STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2021-05-25 (Week 21) 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 20 (May 17-23) * On day 138 (May 18), during the DSS-43 support for Ahead, initial acquisition of telemetry was 6.5 minutes late at 0706z, due to an automation software problem. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 4.5 minutes of SSR data. See DR #C115744 for more information. * On day 141 (May 21), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, the MOC configured for commanding via the L3VPN network. The MOC command workstations completed SLE command binds and sent commands successfully. The investigation by the network engineers determined that a modified test configuration on the primary L3VPN router between Goddard and APL caused the network failure on March 26. Goddard removed the test configuration on April 28. The MOC will remain on the L3VPN command network. * On day 139 (May 19), the SECCHI instrument on Ahead reset at 08:38:24z. The SECCHI team reconfigured the instrument to operational mode by 2233z. This was the 64th reset of the SECCHI instrument on the Ahead observatory. * On day 139 (May 19), the SECCHI 180 degree roll was executed successfully on Ahead at 1800z for the first Betelgeuse star observation (3rd campaign). However, SECCHI did not capture the images because of the instrument reset that occurred earlier. * As of day 143 (May 23), 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 6.3 Gbits during this week. 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. * 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. Week 22 (May 31-Jun 6) * Ahead has twelve tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight tracks at 720 kbps, and four at 480 kbps. * Monday, May 31, is Memorial Day, which is a holiday at APL. * The Ahead spacecraft will be rolled by 180 degrees on Tuesday, Jun 1, between 16-18 UT to allow the SECCHI HI-2 telescope to observe Betelgeuse. Week 23 (Jun 7-13) * Ahead has eleven tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are ten tracks at 720 kbps, and one at 480 kbps. * The 58th SECCHI stepped calibration roll is scheduled for Wednesday, Jun 9, starting at 16:50 UT. This will be the midpoint roll. * The Ahead spacecraft will be rolled by 180 degrees on Friday, Jun 11, between 18-20 UT to allow the SECCHI HI-2 telescope to observe Betelgeuse. The time was incorrectly quoted in earlier telecons. This will be the last 180 degree roll before the next momentum dump. There will not be a roll in week 24. Week 24 (Jun 14-20) * Ahead has twelve tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight tracks at 720 kbps, three at 480 kbps, and one at 360 kbps. * The 138th momentum dump on Ahead is scheduled for Tuesday, Jun 15, with ignition at 15:00 UT. Week 25 (Jun 21-27) * Ahead has twelve tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight tracks at 720 kbps, and four at 480 kbps. * The Ahead spacecraft will be rolled by 180 degrees on Saturday, Jun 26, between 14-16 UT to allow the SECCHI HI-2 telescope to observe Betelgeuse. Week 26 (Jun 28-Jul 4) * Ahead has eleven tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight tracks at 720 kbps, and three at 480 kbps. * The Ahead spacecraft will be rolled by 180 degrees on Friday, Jul 2, between 20-22 UT to allow the SECCHI HI-2 telescope to observe Betelgeuse. * Sunday, Jul 4, is Independence Day. The holiday will be observed on Monday, Jul 5. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 21: M May 24 (144) 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) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 22: M May 31 (151) Memorial Day T Jun 01 (152) Ahead: 180 degree roll to observe Betelgeuse, 16-18 UT W Jun 02 (153) T Jun 03 (154) F Jun 04 (155) S Jun 05 (156) S Jun 06 (157) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 23: M Jun 07 (158) T Jun 08 (159) W Jun 09 (160) Ahead: SECCHI stepped calibration roll, 16:50 UT T Jun 10 (161) F Jun 11 (162) Ahead: 180 degree roll to observe Betelgeuse, 18-20 UT S Jun 12 (163) S Jun 13 (164) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 24: M Jun 14 (165) T Jun 15 (166) Ahead: Momentum dump, 15 UT W Jun 16 (167) T Jun 17 (168) F Jun 18 (169) S Jun 19 (170) S Jun 20 (171) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 25: M Jun 21 (172) T Jun 22 (173) W Jun 23 (174) T Jun 24 (175) F Jun 25 (176) S Jun 26 (177) S Jun 27 (178) Ahead: 180 degree roll to observe Betelgeuse, 14-16 UT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 26: M Jun 28 (179) T Jun 29 (180) W Jun 30 (181) T Jul 01 (182) F Jul 02 (183) S Jul 03 (184) S Jul 04 (185) Independence Day ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 * Dec 4 Solar eclipse in Antartica * Dec 17-21 Solar Orbiter METIS observations of Comet Leonard 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