STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2026-10-20 (Week 43) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * None 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 42 (Oct 12-18) * On day 287 (Oct 14), during the DSS-35 support, turbo decoder lock was lost intermittently between 20:28 and 20:29 UT. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 1726 frames of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the support and recovered all the affected data. See DR #C119543 for more information. * On day 287 (Oct 14), the 189th momentum dump was executed successfully at 20:15 UT, which imparted an estimated delta V of 0.076 m/sec. This was the 108th momentum dump conducted without gyro use. After thruster operations completed, there was a 1.5 degree of roll angle error. Fine pointing stabilized 2.5 minutes after completion of the momentum dump. * On day 288 (Oct 15), the SECCHI instrument reset at 12:32:30 UT. The SECCHI team reconfigured the instrument to operational mode by Oct 16th at 04:50 UT. This was the 92nd reset of the SECCHI instrument on the Ahead observatory. * On day 288 (Oct 15), the DSS-63 Return-To-Service (RTS) engineering demo track was conducted successfully. The purpose was to validate X-band Telemetry and Tracking operations after the completion of the Madrid wildfire recovery. The MOC successfully received realtime telemetry, monitor data, and sent four commands. * On day 291 (Oct 18), during the DSS-43 support, the transmitter was declared red, due to a hardware problem. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 2.3 hours of real-time commanding and 2-way tracking data. See DR #C119552 for more information. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 6.7 Gbits during this week. Week 43 (Oct 19-25) * Ahead has thirteen tracks during the week, one at 720 kbps, and twelve at 480 kbps. Week 44 (Oct 26 - Nov 1) * Ahead has twelve tracks during the week, all twelve at 480 kbps. * Monday, October 26th, is the 20th STEREO launch anniversary. * The 81st SECCHI stepped calibration roll is scheduled for Friday, October 30th, at 04:45 UT. * Daylight Savings Time ends Sunday, Nov 1st. Week 45 (Nov 2-8) * Ahead has twelve tracks during the week, three at 720 kbps, and nine at 480 kbps. * There is a DSN network maintenance event scheduled for Tuesday, November 3rd, from 00:00-04:00 UT. * The 21st battery discharge event will take place on Tuesday, November 3rd, at 14:05 UT. Week 46 (Nov 9-15) * Ahead has eleven tracks during the week, three at 720 kbps, and eight at 480 kbps. * APL will be closed on Wednesday, November 11 for the Veterans Day holiday. Week 47 (Nov 16-22) * Ahead has twelve tracks during the week, three at 720 kbps, and nine at 480 kbps. * On Tuesday, November 17th, there will be a DSN Emergency Control Center (ECC) test track on station 36, from 19:25 to 21:25 UT. There will be no SSR playback or instrument commanding during this track. * The 190th momentum dump is scheduled for Friday, November 20th, at 14:00 UT. Week 48 (Nov 23-29) * Ahead has thirteen tracks during the week, all thirteen at 480 kbps. * APL will be closed November 26th and 27th for the Thanksgiving holiday. * Beginning Saturday, November 28th, SECCHI will be conducting special observations in conjunction with the Parker Solar Probe perihelion. Other COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 43: M Oct 19 (292) T Oct 20 (293) W Oct 21 (294) T Oct 22 (295) F Oct 23 (296) S Oct 24 (297) S Oct 25 (298) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 44: M Oct 26 (299) STEREO 20th Launch Anniversary T Oct 27 (300) W Oct 28 (301) T Oct 29 (302) F Oct 30 (303) Ahead: SECCHI stepped calibration roll, 04:45 UT S Oct 31 (304) S Nov 01 (305) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 45: M Nov 02 (306) T Nov 03 (307) W Nov 04 (308) T Nov 05 (309) F Nov 06 (310) S Nov 07 (311) S Nov 08 (312) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 46: M Nov 09 (313) T Nov 10 (314) W Nov 11 (315) Veterans Day T Nov 12 (316) F Nov 13 (317) S Nov 14 (318) S Nov 15 (319) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 47: M Nov 16 (320) T Nov 17 (321) W Nov 18 (322) T Nov 19 (323) F Nov 20 (324) Ahead: Momentum dump, 14:00 UT S Nov 21 (325) S Nov 22 (326) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 48: M Nov 23 (327) T Nov 24 (328) W Nov 25 (329) T Nov 26 (330) Thanksgiving Day F Nov 27 (331) S Nov 28 (332) Start of PSP perihelion pass S Nov 29 (333) Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Nov 28-Dec 6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: 2026: * 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 ########################################################################