STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2025-11-18 (Week 47) 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 45 (Nov 3-9) * On day 307 (Nov 03), APL facility maintenance engineers successfully moved all of the STEREO DMZ Servers and RAIDs from building 21 to the new data center in building 4. This move is permanent and it was done to avoid impacts to the STEREO MOC Operations during for the building 21 UPS Power upgrade. * On day 311 (Nov 7), during the DSS-36 support, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1752z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of one frame of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the support and recovered all the affected data. * On day 313 (Nov 9), during the DSS-55 support, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 0524z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 162 frame of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the support and recovered all the affected data. See DR #M118463 for more information. * As of day 313 (Nov 9), all PLASTIC systems are behaving well, except there is a moderate background count rate, which the team is continuing to monitor. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 7.9 Gbits during this week. Week 46 (Nov 10-16) * On day 315 (Nov 11), during the DSS-25 support, the transmitter was declared red, due to a hardware problem. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 3.6 hours of real-time commanding and 2-way tracking data. See DR #G125651 for more information. * On day 317 (Nov 13), during the DSS-84 (ESA Malargue) support, real-time telemetry and commanding was delayed in the MOC until 0933z, due a DSN configuration problem causing the MOC SLE telemetry binds to fail. Real-time telemetry and command were restored after MOC personnel performed the SLE telemetry binds. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 2.1 hours of real-time telemetry and commanding, and the delay of the SSR data delivery to the MOC. The MOPs team performed an off-line SLE telemetry playback after the track and recovered all the affected data. * On day 317 (Nov 13), the FDF transitioned to new navigation and ephemeris generation software for STEREO. The new FDF process will deliver the ephemeris files in spice binary format instead of the ascii transfer format. The MOC will convert the binary files to the ascii spice transfer format and deliver the files on the STEREO Data Server (SDS) as normal. This transition was required due to the end of support for HP-UX at the end of the year. * On day 318 (Nov 14), during the DSS-25 support, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1012z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 145 frame of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the support and recovered all the affected data. See DR #G125659 for more information. * On day 319 (Nov 15), during the DSS-25 support, real-time commanding was not available in the MOC, due to the SLE Command Bind failing because of a MOC workstation problem. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 1.9 hours of real-time. * On day 317 (Nov 13), the MOPs team successfully conducted the 6th IMU-2 EEPROM Refresh at 1105z. During the activity, the IMU boot-up and laser intensity monitor (LIM) telemetry were nominal. * On day 319 (Nov 15), the SECCHI instrument reset at 11:49:27z. The SECCHI team reconfigured the instrument to operational mode by 320-0349z. This was the 87th reset of the SECCHI instrument on the Ahead observatory. Recovery was delayed due to a power outage at NRL. * Hillary Dennison has taken over as the prime operator for the SECCHI instrument. She has experience acting as backup. * As of day 320 (Nov 16), all PLASTIC systems are behaving well, except there is a moderate background count rate, which the team is continuing to monitor. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 6.1 Gbits during this week. Week 47 (Nov 17-23) * Ahead has fourteen passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. An ESA Malague pass is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov 19. * The 181st momentum dump is scheduled for Tuesday, November 18th, at 18:30 UT. Week 48 (Nov 24-30) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * There have been schedule changes over the next several weeks due to the Escapade launch. There are changes on Thursday and Friday. The weekly schedules will be updated by tomorrow (Nov 19). * APL will be closed November 27th and 28th for the Thanksgiving holiday. Week 49 (Dec 1-7) * Ahead has fifteen passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * An ESA Malargue track is scheduled for Tuesday, December 2nd, from 07:00 to 08:10 UT. * The 72nd SECCHI stepped calibration roll is scheduled for Wednesday, December 3rd, at 22:30 UT. * The 19th battery discharge event will take place on Thursday, December 4th at 12:00 UT. * There will be an APL power outage on Saturday, Dec 6, between 11 to 19 UT. The MOC will continue to operate on generator power. Week 50 (Dec 8-14) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * Beginning Tuesday, December 9th, SECCHI will be conducting special observations in conjunction with the Parker Solar Probe perihelia, through December 19th. * The 1st DSN Emergency Control Center test track will be conducted on Tuesday, December 9th, from 18:15-19:30 UT. There will be no SSR playback or instrument commanding during this track. This test was prompted by the recent fires in California. In the future the MOC will be able to use the ECC if needed. * DSN will be performing network maintenance on Thursday, Dec 11, between 17 to 21 UT. Week 51 (Dec 15-21) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * There will be an ESA New Norcia pass on Tuesday, Dec 16. Week 52 (Dec 22-28) * Ahead has eighteen passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * APL will be closed for the Christmas holiday Thursday and Friday, Dec 25-26. The telecon on Tuesday, Dec 23, will be canceled. Other * A question was raised about the 70 meter Goldstone station 14 being down. It will be down through May 1st, 2026. So far, this has not impacted the STEREO schedule. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 47: M Nov 17 (321) T Nov 18 (322) Ahead: Momentum dump, 18:30 UT, Comet Lemon campaign ends W Nov 19 (323) T Nov 20 (324) F Nov 21 (325) S Nov 22 (326) S Nov 23 (327) Notes: * Comet Lemon observing campaign: HI-1 20 min. cadence, no HI-1 or COR-1 beacon, Nov 12-18 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 48: M Nov 24 (328) T Nov 25 (329) W Nov 26 (330) T Nov 27 (331) F Nov 28 (332) S Nov 29 (333) S Nov 30 (334) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 49: M Dec 01 (335) T Dec 02 (336) W Dec 03 (337) Ahead: SECCHI stepped calibration roll, 22:30 T Dec 04 (338) F Dec 05 (339) S Dec 06 (340) S Dec 07 (341) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 50: M Dec 08 (342) T Dec 09 (343) Start of PSP perihelion pass DSN ECC test track, 18:15-19:30 W Dec 10 (344) T Dec 11 (345) F Dec 12 (346) S Dec 13 (347) S Dec 14 (348) Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Dec 9-17 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 51: M Dec 15 (349) T Dec 16 (350) W Dec 17 (351) End of PSP perihelion pass T Dec 18 (352) F Dec 19 (353) S Dec 20 (354) S Dec 21 (355) Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Dec 9-17 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 52: M Dec 22 (356) T Dec 23 (357) W Dec 24 (358) T Dec 25 (359) Christmas F Dec 26 (360) S Dec 27 (361) S Dec 28 (362) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: 2026: * Feb 12-27 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 25 * Feb 28-Mar 10 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 26 * Mar 8-16 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Mar 29-Apr 3 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 27 * Jun 4-12 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Aug 4-14 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 28 * Aug 15-25 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 29 * Sep 1-9 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Sep 11-21 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 30 * Nov 28-Dec 6 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Dec 24 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby 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