STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2018-10-09 (Week 41) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * Four years after the initial loss of communications anomaly with Behind observatory, NASA has directed to cease periodic recovery operations with the last support on October 17, 2018. Additional information can be found at: https://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/behind_status.shtml INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * Ahead is operating nominally on the main lobe of the high gain antenna. Recovery continues for the IMPACT and PLASTIC instruments due to the power consumption anomaly on Sep 23. * Behind has transitioned to a monthly schedule to attempt to recover the spacecraft. DISCUSSION AND OPERATIONS CONSTRAINTS ------------------------------------- Week 40 (Oct 1-7) * On day 276 (Oct 3), the first acceptance test of the CCSDS SLE bluebook version 4 software update between the Ahead MOC with ESA using DSS-84 (Malargue) was conducted. SLE binds were unsuccessful and further testing is scheduled next week. * On day 277 (Oct 4), to accommodate the PSP project, STEREO agreed to swap its Ahead DSS-35 track to DSS-34, whose transmitter was red. Also during this support, turbo decoder lock was lost intermittently between 278-0259z and 0429z. These anomalies resulted in the loss of 3.9 hours of real-time commanding and two-way tracking data and 6 frames of SSR data. See DR# C113686 for more information. * On day 279 (Oct 6), during the DSS-14 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 279-2242z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 1083 frames of SSR data. See DR #G119460 for more information. * On day 275 (Oct 2), the 113th momentum dump was executed successfully at 1530z, which imparted an estimated delta V of 0.085 m/sec. This was the 32nd momentum dump that did not use the IMU. After thruster operations completed, there was a 0.25 degree of roll angle error, which was dampened out over the next 6.7 minutes. Fine pointing stabilized 2.5 minutes after completion of the momentum dump. * Continuing with the recovery from the IMPACT IDPU/MAG high power consumption anomaly that occurred on day 266 (Sep 23): - On day 276 (Oct 3), PLASTIC reconfigured the PAC and completed the MCP high voltage ramp up day 281 (Oct 8). PLASTIC is now back in science mode. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 4.9 Gbits during this week. * The STEREO Science Center reports that the script mirroring over data from the MOC to the SSC was failing over the weekend. The telemetry files were ingested by hand--a process which was still underway during the telecon--but other ancillary data files had not yet been ingested. The reason for the failure is unclear, but may be related to the number of files on the MOC server. Analysis of the problem is ongoing. Week 41 (Oct 8-14) * Tomorrow, Oct 10, the ESA Cebreros station will be shadow tracking during the station 55 pass to evaluate the performance at 240 kbps. Right now, all the ESA stations operate at 160 kbps. * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, one at 240 kbps, and two at 160 kbps. This includes ESA Cebreros passes on Monday and Thursday. * There are no recovery passes for Behind during the week. * Oct 12th Behind reaches perihelion. Week 42 (Oct 15-21) * Wednesday, October 17th, the second SLE bluebook version 4 test between ESA Cebreros and the MOC will be carried out for 4 hours. * Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are four passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, and three at 160 kbps. This includes an ESA Cebreros pass on Thursday October 18th. * Search pattern recovery passes for Behind are scheduled for Monday, Oct 15th (battery), and on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 16th and 17th (both carrier). Until further notice, these are the last recovery attempts for Behind. Week 43 (Oct 22-28) * Thursday, Oct 25, is the 12th anniversary of the launch of STEREO. * The second SLE test with the DSN is scheduled for Thursday, Oct 25. * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are four passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, two at 240 kbps, and three at 160 kbps. This includes an ESA Cebreros pass on Friday. Week 44 (Oct 29-Nov 4) * The 45th SECCHI stepped calibration roll is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct 30, starting at 6:10 UT. This will be the perihelion roll. System momentum is expected to be 4 N-m-s. This will be the 14th roll without using the gyros. * Daylight savings time in the US ends on Sunday, Nov 4. * Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall is nominal. There are four passes at 720 kbps, three at 360 kbps, two at 160 kbps, including an ESA Cebreros pass on Monday. Week 45 (Nov 5-Nov 11) * Ahead has thirteen passes during the week. Overall coverage is now nominal with the addition of four ESA supports with New Norcia (Tuesday and Friday), Malargue (Wednesday), and Cebreros (Friday). There are three passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, two at 240 kpbs and six at 160 kbps. * There are no recovery passes for Behind during the week. Week 46 (Nov 12-18) * Ahead reaches perihelion on Nov 12. * The 114th momentum dump is scheduled for Monday, Nov 12, with ignition at 14:30 UT. This will be the 33rd dump without using the gyros. The dump was moved from the original date of Nov 7 at the request of the SECCHI team to avoid conflicts with the first Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass. The momentum dump will be conducted during an ESA Cebreros pass. * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are five passes at 720 kbps, three at 360 kbps, and two at 160 kbps, including ESA Cebreros passes on Monday and Tuesday. Week 47 (Nov 19-25) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is currently expected to be nominal with the addition of ESA Cebreros passes on Wednesday and Friday. There are four passes at 720 kbps, one at 360 kbps, three at 240 kbps, and three at 160 kbps. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 41: M Oct 08 (281) T Oct 09 (282) W Oct 10 (283) T Oct 11 (284) F Oct 12 (285) S Oct 13 (286) S Oct 14 (287) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 42: M Oct 15 (288) Behind: Recovery track, DSN 14 (search pattern, battery) T Oct 16 (289) Behind: Recovery track, DSN 43 (search pattern, carrier) W Oct 17 (290) Behind: Recovery track, DSN 43 (search pattern, carrier) Ahead: Interface test track with ESA Cebreros T Oct 18 (291) F Oct 19 (292) S Oct 20 (293) S Oct 21 (294) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 43: M Oct 22 (295) T Oct 23 (296) W Oct 24 (297) T Oct 25 (298) 12th STEREO launch anniversary Ahead: Interface test track with DSN F Oct 26 (299) S Oct 27 (300) S Oct 28 (301) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 44: M Oct 29 (302) T Oct 30 (303) Ahead: SECCHI stepped calibration roll, 6:10 UT W Oct 31 (304) T Nov 01 (305) F Nov 02 (306) S Nov 03 (307) SECCHI COR2 deep exposure campaign for Parker Solar Probe (TBC) S Nov 04 (308) SECCHI COR2 deep exposure campaign for Parker Solar Probe (TBC) Daylight savings time ends in the US ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 45: M Nov 05 (309) SECCHI COR2 deep exposure campaign for Parker Solar Probe (TBC) T Nov 06 (310) SECCHI COR2 deep exposure campaign for Parker Solar Probe (TBC) W Nov 07 (311) T Nov 08 (312) F Nov 09 (313) S Nov 10 (314) S Nov 11 (315) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 46: M Nov 12 (316) Ahead: Perihelion Ahead: Momentum dump, 14:30 UT T Nov 13 (317) W Nov 14 (318) T Nov 15 (319) F Nov 16 (320) S Nov 17 (321) S Nov 18 (322) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 47: M Nov 19 (323) T Nov 20 (324) W Nov 21 (325) T Nov 22 (326) F Nov 23 (327) S Nov 24 (328) S Nov 25 (329) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2019: * Mar Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 240 kbps for 34 meter * Apr Behind: Switch downlink rate to 240 kbps for 34 meter * Nov 4 Ahead: Close approach of Parker Solar Probe 2020: * May Behind: Switch downlink rate to 360 kbps for 34 meter * Jun Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 360 kbps for 34 meter * Jun Behind: Switch downlink rate to 480 kbps for 34 meter * Sep Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 480 kbps for 34 meter 2021: * Jul Behind: Switch downlink rate to 720 kbps for 34 meter * Aug Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 720 kbps for 34 meter 2022: 2023: * May 5 Behind: Mercury transit * Jul 17 Behind: Closest approach to Earth * Aug 13 Ahead: Closest approach to Earth 2024: 2025: * Apr 7 Ahead: Mercury transit 2026: 2027: * Feb 1 Behind: Mercury transit 2028: 2029: * Jun 30 Ahead: Mercury transit