STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2020-10-27 (Week 44) 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 43 (Oct 19-25) * On day 295 (Oct 21), during the DSS-25 support for Ahead, command bind aborted at 295-2050z and 296-0138z due to an unknown reason, which is under investigation by DSN. This anomaly had no impact on operations and command bind was reestablished at 295-2312z and 296-0238z respectively. See DR #N111594 for more information. * On day 296 (Oct 22), during the DSS-36 support for Ahead, command, telemetry and monitor data services were lost in the MOC at 0717z due the DSN network's CORE switch being reset by network engineers. This emergency reboot was an attempt to rectify the sporadic command system aborts that have been occurring over the last week. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 2.1 hours of real-time telemetry and command services. SSR data recovery was not affected during this outage. See DR #C115260 for more information. The MOC reports that they've seen no command bind losses since the reboot. A post reboot report is not yet available from the DSN. * On day 297 (Oct 23), during the DSS-34 support for Ahead, the transmitter tripped offline at 0748z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 826 frames of SSR data when the receiver transitioned from two-way to one-way mode. Also during this support, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly on several occasions that resulted in the loss of 19 frames of SSR data. MOPs repositioned the SSR pointers on the subsequent DSS-63 and DSS-35 supports and all affected DSS-34 data was recovered. See DR #C115253 for more information. * On day 297 (Oct 23), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was intermittent between 1245z (BOT) and 1352z as the antenna was operated in ENC mode as MSI status was RED (suspect encoder systematic error model as the cause of this issue). This anomaly resulted in the loss of 97405 frames of SSR data. MOPs repositioned the In-situ instrument SSR pointers on the subsequent DSS-35 support and all affected DSS-63 data was recovered. See DR #M112757 for more information. * As of day 299 (Oct 25), 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 5.9 Gbits during this week. Week 44 (Oct 26-Nov 1) * Ahead has thirteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are five passes at 720 kbps, four at 480 kbps, three at 360 kbps, and one at 160 kbps. * A station 63 transmitter failure today resulted in the cancellation of the planned momentum dump. Two possible replacement dates were discussed, tomorrow (Wednesday) at 21:30 or Thursday at 15:00 UT. Another opportunity exists on Friday, but that would be using station 63 again. PLASTIC needs to command before midnight of the day of the maneuver. After some discussion, it was decided to plan for the Thursday opportunity. PLASTIC will confirm if they will be able to command in time, after which the weekly schedule will be updated. * L3VPN SLE Portal Bind testing was carried out successfully yesterday. This testing was planned after last week's telecon. The next step is to go on command testing. Rather than scheduling tests with each ground station, testing will continue in the background with the current DSN schedule. * 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. * Sunday, Oct 25, was the 14th anniversary of the STEREO launch. 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. Week 49 (Nov 30-Dec 6) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, one at 480 kbps, and one at 360 kbps. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 44: M Oct 26 (300) Ahead: SECCHI observations of Betelgeuse, 12-14 UT T Oct 27 (301) W Oct 28 (302) T Oct 29 (303) Ahead: Momentum dump, 15:00 UT 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) Ahead: EUVI-EUI cross calibration W Nov 18 (323) Ahead: EUVI-EUI cross calibration T Nov 19 (324) F Nov 20 (325) S Nov 21 (326) End of Solar Orbiter conjunction observation window S Nov 22 (327) Notes: * COR2/Metis cross-calibration, Nov 16-22 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 49: M Nov 30 (335) T Dec 01 (336) W Dec 02 (337) T Dec 03 (338) F Dec 04 (339) S Dec 05 (340) S Dec 06 (341) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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