STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2019-02-19 (Week 8) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * The command and control workstations at the MOC are being updated from Sun Sparc stations to modern Intel-based Unix workstations. These new systems are going through a series of end-to-end testing. Part of the change involves going from big-endian to little-ending. The CCSDS Spacelink Extension is going from version 1 to version 4. Some additional testing with instrument commanding and telemetry is needed, and an email concerning this has been sent to the teams. * For the first phase of testing, the MOC requests that the instrument teams send commands by next Tuesday which can be used for testing. These commands would be sent first through the present main command link to the Ahead spacecraft, and then later through the test command link with the DSN test station, DTF-21, with the results compared. It's currently anticipated that these SECCHI commands will be sent up through the main command link during the 4:30 AM EST load on Wednesday, Feb 27, and then through the test link later in the day. The other instrument commands will be sent to Ahead at the time each instrument specifies. These commands should be such that they do not interfere with operations, e.g. No-ops or routine commands. It's preferable that the commands do not have an expiration time. * The second part of testing will be end-to-end from the POCs, through the new hardware and software up to the spacecraft. The MOC is still looking into scheduling that. The commands can be time-tagged or real-time, whichever the instrument teams feel most comfortable with. The POC will be needed during this test to verify real-time telemetry. 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 7 (Feb 11-17) * On day 044 (Feb 13), during the DSS-14 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost intermittently at 0113z through 0137z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 2046 frames of real-time and SSR data. See DR# G119787 for more information. * On day 047 (Feb 16), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, MOC commanding was delayed 30 minutes as monitor data was delayed for 1.7 hours due to an issue with the monitor data server. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 30 minutes of commanding and 1.7 hours of monitor data. All SSR data were received. See DR# N111080 for more information. * On day 042 (Feb 11), the 46th SECCHI stepped calibration was executed at 1015z for the midpoint in the Ahead orbit. This was the 15th SECCHI stepped calibration roll to be conducted without gyro use. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 5.5 Gbits during this week. Week 8 (Feb 18-24) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are seven passes at 720 kbps, and three at 360 kbps. Week 9 (Feb 25-Mar 3) * A two hour DSN test track will be scheduled on Wednesday to test the new MOC hardware. * Ahead has ten passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. Week 10 (Mar 4-10) * Monday March 4th, day 063, at 19:30 UT, the 117th momentum dump on Ahead is scheduled. This is the 36th momentum dump without using the gyros. * Sunday, March 10, Daylight Saving Time begins in the U.S. * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, one at 360 kbps, and one at 240 kbps. Week 11 (Mar 11-17) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. Week 12 (Mar 18-24) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. Week 13 (Mar 25-31) * Sunday, Mar 31, marks the beginning of the second SECCHI COR2 deep exposure campaign for Parker Solar Probe. * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, and one pass at 240 kbps. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 08: M Feb 18 (049) T Feb 19 (050) W Feb 20 (051) T Feb 21 (052) F Feb 22 (053) S Feb 23 (054) S Feb 24 (055) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 09: M Feb 25 (056) T Feb 26 (057) W Feb 27 (058) T Feb 28 (059) F Mar 01 (060) S Mar 02 (061) S Mar 03 (062) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 10: M Mar 04 (063) Ahead: Momentum dump, 19:30 UT T Mar 05 (064) W Mar 06 (065) T Mar 07 (066) F Mar 08 (067) S Mar 09 (068) S Mar 10 (069) Daylight Savings Time begins ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 11: M Mar 11 (070) T Mar 12 (071) W Mar 13 (072) T Mar 14 (073) F Mar 15 (074) S Mar 16 (075) S Mar 17 (076) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 12: M Mar 18 (077) T Mar 19 (078) W Mar 20 (079) T Mar 21 (080) F Mar 22 (081) S Mar 23 (082) S Mar 24 (083) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 13: M Mar 25 (084) T Mar 26 (085) W Mar 27 (086) T Mar 28 (087) F Mar 29 (088) S Mar 30 (089) S Mar 31 (090) Ahead: Begin SECCHI observations for Parker Solar Probe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 * Dec 26 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby 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 * Jul 11 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby, in HI2-A field-of-view * 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 * Feb 20 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby * 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 * Oct 16 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby * 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 * Aug 21 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby * 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 * Nov 6 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby, in HI2-A field-of-view * 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