STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2021-04-20 (Week 16) 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 15 (Apr 12-18) * On day 105 (Apr 15), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, beginning of track (BOT) was delayed until 1935z, due to a downlink processor problem. This anomaly resulted in the loss of five minutes of real-time telemetry and three minutes of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers on the subsequent DSS-63 support. All affected data was recovered, except for the loss of six minutes of SECCHI data for day 105-0946z thru 0952z. See DR # M113436 for more information. * On day 107 (Apr 17), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, the antenna downlink was declared red, due to the HEMT-X LNA overheating. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 3.75 hours of real-time telemetry and SSR playback activities. Since the uplink activities were green, the MOPs team responded to the MOC to stop the SSR playback and repositioned the SSR pointers to recover the science data on the next day. Also, the onboard SSR playback time-tag commands were deleted for the next DSS-63 track to operate the SSR PB from the ground. See DR #M113442 for more information. * On day 108 (Apr 18), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, the antenna downlink was declared red, due to the HEMT-X LNA overheating. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 2 hours of real-time telemetry and SSR playback activities. See DR # M113451 for more information. A subsequent track with station 25 allowed the telemetry to mostly catch up. * On day 108 (Apr 18), SECCHI SSR Partition 19 on Ahead reached 100% full at 1631z for 2.9 hours (1927z). The SSR pointer repositioning during DSS-63 track on day 107 to recover data from the X-band downlink problem caused this. * As of day 108, 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 5.7 Gbits during this week. Week 16 (Apr 19-25) * Problems with station 63 continue. There was no downlink yesterday, but the MOC was able to send up commands to stop the recorder, move back the pointer, and remove the commands to play back automatically. Station 63 was returned back to service at 0h UT, but went red again around 9 UT. Thus, there will be no downlink during the pass starting at 18:45 today (Apr 20). There's a station 45 pass coming up tonight to catch up as much as possible. The current estimate for station 63 coming back online is 15:30 UT on Thursday, Apr 22. The MOC has checked with ESA about the possibility of extra passes, but they are fully booked. Thanks go to the MOC team for all the hard work they put in. * Solar Orbiter will be testing Remote Sensor Synoptics, Apr 21-28. * The eighth Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass runs from Apr 25 to May 4. Week 17 (Apr 26-May 2) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, and two at 480 kbps. * A return-to-service track for station 14 is scheduled for Tuesday, Apr 27, between 00:00-03:00 UT. There will be no instrument commanding or SSR playback during this track. Week 18 (May 3-9) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, and four at 480 kbps. * The 137th Momentum dump is scheduled for Thursday, May 6, with ignition at 20:30 UT. Week 19 (May 10-16) * Ahead has thirteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eleven passes at 720 kbps, and two at 480 kbps. * A return-to-service track for station 24 is scheduled for Wednesday, May 12, between 23:00-02:00 UT. There will be on instrument commanding or SSR playback during this track. * Between May 13 to Jul 15, the star Betelgeuse will be visible in the HI2 field-of-view if the spacecraft is rolled by 180 degrees. MOC will start the process of planning these maneuvers. Because of system momentum, these maneuvers cannot start until week 20, probably in the middle of the week. MOC suggests performing one roll per week. Week 20 (May 17-23) * Ahead has eleven tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * The Ahead spacecraft will be rolled by 180 degrees on Wednesday, May 19, between 18-20 UT to allow the SECCHI HI-2 telescope to observe Betelgeuse. Week 21 (May 24-30) * Ahead has eleven tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight tracks at 720 kbps, and three at 480 kbps. * Monday, May 24, is Memorial Day, which is a holiday at APL. * The Ahead spacecraft will be rolled by 180 degrees on Wednesday, May 26, between 20-22 UT to allow the SECCHI HI-2 telescope to observe Betelgeuse. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 16: M Apr 19 (109) T Apr 20 (110) W Apr 21 (111) Start of Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Synoptics T Apr 22 (112) F Apr 23 (113) S Apr 24 (114) S Apr 25 (115) Start of Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass Ahead: COR2 pB campaign Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Synoptics, Apr 21-28. * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Apr 25-May 4. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 17: M Apr 26 (116) Ahead: COR2 pB campaign T Apr 27 (117) Ahead: COR2 pB campaign Ahead: Return-to-service track with station 14. W Apr 28 (118) Ahead: COR2 pB campaign, 0-6 UT Ahead: EUVI 171+COR2 Deep Field campaign, 6-24 UT End of Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Synoptics T Apr 29 (119) Ahead: EUVI 171+COR2 Deep Field campaign F Apr 30 (120) Ahead: EUVI 171+COR2 Deep Field campaign S May 01 (121) Ahead: EUVI 171+COR2 Deep Field campaign S May 02 (122) Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Synoptics, Apr 21-28. * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Apr 25-May 4. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 18: M May 03 (123) T May 04 (124) End of Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass W May 05 (125) T May 06 (126) Ahead: Momentum dump, 20:30 UT F May 07 (127) S May 08 (128) S May 09 (129) Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Apr 25-May 4. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 19: M May 10 (130) T May 11 (131) W May 12 (132) Ahead: Return-to-service track with station 24 T May 13 (133) F May 14 (134) S May 15 (135) S May 16 (136) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 20: M May 17 (137) T May 18 (138) W May 19 (139) Ahead: 180 degree roll to observe Betelgeuse, 18-20 UT T May 20 (140) F May 21 (141) S May 22 (142) S May 23 (143) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 21: M May 24 (144) Memorial Day T May 25 (145) W May 26 (146) Ahead: 180 degree roll to observe Betelgeuse, 20-22 UT T May 27 (147) F May 28 (148) S May 29 (149) S May 30 (150) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2021: * May 13-Jul 15 Betelgeuse visible in SECCHI HI2 with 180 degree roll * Aug 5-15 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Aug 9 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby * Aug 23 Solar Orbiter in quadrature with Earth * Aug 31 Solar Orbiter METIS roll * Sep 12-19 Solar Orbiter remote sensing window * Oct 16 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby * Nov 5 Solar Orbiter along Sun-Earth line * Nov 17-26 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Nov 27 Solar Orbiter Earth flyby 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 * Sep 4 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby * 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: * Feb 18 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby * Mar 19-27 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Apr 7 Ahead: Mercury transit * Jun 15-24 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2026: * Dec 24 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby 2027: * Feb 1 Behind: Mercury transit 2028: * Mar 18 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby 2029: * Jun 10 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby * Jun 30 Ahead: Mercury transit 2030: * Sep 3 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby