STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2020-03-03 (Week 10) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * None. INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * Ahead is operating nominally. PLASTIC is in the process of returning to nominal operations after suffering a voltage anomaly on Dec 5. See more information below. * 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 09 (Feb 24-Mar 1) * On day 056 (Feb 25), the PLASTIC team performed commanding on Ahead to load a new table for the solar wind operational mode. The new table load is designed to lower the working voltages of the entrance system high voltage power supplies. * On day 057 (Feb 26), the 126th momentum dump was executed successfully on Ahead at 1930z, which imparted an estimated delta V of 0.092 m/sec. This was the 45th momentum dump conducted without gyro use. After thruster operations completed, there was a 0.68 degree of roll angle error. Fine pointing stabilized 2.3 minutes after completion of the momentum dump. * On day 058 (Feb 27), the PLASTIC team performed commanding on Ahead to enable the entrance system, which was disabled for the momentum dump. The new table load is working well and PLASTIC is detecting solar wind protons. The team has declared that the instrument is in partial science operations. All PLASTIC systems are behaving well, except there is a high background count rate, which the team is continuing to monitor. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 6.7 Gbits during this week. Week 10 (Mar 2-8) * Ahead has fifteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, and seven at 360 kbps. The station 25 pass on day 65 (Mar 5) was changed to station 14. * SECCHI had a watchdog reset on Ahead yesterday (Mar 2) at 16:27:25 UT, and was back in operating mode by 18:06 UT. * Daily savings time in the US begins on March 8. Week 11 (Mar 9-15) * Ahead has fourteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are ten passes at 720 kbps, three at 360 kbps, and one at 240 kbps. Week 12 (Mar 16-22) * Ahead has fourteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eleven passes at 720 kbps, and three at 360 kbps. * A three links per operator project interface test will be carried out with station 63 on Wednesday, Mar 18, 18:35-21:35 UT. There will be no instrument commanding or SSR downlink during this test. Week 13 (Mar 23-29) * Ahead has thirteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are ten passes at 720 kbps, and three at 360 kbps. Week 14 (Mar 30-Apr 5) * Ahead has thirteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, one at 480 kbps, and three at 360 kbps. Week 15 (Apr 6-12) * 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 127th momentum dump on Ahead is scheduled for Wednesday, Apr 8, at 21:45 UT. Other: * The SSC asked about spaceweather data now that PLASTIC is back into partial science operations. PLASTIC reports that the algorithms processing the data need to be adjusted for the different voltages. * A question came up about any possible effects of the coronavirus on spacecraft operations. The MOC reports that names have been compiled, but otherwise there have been no serious discussions. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 10: M Mar 02 (062) Ahead: SECCHI watchdog reset, 16:27:25-18:06 UT T Mar 03 (063) W Mar 04 (064) T Mar 05 (065) F Mar 06 (066) S Mar 07 (067) S Mar 08 (068) Start of daylight savings time in US Notes: * PLASTIC in the process of being recovered to normal operations after power cycling. The instrument is now in partial science operations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 11: M Mar 09 (069) T Mar 10 (070) W Mar 11 (071) T Mar 12 (072) F Mar 13 (073) S Mar 14 (074) S Mar 15 (075) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 12: M Mar 16 (076) T Mar 17 (077) W Mar 18 (078) Ahead: Three links per operator test with station 63 T Mar 19 (079) F Mar 20 (080) S Mar 21 (081) S Mar 22 (082) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 13: M Mar 23 (083) T Mar 24 (084) W Mar 25 (085) T Mar 26 (086) F Mar 27 (087) S Mar 28 (088) S Mar 29 (089) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 14: M Mar 30 (090) T Mar 31 (091) W Apr 01 (092) T Apr 02 (093) F Apr 03 (094) S Apr 04 (095) S Apr 05 (096) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 15: M Apr 06 (097) T Apr 07 (098) W Apr 08 (099) Ahead: Momentum dump, 21:45 UT T Apr 09 (100) F Apr 10 (101) S Apr 11 (102) S Apr 12 (103) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2020: * Apr 27-May 3 Solar Orbiter along Sun-Earth line * 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