STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2021-10-26 (Week 43) 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 42 (Oct 18-24) * On day 292 (Oct 19), during the DSS-34 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 0909z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of five frames of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the track and recovered all the affected data. * As of day 297 (Oct 24), 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 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 Tuesday, 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. Week 48 (Nov 29-Dec 5) * Ahead has fourteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are five passes at 720 kbps, and five at 480 kbps. * A solar eclipse will be visible from Antartica on Dec 4. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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) Return-to-service track with station 65 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 47: M Nov 22 (326) T Nov 23 (327) Ahead: Momentum dump, 18:30 UT W Nov 24 (328) T Nov 25 (329) Thanksgiving F Nov 26 (330) End of Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass S Nov 27 (331) Solar Orbiter Earth flyby S Nov 28 (332) Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Nov 17-26. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 48: M Nov 29 (333) T Nov 30 (334) W Dec 01 (335) T Dec 02 (336) F Dec 03 (337) S Dec 04 (338) Solar eclipse in Antartica S Dec 05 (339) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2021: * 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