 240 kbps, and one at 160 kbps. * Recovery passes for Behind using the 1 kHz frequency acquisition sequence are scheduled for Friday, Sep 21 (battery), and on Saturday and Sunday, Sep 22, 23 (both carrier). Week 39 (Sep 24-30) * Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall coverage is now nominal with the addition of an ESA New Norcia pass on Monday, and an ESA Cebreros pass on Thursday. There are six passes at 720 kbps, one pass at 360 kbps, and two passes at 160 kbps. * There are no recovery passes for Behind during the week. Week 40 (Oct 1-7) * On Tuesday, October 2nd, the 113th momentum dump is scheduled for 15:30 UT. This will be the 32nd momentum dump that does not use the gyros. It will be carried out during an ESA Malargue pass. * Wednesday, Oct 3rd, test track on ESA Malargue for 4 hours to test the Ahead MOC transition to CCSDS SLE bluebook version 4. * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, and three at 160 kbps. This includes 4.25 hours of ESA New Norcia coverage on Tuesday and the momentum dump on ESA Malargue on Tuesday for 4.25 hours. * There are no recovery passes for Behind during the week. Week 41 (Oct 8-14) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, one at 240 kbps, and two at 160 kbps. This includes ESA Cebreros passes on Monday and Thursday. * There are no recovery passes for Behind during the week. * A previously scheduled interface test track with Behind has been reassigned to Ahead as a regular track. * Oct 12th Behind reaches perihelion. Week 42 (Oct 15-21) * Wednesday, October 17th, second SLE bluebook version 4 test between ESA Cebreros and the MOC for 4 hours. * Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are four passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, and three at 160 kbps. This includes an ESA Cebreros pass on Thursday October 18th. * Search pattern recovery passes for Behind are scheduled for Monday, Oct 15th (battery), and on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 16th and 17th (both carrier). Until further notice, these are the last recovery attempts for Behind. Week 43 (Oct 22-28) * Thursday, Oct 25, is the 12th anniversary of the launch of STEREO. * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are four passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, two at 240 kbps, and two at 160 kbps. This includes an ESA Cebreros pass on Friday. Week 44 (Oct 29-Nov 4) * Nov 4th 06:00UTC daylight savings time will end. * Ahead has eight passes during the week, and overall coverage in short 9 hours of 70 meter time between October 31st and November 3rd. Looking at options for additional time. There are four passes at 720 kbps, three at 360 kbps, one at 160 kbps. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 37: M Sep 10 (253) T Sep 11 (254) W Sep 12 (255) T Sep 13 (256) F Sep 14 (257) S Sep 15 (258) S Sep 16 (259) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 38: M Sep 17 (260) T Sep 18 (261) W Sep 19 (262) T Sep 20 (263) F Sep 21 (264) Behind: Recovery track, DSN 14 (1 kHz, battery) S Sep 22 (265) Behind: Recovery track, DSN 14 (1 kHz, carrier) S Sep 23 (266) Behind: Recovery track, DSN 14 (1 kHz, carrier) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 39: M Sep 24 (267) T Sep 25 (268) W Sep 26 (269) T Sep 27 (270) F Sep 28 (271) S Sep 29 (272) S Sep 30 (273) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 40: M Oct 01 (274) T Oct 02 (275) W Oct 03 (276) Ahead: Interface test track with ESA Malargue T Oct 04 (277) F Oct 05 (278) S Oct 06 (279) S Oct 07 (280) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 41: M Oct 08 (281) T Oct 09 (282) W Oct 10 (283) T Oct 11 (284) F Oct 12 (285) S Oct 13 (286) S Oct 14 (287) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 42: M Oct 15 (288) Behind: Recovery track, DSN 14 (search pattern, battery) T Oct 16 (289) Behind: Recovery track, DSN 43 (search pattern, carrier) W Oct 17 (290) Behind: Recovery track, DSN 43 (search pattern, carrier) Ahead: Interface test track with ESA Cebreros T Oct 18 (291) F Oct 19 (292) S Oct 20 (293) S Oct 21 (294) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 43: M Oct 22 (295) T Oct 23 (296) W Oct 24 (297) T Oct 25 (298) 12th STEREO launch anniversary F Oct 26 (299) S Oct 27 (300) S Oct 28 (301) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 44: M Oct 29 (302) T Oct 30 (303) W Oct 31 (304) T Nov 1 (305) F Nov 2 (306) S Nov 3 (307) S Nov 4 (308) Note: * Ahead: Coverage is short 9 hours between October 31 and November 3rd. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2018: * Nov 4,5,6 Ahead: SECCHI COR2 deep exposure campaign with first Parker Solar Probe perihelion (dates TBC) 2019: * Mar Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 240 kbps for 34 meter * Apr Behind: Switch downlink rate to 240 kbps for 34 meter * Nov 4 Ahead: Close approach of Parker Solar Probe 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 2022: 2023: * May 5 Behind: Mercury transit * Jul 17 Behind: Closest approach to Earth * Aug 13 Ahead: Closest approach to Earth 2024: 2025: * Apr 7 Ahead: Mercury transit 2026: 2027: * Feb 1 Behind: Mercury transit 2028: 2029: * Jun 30 Ahead: Mercury transit