STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2021-07-20 (Week 29) 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 28 (Jul 12-18) * As of day 199 (Jul 18), 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 29 (Jul 19-25) * Ahead has thirteen tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eleven tracks at 720 kbps, and two at 480 kbps. A station 63 pass on Monday, Jul 19, was switched from station 63 to 35, due to the extension of the maintenance period for station 63. * Early this morning UTC time, during the station 14 support, an issue caused the brakes to be applied. The issue was resolved quickly. The SSR pointers were moved back during the following pass, and all data were recovered except for an estimated 1-2 hours of SECCHI data. Week 30 (Jul 26-Aug 1) * Ahead has thirteen tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine tracks at 720 kbps, and four at 480 kbps. * The 139th momentum dump on Ahead is scheduled for Tuesday, Jul 27, with ignition at 19:00 UT. Week 31 (Aug 2-8) * Ahead has fourteen tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are twelve tracks at 720 kbps, and two at 480 kbps. * The ninth Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass period starts on Aug 5, and runs through Aug 15 (days 217-227). Week 32 (Aug 9-15) * Ahead has eleven tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight tracks at 720 kbps, and three at 480 kbps. * Solar Orbiter will fly by Venus on Monday, Aug 9, for a gravity assist maneuver. SECCHI observations for Parker Solar Probe will also cover the Solar Orbiter Venus pass. * The ninth Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass period ends on Sunday, Aug 15. Week 33 (Aug 16-22) * Ahead has fifteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, and seven passes at 480 kbps. Week 34 (Aug 23-29) * Ahead has thirteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eleven passes at 720 kbps and two at 480 kbps. * Solar Orbiter will be in quadrature with Earth on Monday, Aug 23. * A software upgrade will be peformed on the IONet routers and switches between 8:30-2:30 AM (12:30-18:30 UTC) on Monday, Aug 23. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 29: M Jul 19 (200) T Jul 20 (201) W Jul 21 (202) T Jul 22 (203) F Jul 23 (204) S Jul 24 (205) S Jul 25 (206) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 30: M Jul 26 (207) T Jul 27 (208) Ahead: Momentum dump, 19:00 UT W Jul 28 (209) T Jul 29 (210) F Jul 30 (211) S Jul 31 (212) S Aug 01 (213) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 31: M Aug 02 (214) T Aug 03 (215) W Aug 04 (216) T Aug 05 (217) Start of Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass F Aug 06 (218) S Aug 07 (219) S Aug 08 (220) Ahead: SECCHI EUVI 171, COR2 deep fields Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Aug 5-15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 32: M Aug 09 (221) Solar Orbiter Venus flyby Ahead: SECCHI EUVI 171, COR2 deep fields T Aug 10 (222) Ahead: SECCHI COR2 pB campaign W Aug 11 (223) Ahead: SECCHI COR2 pB campaign T Aug 12 (224) F Aug 13 (225) S Aug 14 (226) S Aug 15 (227) End of Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Aug 5-15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 33: M Aug 16 (228) T Aug 17 (229) W Aug 18 (230) T Aug 19 (231) F Aug 20 (232) S Aug 21 (233) S Aug 22 (234) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 34: M Aug 23 (235) T Aug 24 (236) W Aug 25 (237) T Aug 26 (238) F Aug 27 (239) S Aug 28 (240) S Aug 29 (241) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2021: * 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