STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2021-09-28 (Week 39) 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 38 (Sep 20-26) * On day 265 (Sept 22), during the DSS-43 support for Ahead, the transmitter was declared red due to a failed cooling system heater. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 4.3 hours of real-time commanding and 2-way tracking data. Additionally, MOPs voluntarily canceled the last hour of the track for transmitter maintenance, which resulted in the loss of one hour of SSR and tracking data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the subsequent DSS-63 track and recovered all the affected data. See DR #C115954 for more information. * On day 263 (Sept 20), the 59th SECCHI stepped calibration on Ahead was executed at 1015z for perihelion in the Ahead orbit. This was the 28th SECCHI stepped calibration roll conducted without gyro use. * As of day 269 (Sept 26), 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 6.4 Gbits during this week. 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. * EUVI will be performing a 171 A long exposure campaign Oct 2-4. 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. * A project interface test will be carried out with station 25 on Sunday, Oct 10. There will be no instrument commanding or SSR playback during this pass. Week 41 (Oct 11-17) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine 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. * The 141st momentum dump is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct 13, with ignition at 18:00 UT. * Parker Solar Probe will fly by Venus on Saturday, Oct 16. * The Lucy mission is scheduled to be launched on Saturday, Oct 16. An ESA New Norcia pass has been added on Sunday, Oct 17 for launch contingency. Week 42 (Oct 18-24) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are ten passes at 720 kbps, and one at 480 kbps. An ESA Malargue pass was added on Monday, Oct 18, and an ESA New Norcia pass was added on Thursday, Oct 21, for Lucy launch contingency. Week 43 (Oct 25-31) * Ahead has fourteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, and five at 480 kbps. * Monday, Oct 25, marks the 15th launch anniversary of STEREO. Week 44 (Nov 1-7) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, and three at 480 kbsp. * Solar Orbiter will be along the Sun-Earth line on Nov 5. * Daylight savings time in the United States ends on Sunday, Nov 7. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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) EUVI-171A long exposure campaign S Oct 03 (276) EUVI-171A long exposure campaign ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 40: M Oct 04 (277) EUVI-171A long exposure campaign T Oct 05 (278) W Oct 06 (279) T Oct 07 (280) F Oct 08 (281) S Oct 09 (282) S Oct 10 (283) Ahead: Project interface test with station 25 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 42: M Oct 18 (291) T Oct 19 (292) W Oct 20 (293) T Oct 21 (294) F Oct 22 (295) S Oct 23 (296) S Oct 24 (297) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 43: M Oct 25 (298) 15th STEREO launch anniversary T Oct 26 (299) W Oct 27 (300) T Oct 28 (301) F Oct 29 (302) S Oct 30 (303) S Oct 31 (304) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 44: M Nov 01 (305) T Nov 02 (306) W Nov 03 (307) T Nov 04 (308) F Nov 05 (309) Solar Orbiter along Sun-Earth line S Nov 06 (310) S Nov 07 (311) End of Daylight Savings Time in US ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2021: * 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 * Apr 27-30 Comet PANSTARRS in COR2-A field-of-view * 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