STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2021-09-07 (Week 36) 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 35 (Aug 30-Sep 5) * As of day 248 (Sept 5), 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 36 (Sep 6-12) * Ahead has nine passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage in nominal. An ESA New Norcia track is scheduled for Wednesday, Sep 8, from 08:30-11:15 UT at 720 kbps. * The 140th momentum dump is scheduled for later today (Sep 7) with ignition at 18:45 UT. * Sunday, Sep 12 will be the start of the 6th SECCHI-Solar Orbiter campaign, to run from Sep 12-19 (DOY 255-262). Week 37 (Sep 13-19) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine tracks at 720 kbps, and two at 480 kbps. * The Solar Orbiter remote sensing window ends on Sunday, Sep 19. Week 38 (Sep 20-26) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, and five at 480 kbps. * The 59th SECCHI stepped calibration roll is scheduled for Monday, Sep 20, starting at 10:15 UT. This is the perihelion roll. Week 39 (Sep 27-Oct 3) * Ahead has thirteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, and four at 480 kbps. An ESA Cebreros pass is scheduled for Thursday, Sep 30. Week 40 (Oct 4-10) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, and four at 480 kbps. An ESA Malargue pass is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct 7. Week 41 (Oct 11-17) * 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 project interface test (PIT) will be carried out with station 53 on Monday, Oct 11. There will be no instrument commanding or SSR playback during this pass. * Parker Solar Probe will fly by Venus on Saturday, Oct 16. Other * A question arose about the vector components of the velocity impulse generated by momentum dumps. This information can no longer be supplied since the IMU is no longer turned on during momentum dumps. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 36: M Sep 06 (249) Labor Day T Sep 07 (250) 140th momentum dump, 18:45 UT W Sep 08 (251) T Sep 09 (252) F Sep 10 (253) S Sep 11 (254) S Sep 12 (255) Start of Solar Orbiter remote sensing window Notes: * Solar Orbiter in quadrature with Earth, Aug 16-Sep 12. * Solar Orbiter remote sensing window, Sep 12-19. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 37: M Sep 13 (256) T Sep 14 (257) W Sep 15 (258) T Sep 16 (259) F Sep 17 (260) S Sep 18 (261) Ahead: Solar Orbiter in radial alignment S Sep 19 (262) End of Solar Orbiter remote sensing window Notes: * Solar Orbiter remote sensing window, Sep 12-19. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 38: M Sep 20 (263) Ahead: Stepped calibration roll, 10:15 UT T Sep 21 (264) W Sep 22 (265) T Sep 23 (266) F Sep 24 (267) S Sep 25 (268) S Sep 26 (269) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 39: M Sep 27 (270) T Sep 28 (271) W Sep 29 (272) T Sep 30 (273) F Oct 01 (274) S Oct 02 (275) S Oct 03 (276) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 40: M Oct 04 (277) T Oct 05 (278) W Oct 06 (279) T Oct 07 (280) F Oct 08 (281) S Oct 09 (282) S Oct 10 (283) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 41: M Oct 11 (284) Ahead: Project interface test with station 53 T Oct 12 (285) W Oct 13 (286) Ahead: Momentum dump, 18:00 UT T Oct 14 (287) F Oct 15 (288) S Oct 16 (289) Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby S Oct 17 (290) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2021: * 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 * Feb 22, 26 PSP/Solar Orbiter quadrature observations * 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