STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2019-08-06 (Week 32) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * IMPACT announces that the STEREO Data Server at UCLA will be down for a month. Alternate sources for these data are being identified. * The SSC reports that ftp access via stereoftp has been discontinued, as per NASA directive. An ftps service on stereoftp will be active shortly. Otherwise, instrument teams that get their data via ftp from the server will have to change their scripts to get the data from https://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov. * The sohoftp server that distributes SolarSoft is also expected to be unavailable from outside NASA shortly. A message will be sent out soon on how to update SolarSoft once the ftp server is no longer available. The new procedure will use wget. Non-Windows users will need to have wget installed on their system. More details will be sent out shortly. 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 31 (Jul 29-Aug 4) * On day 210 (Jul 29), the 49th SECCHI stepped calibration was executed at 1210z for midpoint in the Ahead orbit. This was the 18th SECCHI stepped calibration roll conducted without gyro use. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 5.9 Gbits during this week. Week 32 (Aug 5-11) * The 121st momentum dump on Ahead was carried out yesterday (Aug 5), with ignition at 20:30 UT. * Today, Aug 6, the data rates for the low gain antenna on Ahead increase to 500 bps for uplink, and 1000 bps for downlink, when using a 70 meter station. * 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 33 (Aug 12-18) * The originally scheduled project interface test on Tuesday, Aug 13, has been postponed several weeks. The station 14 track allocated for this test is now a regular operational track. * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage in nominal. There are seven passes at 720 kbps and four at 240 kbps. Week 34 (Aug 19-25) * On Tuesday, Aug 20, there will be a return-to-service demo track with DSS-63, 16:50-19:50 UTC. There will be no SSR playback and no instrument commanding. * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage in nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, and one at 240 kbps. Week 35 (Aug 26-Sep 1) * The third SECCHI support campaign for Parker Solar Probe starts Wednesday, Aug 28, and extends to Sep 7. The COR2 long duration exposures for this campaign are on Sep 1-3. * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage in nominal. There are ten passes at 720 kbps and two at 360 kbps. Week 36 (Sep 2-8) * Monday, Sep 2, is Labor Day, which is a holiday at APL. * The third SECCHI support campaign for Parker Solar Probe ends Saturday, Sep 7. The COR2 long duration exposures for this campaign are on Sep 1-3. * Ahead has eight passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are five passes at 720 kbps, and three at 360 kbps. Week 37 (Sep 9-15) * SECCHI plans to make special HI-1 observations in conjunction with PSP/WISPR, Sep 11-13. * Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, and one at 240 kbps. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 32: M Aug 05 (217) Ahead: Momentum dump, 20:30 UT T Aug 06 (218) W Aug 07 (219) T Aug 08 (220) F Aug 09 (221) S Aug 10 (222) S Aug 11 (223) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 33: M Aug 12 (224) T Aug 13 (225) W Aug 14 (226) T Aug 15 (227) F Aug 16 (228) S Aug 17 (229) S Aug 18 (230) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 34: M Aug 19 (231) T Aug 20 (232) Ahead: Return-to-service track with station 63 Ahead: COR2 high cadence to observe Pleiades W Aug 21 (233) T Aug 22 (234) F Aug 23 (235) S Aug 24 (236) S Aug 25 (237) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 35: M Aug 26 (238) T Aug 27 (239) W Aug 28 (240) Ahead: Begin SECCHI observations for Parker Solar Probe T Aug 29 (241) F Aug 30 (242) S Aug 31 (243) S Sep 1 (244) Ahead: SECCHI COR2, EUVI 171 long exposures Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Aug 28-Sep 7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 36: M Sep 2 (245) Labor Day holiday Ahead: SECCHI COR2, EUVI 171 long exposures T Sep 3 (246) Ahead: SECCHI COR2, EUVI 171 long exposures W Sep 4 (247) T Sep 5 (248) F Sep 6 (249) S Sep 7 (250) Ahead: End SECCHI observations for Parker Solar Probe S Sep 8 (251) Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Aug 28-Sep 7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 37: M Sep 09 (252) T Sep 10 (253) W Sep 11 (254) Ahead: HI1-WISPR campaign T Sep 12 (255) Ahead: HI1-WISPR campaign F Sep 13 (256) Ahead: HI1-WISPR campaign S Sep 14 (257) S Sep 15 (258) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2019: * 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