STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2019-10-22 (Week 43) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * Oct 25 is the 13th anniversary of the STEREO launch. * The STEREO Data Server at UCLA is down. Alternate sources for these data are being identified. INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * Ahead is operating nominally. * 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 42 (Oct 14-Oct 20) * On day 287 (Oct 14), during the DSS-63 pass for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1642z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of three frames of SSR data. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 5.3 Gbits during this week. Week 43 (Oct 21-Oct 27) * The 50th SECCHI stepped calibration roll for perihelion was underway during the telecon. * Day 296 (Oct 23) is the predicted Ahead perihelion. * Day 298 (Oct 25) is the 13th anniversary of the launch of STEREO * Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are three passes at 720 kbps, four at 480 kbps, one at 240 kbps, and one at 160 kpbs. Week 44 (Oct 28 - Nov 3) * On Monday, Oct 28, the fourth IMU-2 EEPROM refresh will be performed, starting at 14:25 UT. The IMU gyros will not be used for attitude control. After the refresh, the unit will be left on for several hours to evaluate the output from the laser intensity monitor, and will be powered off during the following track. * Day 305 (Nov 1) is the 123rd momentum dump for Ahead. Ignition is now at 21:30 UTC. This is the 42nd momentum dump done without using gyros for rate information. The momentum dump will be carried out during an ESA Malargue pass. * Day 307 (Nov 3) daylight savings time ends in the US. Clocks will be set back one hour. * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, two at 480 kbps, one at 240 kbps, and one at 160 kpbs. Week 45 (Nov 4-10) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, one at 360 kbps, and one at 240 kbps. * An SLE bind test will be carried out with the ESA New Norcia station on Tuesday, Nov 5. As the Ahead spacecraft will not be in view during the test, simulated data will be used. * A project interface test of the three links per operater concept will be performed during the station 25 pass on Wednesday, Nov 6, 19:45-22:45 UT. There will be no instrument commanding or SSR playback during this test. * An SLE bind test will be carried out with the ESA Cebreros station on Friday, Nov 8, from 14:45-16:45. There will be no instrument commanding or SSR playback during this pass. * Parker Solar Probe will have a close approach to the STEREO Ahead spacecraft on Monday, Nov 4. Only limited data will be available from Probe during this time, due to power limitations and the spacecraft attitude requirements at large solar distances. The FIELDS instrument will be collecting throughout the aphelion portion of the orbit, but during 10/29/2019 to 11/5/2019 it will double the magnetic field data rate to 16 vectors/sec. Also, the radio instrument will increase its time cadence to 8 seconds. There will be no WISPR (imaging) or Faraday Cup measurements. Plasma data will be very limited. The STEREO SECCHI, SWAVES, and PLASTIC instruments will be carrying out their normal synoptic programs, and this is also expected to be the case for IMPACT. On Dec 26, Probe will have an encounter with Venus which will lower its orbit. Week 46 (Nov 11-17) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are seven passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, and one at 160 kbps. * There will be a return-to-service pass for station 55 on Saturday, Nov 16, 15:45-18:45 UT. There will be no instrument commanding or SSR playback during this test. Week 47 (Nov 18-24) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, one at 480 kbps, and one at 160 kbps. * The annual STEREO assessment review has no been moved to Thursday, Nov 21, one week before Thanksgiving, from 8:30 AM to 12 noon EST. Week 48 (Nov 25-Dec 1) * Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, and one at 160 kbps. * Thursday, Nov 28, is Thanksgiving. APL will be close Nov 28-29. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 43: M Oct 21 (294) T Oct 22 (295) Ahead: SECCHI stepped calibration roll, 15:25 UTC W Oct 23 (296) Ahead: Perihelion T Oct 24 (297) F Oct 25 (298) 13th STEREO launch anniversary S Oct 26 (299) S Oct 27 (300) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 44: M Oct 28 (301) T Oct 29 (302) W Oct 30 (303) T Oct 31 (304) F Nov 01 (305) Ahead: Momentum dump, 21:30 UTC S Nov 02 (306) S Nov 03 (307) Daylight savings time ends in US ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 45: M Nov 04 (308) Ahead: Close approach of Parker Solar Probe T Nov 05 (309) SLE bind test with ESA New Norcia, simulated data W Nov 06 (310) Ahead: Test of three links per operator, 19:45-22:45 UT T Nov 07 (311) F Nov 08 (312) Ahead: SLE bind test with ESA Cebreros, 14:45-16:45 S Nov 09 (313) S Nov 10 (314) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 46: M Nov 11 (315) T Nov 12 (316) W Nov 13 (317) T Nov 14 (318) F Nov 15 (319) S Nov 16 (320) Ahead: Return-to-service test with station 55, 15:45-18:45 UT S Nov 17 (321) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 47: M Nov 18 (322) T Nov 19 (323) W Nov 20 (324) T Nov 21 (325) STEREO subsystem review, 8:30-12 EST F Nov 22 (326) S Nov 23 (327) S Nov 24 (328) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 48: M Nov 25 (329) T Nov 26 (330) W Nov 27 (331) T Nov 28 (332) Thanksgiving F Nov 29 (333) S Nov 30 (334) S Dec 01 (335) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2019: * Dec 26 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby 2020: * Jan 24-Feb 4 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * 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 * Jun 2-13 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Jul 11 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby, in HI2-A field-of-view * Sep Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 480 kbps for 34 meter * Sep 22-Oct 2 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2021: * Jan 13-23 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Feb 20 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby * Apr 25-May 4 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Jul Behind: Switch downlink rate to 720 kbps for 34 meter * Aug Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 720 kbps for 34 meter * Aug 5-15 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Oct 16 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby * Nov 17-26 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2022: * Feb 21-Mar 2 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * May 28-Jun 7 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Sep 2-11 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Dec 7-16 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2023: * Mar 13-23 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * May 5 Behind: Mercury transit * Jun 17-27 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Jul 17 Behind: Closest approach to Earth * Aug 13 Ahead: Closest approach to Earth * Aug 21 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby * Sep 23-Oct 3 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Dec 25-Jan 3 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2024: * Mar 26-Apr 4 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Jun 26-Jul 5 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Sep 26-Oct 5 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Nov 6 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby, in HI2-A field-of-view * Dec 20-29 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2025: * Mar 19-27 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Apr 7 Ahead: Mercury transit * Jun 15-24 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2026: 2027: * Feb 1 Behind: Mercury transit 2028: 2029: * Jun 30 Ahead: Mercury transit