STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2019-05-07 (Week 19) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * The SSC reports that all ftp servers at NASA will have to be shut down by July 31. Instrument teams that get their data via ftp from the stereoftp server will have to change their scripts to get the data from https://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov. A new procedure for updating SolarSoft is still under development. The possibility of modifying the commonly used Perl mirror script to use ftps instead of ftp was found to be not feasible. The sftp protocol is still allowed by NASA, but this requires each user to have an account. It should also be possible to set up an ftps server, and the SSC would like to know whether anyone has a desire to use this protocol. 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 18 (Apr 29-May 5) * On day 125 (May 5), during the DSS-14 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 0000z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 71 frames of real-time telemetry and SSR data, or about 1 second's worth. * On day 119 (Apr 29), the 48th SECCHI stepped calibration was executed at 1955z for aphelion in the Ahead orbit. This was the 17th SECCHI stepped calibration roll to be conducted without gyro use. * On day 122 (May 2), the 8th battery conditioning event was successfully conducted at 1820z on the Ahead spacecraft to redistribute the electrolytes within the nickel hydrogen battery cells. The test results were very consistent with the previous test in 2018. * On day 124 (May 4), the Ahead spacecraft reached aphelion in its orbit. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 6.3 Gbits during this week. Week 19 (May 6-12) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are ten passes at 720 kbps, and one at 360 kbps. Week 20 (May 13-19) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. Week 21 (May 20-26) * The 119th momentum dump on Ahead is scheduled for Tuesday, May 21, with ignition at 19:30 UT. This will be the 38th dump without using the gyros. * Wednesday, May 22, is the target date for switching to the new workstations. The first support is planned for that evening, moving into the next UTC day. * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are ninepasses at 720 kbps, one at 360 kbps, and two at 240 kbps. Week 22 (May 27-Jun 2) * Monday, May 27, is Memorial Day, which is an APL holiday. * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, one at 360 kbps, and one at 240 kbps. Week 23 (Jun 3-9) * Ahead has nine passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. Week 24 (Jun 10-16) * Ahead has eight passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are seven passes at 720 kbps, and one at 240 kbps. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 19: M May 06 (126) T May 07 (127) W May 08 (128) T May 09 (129) F May 10 (130) S May 11 (131) S May 12 (132) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 20: M May 13 (133) T May 14 (134) W May 15 (135) T May 16 (136) F May 17 (137) S May 18 (138) S May 19 (139) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 21: M May 20 (140) T May 21 (141) Ahead: Momentum dump, 19:30 UT W May 22 (142) T May 23 (143) F May 24 (144) S May 25 (145) S May 26 (146) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 22: M May 27 (147) Memorial Day T May 28 (148) W May 29 (149) T May 30 (150) F May 31 (151) S Jun 01 (152) S Jun 02 (153) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 23: M Jun 03 (154) T Jun 04 (155) W Jun 05 (156) T Jun 06 (157) F Jun 07 (158) S Jun 08 (159) S Jun 09 (160) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 24: M Jun 10 (161) T Jun 11 (162) W Jun 12 (163) T Jun 13 (164) F Jun 14 (165) S Jun 15 (166) S Jun 16 (167) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2019: * 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