STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2020-10-20 (Week 43) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * None. INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * Ahead is operating nominally. PLASTIC is in operational mode, but with a high background rate. * 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 42 (Oct 12-18) * On day 286 (Oct 12), during the DSS-83 (ESA Cebreros) support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1630z, due to a glitch in the downlink signal that ESA reported. This anomaly resulted in the loss of five frames of SSR data. The MOC performed an SLE offline telemetry retrieval from downlink chain #2, which did not recover any additional data. It's unknown whether the anomaly occured onboard or in the ground system. * On day 289 (Oct 15), during the DSS-36 support for Ahead, command bind was aborted at 0729z due to an unknown reason, which is under investigation by DSN. This anomaly had no impact on operations and command bind was reestablished at 0828z. See DR #G121412 for more information. * On day 289 (Oct 15), during the DSS-36 and DSS-63 supports for Ahead, the File Delivery Service (FDS) was down, due to a network problem. This anomaly delayed the nominal delivery of telemetry files during the tracks until a manual retrieval was performed by MOPs at 289-2330z. See DR #C115231 for more information. * On day 290 (Oct 16), during the DSS-34 support for Ahead, initial acquisition of telemetry was 3.25 minutes late at 0503z, due to a Downlink Channel Control Processor failure. In addition, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 0736z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 1.25 minutes of SSR data. The command bind was aborted at 0554z due to an unknown reason, which is under investigation by DSN. On the subsequent DSS-56 support, MOPs repositioned the SSR pointers and recovered all the affected DSS-34 data. See DR #C115230 for more information. * On day 290 (Oct 16), the Project Interface Test (PIT) was conducted successfully for DSS-56 (new Madrid 34M antenna) with Ahead. The MOC received monitor data, telemetry, and sent commands from all three IONET workstations. The station lost connection to UPA1 and aborted the command bind at 1620z, due to a connection engine issue. This anomaly had no impact on operations and command bind was reestablished at 1633z. See DR # M112708 for more information. * On day 290 (Oct 16), during the DSS-25 support for Ahead, command bind was aborted at 291-0056z due to an unknown reason, which is under investigation by DSN. This anomaly had no impact on operations and command bind was reestablished at 291-0233z. See DR #G121412 for more information. * On day 292 (Oct 18), during the DSS-14 support for Ahead, command bind was aborted at 2154z due to an unknown reason, which is under investigation by DSN. This anomaly had no impact on operations and command bind was reestablished at 2233z. Other missions have been reporting similar problems with command bind over the last week. * As of day 292 (Oct 18), all PLASTIC systems 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 6.1 Gbits during this week. Week 43 (Oct 19-25) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are five passes at 720 kbps, two at 480 kbps, and three at 360 kbps. * SECCHI made observations with HI2 of the star Betelgeuse on Monday, Oct 19, between 12-14 UT, without rolling the spacecraft, for cross-calibration with other telescopes. Week 44 (Oct 26-Nov 1) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are five passes at 720 kbps, four at 480 kbps, two at 360 kbps, and one at 160 kbps. * SECCHI will observe the star Betelgeuse on Monday, Oct 26, between 12-14 UT, without rolling the spacecraft, for cross-calibration purposes. * The 132nd momentum dump is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct 27, with ignition at 15:00 UT. * The STEREO Annual Spacecraft Assessment review is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct 28, starting at 8:30. This will be an online review. * An ESA Malague pass is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct 28, and an ESA Cebreros pass is scheduled for Thursday, Oct 29. * Daylight savings time in the US ends on Sunday, Nov 1. Week 45 (Nov 2-8) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, four at 480 kbps, and two at 360 kbps. * ESA New Norcia passes are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Nov 7,8. Week 46 (Nov 9-15) * Ahead has eight passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, and two at 480 kbps. * Wednesday, Nov 11, is Veteran's Day, which is a holiday at APL. Week 47 (Nov 16-22) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, four at 480 kbps, and two at 360 kbps. * Solar Orbiter will have a remote sensing observing window while in conjunction with STEREO Ahead, Nov 16-22. * An ESA Malague pass is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov 18. Week 48 (Nov 23-29) * Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are five passes at 720 kbps, two at 480 kbps, and two at 360 kbps. * Thurdsay, Nov 26, is Thanksgiving. APL will be closed Thurdsay and Friday, Nov 26-27. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 43: M Oct 19 (293) Ahead: SECCHI observations of Betelgeuse, 12-14 UT T Oct 20 (294) W Oct 21 (295) T Oct 22 (296) F Oct 23 (297) S Oct 24 (298) S Oct 25 (299) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 44: M Oct 26 (300) Ahead: SECCHI observations of Betelgeuse, 12-14 UT T Oct 27 (301) Ahead: Momentum dump, 15:00 UT W Oct 28 (302) T Oct 29 (303) F Oct 30 (304) S Oct 31 (305) S Nov 01 (306) Daylight savings time ends in US. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 45: M Nov 02 (307) T Nov 03 (308) W Nov 04 (309) T Nov 05 (310) F Nov 06 (311) S Nov 07 (312) S Nov 08 (313) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 46: M Nov 09 (314) T Nov 10 (315) W Nov 11 (316) Veteran's Day T Nov 12 (317) F Nov 13 (318) S Nov 14 (319) S Nov 15 (320) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 47: M Nov 16 (321) Start of Solar Orbiter conjunction w/STEREO obs. window T Nov 17 (322) W Nov 18 (323) T Nov 19 (324) F Nov 20 (325) S Nov 21 (326) End of Solar Orbiter conjunction observation window S Nov 22 (327) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 48: M Nov 23 (328) T Nov 24 (329) W Nov 25 (330) T Nov 26 (331) Thanksgiving F Nov 27 (332) S Nov 28 (333) S Nov 29 (334) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2021: * Jan 13-23 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Feb 1-19 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Synoptics * Feb 20 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby * Feb 20-25 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Checkout Window 2 * Mar 21-24 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Checkout Window 3 * Apr 21-28 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Synoptics * Apr 25-May 4 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * May 13-Jul 15 Betelgeuse visible in SECCHI HI2 with 180 degree roll * 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