STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2019-11-05 (Week 45) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * Restoration of the IMPACT server at UCLA is awaiting completion of the hiring of a programmer. 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 44 (Oct 28 - Nov 3) * On day 305 (Nov 1), during the DSS-34 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 0159z, 0251z, and 0341z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 17 frames of SSR data. * On day 305 (Nov 1), during the DSS-84 (ESA MLG) support for Ahead, telemetry was not received in the MOC until 29 minutes after BOT due to a SLE server configuration issue at JPL. A post-track SLE offline telemetry playback recovered all of the missed data. * On day 301 (Oct 28), the 4th IMU-2 EEPROM Refresh was executed successfully at 1425z. The IMU remained powered on for 8.5 hours after the EEPROM Refresh activity to evaluate the gyro temperature and laser intensity monitor (LIM) telemetry. * On day 305 (Nov 1), the 123rd momentum dump on Ahead was executed successfully at 2130z, which imparted an estimated delta V of 0.094 m/sec. This was the 42nd momentum dump that did not use the IMU. After thruster operations completed, there was a 0.43 degree of roll angle error. Fine pointing stabilized 2.1 minutes after completion of the momentum dump. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 5.3 Gbits during this week. 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. * On Wednesday, Nov 6, between 6-8 PM EST, maintenance will be carried out on the APL external internet. Instrument teams will have to reconnect after this activity is completed. * 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. All the STEREO will be carrying out their normal synoptic programs. On Dec 26, Probe will have an encounter with Venus which will lower its orbit. * There was an issue with station 43 overnight (Nov 5, 6-10:45 UT). The subreflector is stuck at 45 degrees. Normally, this should only be a 2 dB loss in signal, but no data were acquired during the pass. There are some indications that this might be due to a pointing issue. The MOC is looking into whether the pointers can be repositioned to recover the data. There are a number of upcoming passes in the coming week using station 43. Since the condition of the station is orange, we still may be able to use those passes. The estimated date of return to full operation is Tuesday, day 316 (Nov 12). 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 now 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 closed Nov 28-29. Week 49 (Dec 2-8) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are ten passes at 720 kbps, and one at 480 kbps. Week 50 (Dec 9-15) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, and two at 360 kbps. * The 124th momentum dump on Ahead is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec 10, with ignition at 18:40 UT. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 49: M Dec 02 (336) T Dec 03 (337) W Dec 04 (338) T Dec 05 (339) F Dec 06 (340) S Dec 07 (341) S Dec 08 (342) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 50: M Dec 09 (343) T Dec 10 (344) Ahead: Momentum dump, 18:40 UT W Dec 11 (345) T Dec 12 (346) F Dec 13 (347) S Dec 14 (348) S Dec 15 (349) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2019: * Dec 26 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby 2020: * Jan 21-23 Ahead: COR2 deep field campaign (TBC) * 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