STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2021-10-19 (Week 42) 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 41 (Oct 11-17) * On day 285 (Oct 12), during the DSS-43 support for Ahead, the beginning of track was delayed 19 minutes until 0909z, due to a microwave switch problem. This anomaly resulted in the loss 19 minutes of real-time telemetry, commanding, tracking, and SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the support and recovered all the affected data. See DR #C115987 for more information. * On day 288 (Oct 15), the STEREO Data Server (SDS) website went offline at 2011z due to a system disk failure on the host workstation Cho. This anomaly prevented access to the SDS data products and external instrument commanding for 4.8 hours. The MOC maintenance team replaced the system disk and restored from the backup data by 289-0058z. * On day 290 (Oct 17), during the DSS-34 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost intermittently between 0829z and 1026z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 312 frames of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the track and recovered all the affected data. See DR# C115990 for more information. * On day 286 (Oct 13), the 141st momentum dump on Ahead was executed successfully at 1800z, which imparted an estimated delta V of 0.059 m/sec. This was the 60th momentum dump conducted without gyro use. After thruster operations completed, there was a 0.83 degree of roll angle error. Fine pointing stabilized 3.1 minutes after completion of the momentum dump. * As of day 290 (Oct 17), 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 6.0 Gbits during this week. * The Lucy mission successfully launched as scheduled on Saturday, Oct 16. Because the launch was on time, no STEREO contingency passes will be cancelled. 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. The station 34 pass on Tuesday, Oct 19, will not be cancelled. 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 (Tuesday, UTC), 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 eight passes at 720 kbps, and four at 480 kbsp. A station 14 pass on Monday, Nov 1, was changed to station 25 due to planned maintenance activity on station 14. * Solar Orbiter will be along the Sun-Earth line on Nov 5. * Daylight savings time in the United States ends on Sunday, Nov 7. Week 45 (Nov 8-14) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eleven passes at 720 kbps, and one at 480 kbps. * Thursday, Nov 11, is Veterans Day, which is an APL holiday. Week 46 (Nov 15-21) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are ten passes at 720 kbps, and two at 480 kbps. * There will be a return-to-service track with station 65 on Thursday, Nov 16. There will be no instrument commanding or SSR playback during this track. * The Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass runs from Nov 17-26. Week 47 (Nov 22-28) * 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 142nd momentum dump on Ahead is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov 23, with ignition at 18:30. * Thursday, Nov 25, is Thanksgiving. Both Thursday and Friday, Nov 25-26, are APL holidays. * Solar Orbiter will do an Earth fly-by gravitational assist maneuver on Saturday, Nov 27. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 45: M Nov 08 (312) T Nov 09 (313) W Nov 10 (314) T Nov 11 (315) Veterans Day F Nov 12 (316) S Nov 13 (317) S Nov 14 (318) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 46: M Nov 15 (319) T Nov 16 (320) W Nov 17 (321) Start of Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass T Nov 18 (322) Ahead: COR2 pB campaign F Nov 19 (323) Ahead: COR2 pB campaign S Nov 20 (324) Ahead: COR2 pB campaign, EUVI 171A deep field S Nov 21 (325) Ahead: COR2 pB campaign, EUVI 171A deep field Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Nov 17-26. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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