STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2022-01-25 (Week 04) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * None INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * Ahead is operating nominally. PLASTIC is in operational mode, but with a moderately higher than normal 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 03 (Jan 17-23) * On day 021 (Jan 21), during the DSS-74 (ESA New Norcia) support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1046z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of three frames of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the subsequent DSS-65 track and recovered all the affected data. * As of day 023 (Jan 23), all PLASTIC systems are behaving well, except there is a moderate background count rate, which the team is continuing to monitor. The PLASTIC team reports that they can now change the qualifier from "high" to "moderate". * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 6.3 Gbits during this week. 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. * A PIT test was successfully carried out this morning with the new station 53 in Madrid. There will be no instrument commanding or SSR playback during this pass. * Maintenance will be performed on the APL DMZ to upgrade switches on Friday, Jan 18, between 21:00 UT to 05:00 UT the next day (4-11 PM EST). The pass occurs during the last hour of a 63 pass, so external connection to the realtime telemetry may be interrupted. The MOC will be staffed to monitor the pass, and missing data will be pulled from the DSN after the pass is over. 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. Week 06 (Feb 7-13) * Ahead has eleven tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine tracks at 720 kbps, and two at 480 kbps. * The 144th momentum dump is scheduled for Thursday, Feb 10, with ignition at 20:30 UT. Week 07 (Feb 14-20) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, and six at 480 kbps. The pass schedule was adjusted for DSN maintenance on Wednesday. * The annual spacecraft assessment review is scheduled for Thursday, Feb 18, between 8:30-12:00 EST. This will be a virtual meeting. Week 08 (Feb 21-27) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, and five at 480 kbps. * The Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass period runs from Feb 21-Mar 2 (days 52-61). * Coordinated observations between Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter will be made on Feb 22 and Feb 26, to take advantage of quadrature between the two spacecraft. Week 09 (Feb 28-Mar 6) * Ahead has fourteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are ten passes at 720 kbps, and four at 480 kbps. * The 61st stepped calibration roll is scheduled for Thursday, Mar 3, starting at 3:35 UT. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 06: M Feb 07 (038) T Feb 08 (039) W Feb 09 (040) T Feb 10 (041) Ahead: Momentum dump, 20:30 UT F Feb 11 (042) S Feb 12 (043) S Feb 13 (044) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 07: M Feb 14 (045) T Feb 15 (046) W Feb 16 (047) T Feb 17 (048) F Feb 18 (049) S Feb 19 (050) S Feb 20 (051) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 08: M Feb 21 (052) Start of Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass T Feb 22 (053) PSP/Solar Orbiter quadrature observations W Feb 23 (054) T Feb 24 (055) F Feb 25 (056) S Feb 26 (057) PSP/Solar Orbiter quadrature observations S Feb 27 (058) Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Feb 21-Mar 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 09: M Feb 28 (059) T Mar 01 (060) W Mar 02 (061) End of Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass T Mar 03 (062) Ahead: SECCHI stepped calibration roll F Mar 04 (063) S Mar 05 (064) S Mar 06 (065) Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Feb 21-Mar 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2022: * 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