STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2020-03-24 (Week 13) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * None. INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * Ahead is operating nominally. PLASTIC is back to operational mode, but with a higher background rate. Modifications are still needed to allow PLASTIC data to appear in the SSC beacon plots. * 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 12 (Mar 16-22) * On day 078 (Mar 18), during the DSS-63 3LPO PIT Test (Three links per Operator Project Interface Test) support for Ahead, the station received spacecraft telemetry, but was not able to forward the telemetry to the MOC for the entire track due to a configuration issue. For more information, see DR #M112107. * On day 081 (Mar 21), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1619z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of nine frames of SSR data. The MOC reports that loss of turbo decoder lock has increased since the latest software update. This issue is expected to be corrected with the next software update. * As of day 082 (Mar 22), all PLASTIC systems on Ahead 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 7.6 Gbits during this week. Week 13 (Mar 23-29) * Because the schedule was heavy with Madrid passes, two Goldstone passes were added to the week. * Ahead has fifteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are ten passes at 720 kbps, one at 480 kbps, and four at 360 kbps. * External connectivity to the STEREO MOC, for instrument commanding, real-time telemetry, and data products, will be interrupted for 1 hour, on Saturday, March 28th, between 7 AM through 11 AM EDT (DOY 088 1100-1500z) for a APL Internet maintenance to increase the internet capacity by 250% due to increased telework at APL. For those that stay connected to the MOC, they must reconnect afterwards. There is no DSN track during this outage, so this will have minimal impact to operations. * APL has also increased phone capacity, and added in Webex. 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. Week 16 (Apr 13-19) * Ahead has fifteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are ten passes at 720 kbps, and five at 360 kbps. * There will be the 9th annual battery discharge cycle at 1730, to recondition the batteries on Monday, Apr 13. Due to the coronavirus situation, this activity may be postponed, since it requires staffing on-site. Week 17 (Apr 20-26) * Ahead has fourteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eleven passes at 720 kbps, and three at 360 kbps. * The 53rd SECCHI stepped calibration roll is scheduled for Wednesday, Apr 22, starting at 13:50 UT. This is the aphelion roll. There is no need to postpone this activity because of the coronavirus. Week 18 (Apr 27-May 3) * Ahead has thirteen passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, one at 480 kbps, and four at 360 kbps. * Solar Orbiter will be along the Sun-Earth line between Apr 27 to May 3. The SECCHI team has requested that spacecraft operations be avoided during this period. Currently, Solar Orbiter has temporarily suspended commissioning activities, so their schedule is in flux. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 16: M Apr 13 (104) Battery discharge cycle at 17:30 UT T Apr 14 (105) W Apr 15 (106) T Apr 16 (107) F Apr 17 (108) S Apr 18 (109) S Apr 19 (110) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 17: M Apr 20 (111) T Apr 21 (112) W Apr 22 (113) Ahead: SECCHI stepped calibration roll, 13:50 UT T Apr 23 (114) F Apr 24 (115) S Apr 25 (116) S Apr 26 (117) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 18: M Apr 27 (118) T Apr 28 (119) W Apr 29 (120) T Apr 30 (121) F May 01 (122) S May 02 (123) S May 03 (124) Notes: * Apr 27-May 3 Solar Orbiter along Sun-Earth line ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 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 * 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