STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2012-07-31 (Week 31) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * None. INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * All subsystems on both spacecraft are nominal. DISCUSSION AND OPERATIONS CONSTRAINTS ------------------------------------- Week 30 (Jul 23-29) * On day 209 (Jul 27), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 0511z, 0513z, and 0709z. The anomaly resulted in the loss of 15 frames of SSR data. See DR #N108287 for more information. * On day 211 (Jul 29), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 0538z. The anomaly resulted in the loss of 4 frames of SSR data. See DR #TBD for more information. * On day 207 (Jul 25), during the DSS-24 support for Behind, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1821z. The anomaly resulted in the loss of 1 frame of SSR data. See DR #N108284 for more information. * On day 208 (Jul 26), during the DSS-65 support for Behind, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1118z. The anomaly resulted in the loss of 1 frame of SSR data. See DR #N108285 for more information. * On day 209 (Jul 27) during the DSS-32 support for Behind, early in the pass, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly beginning at 0206z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 128 frames of SSR data. This anomaly is being investigated with ESA. * On day 211 (Jul 29), during the DSS-15 support for Behind, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 0316z. The anomaly resulted in the loss of 1 frame of SSR data. See DR #N108289 for more information. * On day 211 (Jul 29), during the DSS-65 support for Behind, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1458z and 1535z. The anomaly resulted in the loss of 4 frames of SSR data. See DR #N108288 for more information. * The average daily SSR playback volume during the week was 5.4 gigabits for Ahead, and 4.7 gigabits for Behind. * The STEREO Ahead spacecraft was involved in a very large proton storm between Jul 23-24 which affected both the PLASTIC and SECCHI instruments. This storm was associated with a very fast CME launched from AR 11520 around 3 UT on Jul 23. There were reports that the CME speed could have been as high as 3400 km/s near the Sun, which would make it possibly the fastest CME on record. It reached the Ahead spacecraft about 19 hours later, which is also extremely fast. The magnetic signature was also very high, larger than 80 nanoTesla, and there was some discussion about whether this is the highest magnetic field strength seen by STEREO. Week 31 (Jul 30-Aug 5) * Ahead has 70 meter tracks on Monday, Jul 30 (D63, D14 at 720 kbps), Tuesday, Jul 31 (D63, D14), Thursday, Aug 2 (D63 at 720 kbps), Friday, Aug 3 (D63 at 720 kbps), Saturday, Aug 4 (D14 at 720 kbsp), and Sunday, Aug 5 (D14 at 720 kbps). There are 11 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. The station 15 pass on Wednesday, Aug 1 will be carried out at 240 kbps. * Behind has 70 meter tracks on Monday, Jul 30 (D63 at 720 kbsp), Tuesday, Jul 31 (D63), and Wednesday, Aug 1 (D63 at 720 kbps). There are 12 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. The station 25 pass on Thursday, Aug 2, the station 15 pass on Friday, Aug 3, and the station 26 pass on Sunday, Aug 5 will all be carried out at 240 kbps. ESA New Norcia passes are scheduled for Wednesday, Aug 1, and Friday, Aug 3. Week 32 (Aug 6-12) * Ahead has 70 meter passes every day of the week except Thursday, Aug 9, with all of them at 720 kbps except Friday, Aug 10. There are 11 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. * Behind has a 70 meter pass on Thursday, Aug 9, using station 63. There are 11 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. Week 33 (Aug 13-19) * Ahead has 70 meter passes every day of the week, with the Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday passes at 720 kbps. There are 8 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. An ESA New Norcia pass is scheduled for Friday, Aug 17. * Behind has a 70 meter pass on Sunday, Aug 19, using station 14. There are 14 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. The station 34 pass on Monday, Aug 13 will be carried out at 240 kbps. ESA New Norcia passes are scheduled for Wednesday, Aug 15, and Saturday, Aug 18. Week 34 (Aug 20-26) * Momentum dumps are scheduled for both spacecraft during the week, with the 49th dump on Ahead scheduled for Tuesday, Aug 21, starting at 15:30 UT, and the 44th dump on Behind scheduled for Wednesday, Aug 22, at 18:00 UT. * Ahead has 70 meter passes every day of the week, with two passes each on Saturday and Sunday. The Monday pass, and the first passes on Saturday and Sunday using station 63, will be carried out at 720 kbps. There are 13 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. * Behind has 70 meter passes on Wednesday, Aug 22 (D63), Thursday, Aug 23 (D63 at 720 kbps), and Saturday, Aug 25 (D14). There are 10 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. The station 34 pass on Wednesday, Aug 22 and the station 54 pass on Friday, Aug 24, will both be carried out at 240 kbps. The Wednesday station 34 pass was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but the schedule was changed to help out the GRAIL mission. An ESA New Norcia pass is scheduled for Friday, Aug 24. Week 35 (Aug 27 - Sep 2) * Ahead has 70 meter passes on Monday, Aug 27 (D63 at 720 kbps), Tuesday, Aug 28 (D14), Wednesday, Aug 29 (D14), and Sunday, Sep 2 (D63 at 720 kbsp, D14). There are 10 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. The station 54 passes on Thursday, Aug 30, and Saturday, Sep 1, will both be carried out at 240 kbps. * Behind has 70 meter passes on Tuesday, Aug 28 (D63), and Friday, Aug 31 (D14). There are 13 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. The station 24 pass on Monday, Aug 27, will be carried out at 240 kbps. An ESA New Norcia pass is scheduled for Monday, Aug 27. Week 36 (Sep 3-9) * Monday, Sep 3, is Labor Day. * The 22nd SECCHI stepped calibration roll will be carried out on Tuesday, Sep 4, starting at 11:15 UT. System momentum will be about 4 N-m-s. This is the midpoint roll. Midpoint is actually the week before. * Ahead has 70 meter passes on Friday, Sep 7 (D14), Saturday, Sep 8 (D14 at 720 kbps), and Sunday, Sep 9 (D63). There are 11 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. An ESA Cebreros pass is scheduled for Monday, Sep 3. * Behind has 70 meter passes on Monday, Sep 3 (D14), Friday, Sep 7 (D63), and Saturday, Sep 8 (D63). There are 12 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. The station 65 pass on Monday, Sep 3, and the station 54 pass on Sunday, Sep 9, will both be carried out at 240 kbps. An ESA New Norcia pass is scheduled for Thursday, Sep 6. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 31: M Jul 30 (212) T Jul 31 (213) W Aug 01 (214) T Aug 02 (215) F Aug 03 (216) S Aug 04 (217) S Aug 05 (218) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 32: M Aug 06 (219) T Aug 07 (220) W Aug 08 (221) T Aug 09 (222) F Aug 10 (223) S Aug 11 (224) S Aug 12 (225) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 33: M Aug 13 (226) T Aug 14 (227) W Aug 15 (228) T Aug 16 (229) F Aug 17 (230) S Aug 18 (231) S Aug 19 (232) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 34: M Aug 20 (233) T Aug 21 (234) Ahead: Momentum dump, 15:30 UT W Aug 22 (235) Behind: Momentum dump, 18:00 UT T Aug 23 (236) F Aug 24 (237) S Aug 25 (238) S Aug 26 (239) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 35: M Aug 27 (240) T Aug 28 (241) W Aug 29 (242) T Aug 30 (243) F Aug 31 (244) S Sep 01 (245) S Sep 02 (246) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 36: M Sep 03 (247) Labor Day T Sep 04 (248) Behind: SECCHI stepped calibration roll, 11:15 UT W Sep 05 (249) T Sep 06 (250) F Sep 07 (251) S Sep 08 (252) S Sep 09 (253) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: 2012: * Aug DAWN - Vesta departure * Nov 4 Behind: Switch downlink rate to 120 kbps * Nov 13 Total solar eclipse, south Pacific 2013: * May 3 Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 120 kbps * Dec 12 Ahead: Mercury transit 2014: * Jan 20 Behind: End use of 480 kbps on 70 m DSN subnet * Apr 21 Behind: Resume use of 480 kbps on 70 m DSN subnet * Apr 29 Behind: Mercury transit * Oct 15 Behind: End use of 480 kbps on 70 m DSN subnet 2015: * Feb DAWN - Ceres arrival * Jan 20 - Mar 28 (TBC) Behind: Spacecraft behind Sun * Mar 17 - Jul 14 (TBC) Ahead: Spacecraft behind Sun * Jul 2 Behind: Resume use of 480 kbps on 70 m DSN subnet * Aug 25 - Oct 19 (TBC) Behind: Spacecraft behind Sun * Sep 25 Behind: End use of 480 kbps on 70 m DSN subnet * Jul DAWN - End of nominal mission 2016: * Apr 3 Behind: Resume use of 480 kbps on 70 m DSN subnet 2017: * Jul 11 Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 160 kbps * Jul 22 Behind: Switch downlink rate to 160 kbps 2018: * Mar 5 Ahead: Mercury transit