STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2021-11-09 (Week 45) 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 44 (Nov 1-7) * On day 305 (Nov 1), during the DSS-34 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 0551z and again at 1017z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of seven frames of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the track and recovered all the affected data. * On day 306 (Nov 2), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1817z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of six frames of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the track and recovered all the affected data. * On day 308 (Nov 4), during the DSS-43 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 0828z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of one frame of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the subsequent DSS-63 track and recovered all the affected data. * On day 310 (Nov 6), during the DSS-43 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost intermittently between 1039z and 1042z, due to rain. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 12450 frames of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the subsequent DSS-63 track and recovered all the affected data. See DR #C116037 for more information. * On day 310 (Nov 6), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1943z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 97 frames of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the subsequent DSS-43 track and recovered all the affected data. See DR #M113979 for more information. * As of day 311 (Nov 7), 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 6.5 Gbits during this week. * There was some discussion why there were an unusual number of Turbo decoder lock problems during the week. Station 34 has been consistently dropping frames, and the DSN is looking into it. The station 43 support was affected by rain. The problems during the other three supports remain unexplained. There have been no reports of Turbo decoder lock problems so far during the current week. 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, days 321-330. Week 47 (Nov 22-28) * The ground station schedule was adjusted because of the upcoming DART launch. Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, and three at 480 kbps. An ESA Cebreros pass was added on Thursday, Nov 25. * 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 thirteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, and seven at 480 kbps. This week's schedule was also adjusted to accommodate DART launch contingencies. An ESA Malargue pass was added on Tuesday, Nov 30. * A solar eclipse will be visible from Antartica on Dec 4. Week 49 (Dec 6-12) * Ahead has thirteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are ten passes at 720 kbps, and three at 480 kbps. * The 60th SECCHI calibration roll maneuver is scheduled for Friday, Sep 10, starting at 13:45 UT. This is the midpoint roll. Week 50 (Dec 13-19) * Ahead has thirteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are 12 passes at 720 kbps, and one at 480 kbps. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 49: M Dec 06 (340) T Dec 07 (341) W Dec 08 (342) T Dec 09 (343) F Dec 10 (344) Ahead: SECCHI calibration roll, 13:45 S Dec 11 (345) S Dec 12 (346) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 50: M Dec 13 (347) T Dec 14 (348) W Dec 15 (349) T Dec 16 (350) F Dec 17 (351) S Dec 18 (352) S Dec 19 (353) Notes: * Solar Orbiter METIS observations of Comet Leonard, Dec 17-21 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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