STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2026-08-18 (Week 34) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * We have a new Mission Director. Mike Gardner will be stepping in to replace Jimmy, who is moving to a different civil service position. Thank you to Jimmy for all your hard work and dedication, and welcome Mike. * DSN is still hard at work on the Madrid wildfire recovery. DSS-53 returned to operations this morning. DSS-54 is going through check-out and should return later today. DSS-56 should be operational tomorrow, while the return of DSS-65 is delayed until September, and DSS-63 until November. DSS-55 was already down due to planned long-term maintenance. INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * Ahead is operating nominally. PLASTIC is in operational mode, but with a moderately higher than normal background rate. * After the initial loss of communications with the Behind observatory in September of 2014, NASA stopped periodic recovery operations with the last support on October 17, 2018. DISCUSSION AND OPERATIONS CONSTRAINTS ------------------------------------- Week 33 (Aug 10-16) * On day 222 thru 228 (Aug 10-16), all Madrid tracks were deleted, due to the wildfire recovery in Madrid. The track deletions resulted in the loss of real-time telemetry, SSR, commanding and tracking data. Other DSN and ESA tracks were added to help with the lost tracks. * On day 228 (Aug 16), DSS-56 conducted a Return-To-Service (RTS) engineering demo track. The purpose was to verify X-band Telemetry and Tracking operations after the completion of the wildfire recovery. The MOC successfully received real-time telemetry and monitor data. No commanding was performed, due to a transmitter problem. See DR# M119402 for more information. * On day 228 (Aug 16), DSN conducted a Mission Network Maintenance from 22:00 through 229-06:00 UT. After the maintenance, the MOPs team verified the SLE telemetry and command connectivity with DSN. Due to the wildfire recovery in Madrid and the deleted tracks for DOY 222 thru 228, 18 hours of science data loss occurred periodically on: 2026-222-18:05z thru 222-20:39z (PLASTIC & SWAVES) 2026-223-06:47z thru 223-10:39z (PLASTIC, SECCHI, & SWAVES) 2026-224-00:00z thru 224-10:20z (PLASTIC, SECCHI, & SWAVES) * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 6.1 Gbits during this week. Week 34 (Aug 17-23) * Ahead coverage has been reduced to ten tracks during the week, all at 480 kbps, and coverage is even. * The 29th Solar Orbiter remote sensing window began yesterday, Monday, August 17th. * On Wednesday, August 19th, there is MOC DSN switch replacement scheduled from 21:30 to 23:30. * There is a PIT test scheduled for Sunday, August 23rd, from 02:55-04:55, during the DSS-53 track. There will be no SSR playback or instrument commanding during this test. Week 35 (Aug 24-30) * Ahead has twelve tracks during the week, all twelve at 480 kbps. * On Tuesday, August 25th, a MOC IONET security scan is scheduled from 12:00 to 13:00 UT. Week 36 (Aug 31 - Sep 6) * Ahead has twelve tracks during the week, one at 720 kbps and eleven at 480 kbps. * An ESA Malargue track is scheduled for Monday, August 31st, from 12:30 to 16:50 UT. * The 188th momentum dump is scheduled for Tuesday, September 1st, at 13:30 UT. * Parker Solar Probe will be starting their perihelion pass on Tuesday, September 1st. Week 37 (Sep 7-13) * Ahead has ten tracks during the week, all ten at 480 kbps. * APL will be closed on Monday, Sep 7, for the Labor Day holiday. * The 30th Solar Orbiter remote sensing window begins Friday, September 11th. Week 38 (Sep 14-20) * Ahead has twelve tracks during the week, all twelve at 480 kbps. * There is a DSN mission network maintenance scheduled for Tuesday, September 15th, from 10:30-14:30 UT. Week 39 (Sep 21-27) * Ahead has fifteen tracks during the week, one at 740 kbps, fourteen at 480 kbps. * An ESA Malargue track is scheduled for Tuesday, September 22nd, from 09:00 to 11:15 UT. * An ESA Malargue track is scheduled for Wednesday, September 23rd, from 09:00 to 11:25 UT. Other COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 34: M Aug 17 (229) SolO RSW 29 begins T Aug 18 (230) W Aug 19 (231) T Aug 20 (232) F Aug 21 (233) S Aug 22 (234) S Aug 23 (235) Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 29, August 17-30 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 35: M Aug 24 (236) T Aug 25 (237) W Aug 26 (238) T Aug 27 (239) F Aug 28 (240) S Aug 29 (241) S Aug 30 (242) SolO RSW 29 ends Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 29, August 17-30 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 36: M Aug 31 (243) T Sep 01 (244) Ahead: Momentum dump, 13:30, PSP perihelion begins W Sep 02 (245) T Sep 03 (246) F Sep 04 (247) S Sep 05 (248) S Sep 06 (249) Notes: * PSP Perihelion: -COR2 deep field (36 sec exp/5-min cadence), Sept 1-4 (CoRot + Radial + Q w/ Earth) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 37: M Sep 07 (250) Labor Day holiday T Sep 08 (251) W Sep 09 (252) T Sep 10 (253) F Sep 11 (254) SolO RSW 30 begins S Sep 12 (255) S Sep 13 (256) Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 30, Sep 11-21 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 38: M Sep 14 (257) T Sep 15 (258) W Sep 16 (259) T Sep 17 (260) F Sep 18 (261) S Sep 19 (262) S Sep 20 (263) Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 30, Sep 11-21 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 39: M Sep 21 (264) SolO RSW 24 ends T Sep 22 (265) W Sep 23 (266) T Sep 24 (267) F Sep 25 (268) S Sep 26 (269) S Sep 27 (270) Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 30, Sep 11-21 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: 2026: * Nov 28-Dec 6 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Dec 24 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby 2027: * Feb 25-Mar 4 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Feb 8 Solar Orbiter Perihelion * May 24-31 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * July 7 Solar Orbiter Perihelion * Aug 21-28 Parer Solar Probe perihelion pass * Nov 17-24 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Dec 4 Solar Orbiter Perihelion 2028: * Feb 14-21 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Mar 18 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby * May 8 Solar Orbiter Perihelion * May 12-19 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Aug 8-15 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Oct 5 Solar Orbiter Perihelion * Nov 5-12 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2029: * Jun 10 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby * Jun 30 Ahead: Mercury transit 2030: * Sep 3 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby ######################################################################## Access the STEREO-SCI-OPS Home Page and Archives: http://listserv.jhuapl.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A0=STEREO-SCI-OPS Unsubscribe from the STEREO-SCI-OPS List: http://listserv.jhuapl.edu/scripts/wa.exe?TICKET=NzM5ODI3IHNoYWVsYS5pLmpvbmVzbWVjaG9sc2t5QE5BU0EuR09WIFNURVJFTy1TQ0ktT1BTIONO%2Fe5vX26v&c=SIGNOFF ########################################################################