STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2020-06-30 (Week 27) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * None. INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * Ahead is operating nominally. PLASTIC is back to operational mode, but with a higher background rate. More time is needed to understand the new calibraton. * 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 26 (Jun 22-28) * On day 174 (Jun 22), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 2014z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 29 frames of SSR data. * On day 175 (Jun 23), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost intermittently from 1917z through 1919z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 26 frames of SSR data. * On day 176 (Jun 24), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost intermittently from 2000z through 2001z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 40 frames of SSR data. * DSN reports that the procedure to minimize losses of turbo decoder lock is in place, and are waiting to see if the software update scheduled for August provides a more permanent fix for the problem. * On day 176 (Jun 24), the SECCHI 180 degree roll was executed successfully on Ahead at 0200z for the first Betelgeuse star observation. The SECCHI team reports that Betelgeuse was well exposed at 1 seconds, but showed saturation in the 2 and 3 second exposures. For the next Betelgeuse observations, the team plans to do 0.5, 1, and 1.5 second exposures. * As of day 180 (Jun 28), all PLASTIC systems on Ahead are behaving well, except there is a high background count rate, which the team is continuing to monitor. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 6.6 Gbits during this week. Week 27 (Jun 29-Jul 5) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are seven passes at 720 kbps, one at 480 kbps, and two at 360 kbps. * The 129th momentum dump on Ahead was successfully carried out yesterday (Jun 29). * Friday, Jul 3, is a holiday at APL, for Independence Day. * The period from days 185-194 (Jul 3-12) is reserved for SECCHI HI observations in support of the Parker Solar Probe Venus fly-by. Week 28 (Jul 6-12) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are seven passes at 720 kbps, two at 480 kbps, and one at 360 kbps. * The period from days 185-194 (Jul 3-12) is reserved for SECCHI HI observations in support of the Parker Solar Probe Venus fly-by. Week 29 (Jul 13-19) * Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, one at 480 kbps, and two at 360 kbps. * The second 180 degree roll to observe Betelgeuse is scheduled for Monday, Jul 13, between 20-22 UT. * The 54th SECCHI stepped calibration roll is scheduled for Wednesday, Jul 15, starting at 16:35 UT. This is the midpoint roll. Week 30 (Jul 20-26) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are seven passes at 720 kbps, two at 480 kbps, and three at 360 kbps. * An ESA New Norcia pass is scheduled for Thursday, Jul 23, 06:00-8:30 UT. * The third 180 degree roll to observe Betelgeuse is scheduled for Monday, Jul.20, between 12-14 UT. Week 31 (Jul 27-Aug 2) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, and five at 480 kbps. * The fourth 180 degree roll to observe Betelgeuse is scheduled for Monday, Jul 27, between 8-10 UT. Week 32 (Aug 3-9) * Ahead has fifteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, two at 480 kbps, and five at 360 kbps. * An ESA New Norcia pass is scheduled for Thursday, Aug 6. * A test of the three links per operator procedure is scheduled for Friday, Aug 7, using station 14. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 27: M Jun 29 (181) Ahead: Momentum dump, 15:00 UT T Jun 30 (182) W Jul 01 (183) T Jul 02 (184) F Jul 03 (185) Independence Day holiday S Jul 04 (186) Independence Day S Jul 05 (187) Notes: * SECCHI HI observations for Parker Solar Probe, Jul 3-12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 28: M Jul 06 (188) T Jul 07 (189) W Jul 08 (190) T Jul 09 (191) F Jul 10 (192) S Jul 11 (193) Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby, in HI2-A field-of-view S Jul 12 (194) Notes: * SECCHI HI observations for Parker Solar Probe, Jul 3-12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 29: M Jul 13 (195) Ahead: 180 degree roll for observation of Betelgeuse, 20-22 UT T Jul 14 (196) W Jul 15 (197) Ahead: SECCHI stepped calibration roll, 16:35 UT T Jul 16 (198) F Jul 17 (199) S Jul 18 (200) S Jul 19 (201) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 30: M Jul 20 (202) Ahead: 180 degree roll for observation of Betelgeuse, 12-14 UT T Jul 21 (203) W Jul 22 (204) T Jul 23 (205) F Jul 24 (206) S Jul 25 (207) S Jul 26 (208) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 31: M Jul 27 (209) Ahead: 180 degree roll for observation of Betelgeuse, 8-10 UT T Jul 28 (210) W Jul 29 (211) T Jul 30 (212) F Jul 31 (213) S Aug 01 (214) S Aug 02 (215) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 32: M Aug 03 (216) T Aug 04 (217) W Aug 05 (218) T Aug 06 (219) F Aug 07 (220) Ahead: 3 links/operator test with station 14 S Aug 08 (221) S Aug 09 (222) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2020: * 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 * 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