STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2021-12-28 (Week 52) 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 51 (Dec 20-26) * On day 355 (Dec 21), NASA successfully conducted IONET maintenance for software upgrades from 1700z through 1900z without affecting the MOC network. * As of day 360 (Dec 26), 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 6.6 Gbits during this week. Week 52 (Dec 27-Jan 2) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage in nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, and one at 480 kbps. A slight adjustment was made to the schedule to accommodate JWST launch contingencies, changing a station 14 pass to station 25. In addition, an ESA Malargue pass was added on Thursday, Dec 30, for JWST launch contingency. JWST successfully launched on Dec 25, so the contingencies were not needed. * APL will be closed for the New Years holiday on Friday, Dec 31. Week 01 (Jan 3-9) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, and five at 480 kbps. An ESA New Norcia pass is scheduled for Thursday, Jan 6. * A momentum dump will be performed on Ahead on Tuesday, Jan 4, with ignition at 19:45 UT. Week 02 (Jan 10-16) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are five passes at 720 kbps, and five at 480 kbps. Week 03 (Jan 17-23) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, and four at 480 kbps. ESA station passes are scheduled for Monday, Jan 17 (Cebreros), Wednesday, Jan 19 (Malargue), and Friday, Jan 21 (New Norcia). Week 04 (Jan 24-30) * Ahead has thirteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, and five at 480 kbps. Week 05 (Jan 31-Feb 6) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, and six at 480 kbps. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 52: M Dec 27 (361) T Dec 28 (362) W Dec 29 (363) T Dec 30 (364) F Dec 31 (365) New Year holiday S Jan 01 (001) New Year S Jan 02 (002) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 01: M Jan 03 (003) T Jan 04 (004) Ahead: Momentum dump, 19:45 W Jan 05 (005) T Jan 06 (006) F Jan 07 (007) S Jan 08 (008) S Jan 09 (009) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 02: M Jan 10 (010) T Jan 11 (011) W Jan 12 (012) T Jan 13 (013) F Jan 14 (014) S Jan 15 (015) S Jan 16 (016) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 03: M Jan 17 (017) T Jan 18 (018) W Jan 19 (019) T Jan 20 (020) F Jan 21 (021) S Jan 22 (022) S Jan 23 (023) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 04: M Jan 24 (024) T Jan 25 (025) W Jan 26 (026) T Jan 27 (027) F Jan 28 (028) S Jan 29 (029) S Jan 30 (030) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 05: M Jan 31 (031) T Feb 01 (032) W Feb 02 (033) T Feb 03 (034) F Feb 04 (035) S Feb 05 (036) S Feb 06 (037) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 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