STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2018-11-13 (Week 46) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * Debbie Knapp will be replacing David Quinn as Mission Director, after 9 years of service to STEREO. * Ground system test for STA. ESA conducted a shadow track using New Norcia station to test the station's performance for receiving 360 kbps downlink and the test was favorable for using higher downlink rates above 25 degrees elevation. INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * Ahead is operating nominally. * Four years after the initial loss of communications anomaly with the Behind observatory, NASA has directed to cease periodic recovery operations with the last support on October 17, 2018. DISCUSSION AND OPERATIONS CONSTRAINTS ------------------------------------- Week 45 (Nov 5-Nov 11) * SECCHI COR2 deep exposures in support of the first perihelion pass of Parker Solar Probe ended Tu (Nov 6). It was a 4 day campaign started on Day 307. * Ahead has thirteen passes during the week and overall coverage is nominal. There are three passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, two at 240 kpbs and six at 160 kbps, including ESA supports with New Norcia (Tuesday and Friday), and Cebreros (Friday). ESA supports are used to maintain data return, not to increase the amount of data. Week 46 (Nov 12-18) * Ahead reaches perihelion on Nov 12. * The 114th momentum dump on Ahead occurred on Monday, Nov 12, with ignition at 14:30 UT. This will be the 33rd dump without using the gyros. The dump was moved from the original date of Nov 7 at the request of the SECCHI team to avoid conflicts with the first Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass. The momentum dump was conducted during an ESA Cebreros pass. At the start of the pass, real time telemetry was delayed 35 min due to a configuration problem at the DSN. Later in the same support period, the station had problems sending commands which have subsequently been resolved. * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are five passes at 720 kbps, three at 360 kbps, and three at 160 kbps, including ESA Cebreros passes on Monday and Tuesday. * IMPACT reported that it cannot connect to the MOC for real time telemetry. This is being investigated. Week 47 (Nov 19-25) * Thursday, Nov 22, is Thanksgiving. Both Thursday and Friday are holidays at APL. * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are four passes at 720 kbps, one at 360 kbps, three at 240 kbps, and four at 160 kbps, including ESA Cebreros passes on Wednesday and Friday. Week 48 (Nov 26-Dec 2) * Chanukah starts on Dec 2, and runs though Dec 10. * Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are four passes at 720 kbps, four at 360 kbps, and one at 160 kbps. Week 49 (Dec 3-9) * Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are four passes at 720 kbps, three at 360 kbps, and two at 240 kbps. Week 50 (Dec 10-16) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, one at 360 kbps, two at 240 kbps, and one at 160 kbps, including an ESA New Norcia pass on Thursday, Dec 13. Week 51 (Dec 17-23) * The 115th momentum dump on Ahead is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec 19, with ignition at 17:00 UT. This will be the 34th dump without using the gyros. This dump will be occuring during an ESA pass. * Ahead has twelve 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 four at 160 kbps, including two ESA passes. Week 52 (Dec 24-31) * Dec 25 is Christmas. Dec 24 is also a holiday for APL. * Ahead has twelve 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 three at 160 kbps. Other * Parker Solar Probe had it's first perihelion last night (Nov 5-6). Although there is no communication with the spacecraft so close to the Sun, beacon tones picked up by DSN indicate that the spacecraft is operating nominally. * The MOC is waiting for a go-ahead from the DSN on additional SLE testing. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 45: M Nov 05 (309) SECCHI COR2 deep exposure campaign for Parker Solar Probe T Nov 06 (310) SECCHI COR2 deep exposure campaign for Parker Solar Probe W Nov 07 (311) T Nov 08 (312) F Nov 09 (313) S Nov 10 (314) S Nov 11 (315) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 46: M Nov 12 (316) Ahead: Perihelion Ahead: Momentum dump, 14:30 UT T Nov 13 (317) W Nov 14 (318) T Nov 15 (319) F Nov 16 (320) S Nov 17 (321) S Nov 18 (322) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 47: M Nov 19 (323) T Nov 20 (324) W Nov 21 (325) T Nov 22 (326) Thanksgiving F Nov 23 (327) S Nov 24 (328) S Nov 25 (329) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 48: M Nov 26 (330) T Nov 27 (331) W Nov 28 (332) T Nov 29 (333) F Nov 30 (334) S Dec 01 (335) S Dec 02 (336) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 49: M Dec 03 (337) T Dec 04 (338) W Dec 05 (339) T Dec 06 (340) F Dec 07 (341) S Dec 08 (342) S Dec 09 (343) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 50: M Dec 10 (344) T Dec 11 (345) W Dec 12 (346) T Dec 13 (347) F Dec 14 (348) S Dec 15 (349) S Dec 16 (350) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 51: M Dec 17 (351) T Dec 18 (352) W Dec 19 (353) Ahead: Momentum dump, 17:00 UT T Dec 20 (354) F Dec 21 (355) S Dec 22 (356) S Dec 23 (357) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 52: M Dec 24 (358) T Dec 25 (359) W Dec 26 (360) T Dec 27 (361) F Dec 28 (362) S Dec 29 (363) S Dec 30 (364) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2019: * Mar Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 240 kbps for 34 meter * Mar 31-Apr 10 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Apr Behind: Switch downlink rate to 240 kbps for 34 meter * Aug 28-Sep 7 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Nov 4 Ahead: Close approach of Parker Solar Probe 2020: * Jan 24-Feb 4 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * 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 * Jun 2-13 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Sep Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 480 kbps for 34 meter * Sep 22-Oct 2 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2021: * Jan 13-23 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Apr 25-May 4 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Jul Behind: Switch downlink rate to 720 kbps for 34 meter * Aug Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 720 kbps for 34 meter * Aug 5-15 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Nov 17-26 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2022: * Feb 21-Mar 2 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * May 28-Jun 7 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Sep 2-11 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Dec 7-16 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2023: * Mar 13-23 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * May 5 Behind: Mercury transit * Jun 17-27 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Jul 17 Behind: Closest approach to Earth * Aug 13 Ahead: Closest approach to Earth * Sep 23-Oct 3 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Dec 25-Jan 3 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2024: * Mar 26-Apr 4 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Jun 26-Jul 5 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Sep 26-Oct 5 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Dec 20-29 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2025: * Mar 19-27 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Apr 7 Ahead: Mercury transit * Jun 15-24 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2026: 2027: * Feb 1 Behind: Mercury transit 2028: 2029: * Jun 30 Ahead: Mercury transit