STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2020-11-03 (Week 45) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * None. INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * Ahead is operating nominally. PLASTIC is in operational mode, but with a high background rate. * 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 26-Nov 1) * On day 300 (Oct 26), the MOC conducted L3VPN SLE Portal Bind testing with JPL from 1430z to 1700z. The telemetry binds were completed with SLE OPS Portals slegp3 and slegp4; and SLE TEST Portals testslegp2, testslegp3 and testslegp4. The L3VPN SLE TLM Portal testing was successful and SLE telemetry bind testing is complete. Going forward, the MOC will continue to test the L3VPN Command network IP addresses and report the results after testing is complete. Instead of scheduling test tracks with each ground station, the command testing will continue in the background using the current DSN schedule. * On day 301 (Oct 27), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, the transmitter tripped offline and aborted the command system bind at 1310z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 14 minutes of SSR data between 1326z and 1340z, when the receiver transitioned from two-way to one-way downlink mode and during the subsequent uplink resweep activity. MOPs canceled the planned momentum dump and rescheduled for Thursday (10/29) at 303:1500z. See DR #M112771 for more information. * On day 302 (Oct 28), during the DSS-84 (ESA Malargue) support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1920z, due to a glitch in the TTCP demodulator. This anomaly resulted in the loss of five frames of SSR data. The MOC reported to ESA that the problem is occurring when the uplink sweep starts at BOT +5 minutes. ESA engineers have discovered the problem and they are working to correct the issue. * On day 303 (Oct 29), during the DSS-83 (ESA Cebreros) support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1250z, due to a glitch in the TTCP demodulator. This anomaly resulted in the loss of five frames of SSR data. The MOC reported to ESA that the problem is occurring when the uplink sweep starts at BOT +5 minutes. ESA engineers have discovered the problem and they are working to correct the issue. * On day 304 (Oct 30), during the DSS-14 support for Ahead, the command modulation toggled offline for five seconds and aborted the command system bind at 0024z. This anomaly had no impact on operations and the command bind was reestablished at 0249z. See DR #G121448 for more information. * On day 303 (Oct 29), the 132nd momentum dump on Ahead was executed successfully at 1500z, which imparted an estimated delta V of 0.070 m/sec. This was the 51th momentum dump conducted without gyro use. After thruster operations completed, there was a 0.3 degree of roll angle error. Fine pointing stabilized 2.4 minutes after completion of the momentum dump. * As of day 306 (Nov 1), 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 6.4 Gbits during this week. Week 45 (Nov 2-8) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, four at 480 kbps, and two at 360 kbps. * ESA New Norcia passes are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Nov 7,8. Week 46 (Nov 9-15) * Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are seven passes at 720 kbps, and two at 480 kbps. An additional 70 meter pass was added to the schedule. * Wednesday, Nov 11, is Veteran's Day, which is a holiday at APL. Week 47 (Nov 16-22) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are seven passes at 720 kbps, three at 480 kbps, and two at 360 kbps. * Solar Orbiter will have a remote sensing observing window while in conjunction with STEREO Ahead, Nov 16-22. * An ESA Malague pass is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov 18. Week 48 (Nov 23-29) * Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are five passes at 720 kbps, two at 480 kbps, and two at 360 kbps. * Thurdsay, Nov 26, is Thanksgiving. APL will be closed Thurdsay and Friday, Nov 26-27. Week 49 (Nov 30-Dec 6) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, one at 480 kbps, and one at 360 kbps. Week 50 (Dec 7-13) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, two at 480 kbps, and one at 360 kbps. * An ESA Cebreros pass is scheduled for Monday, Dec 7, 14:10-16:10. * The 133rd momentum dump is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec 9, with ignition at 19:00 UT. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 45: M Nov 02 (307) T Nov 03 (308) W Nov 04 (309) T Nov 05 (310) F Nov 06 (311) S Nov 07 (312) S Nov 08 (313) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 46: M Nov 09 (314) T Nov 10 (315) W Nov 11 (316) Veteran's Day T Nov 12 (317) F Nov 13 (318) S Nov 14 (319) S Nov 15 (320) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 47: M Nov 16 (321) Start of Solar Orbiter conjunction w/STEREO obs. window T Nov 17 (322) Ahead: EUVI-EUI cross calibration W Nov 18 (323) Ahead: EUVI-EUI cross calibration T Nov 19 (324) F Nov 20 (325) S Nov 21 (326) End of Solar Orbiter conjunction observation window S Nov 22 (327) Notes: * COR2/Metis cross-calibration, Nov 16-22 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 48: M Nov 23 (328) T Nov 24 (329) W Nov 25 (330) T Nov 26 (331) Thanksgiving F Nov 27 (332) S Nov 28 (333) S Nov 29 (334) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 49: M Nov 30 (335) T Dec 01 (336) W Dec 02 (337) T Dec 03 (338) F Dec 04 (339) S Dec 05 (340) S Dec 06 (341) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 50: M Dec 07 (342) T Dec 08 (343) W Dec 09 (344) T Dec 10 (345) F Dec 11 (346) S Dec 12 (347) S Dec 13 (348) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2021: * Jan 13-23 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Feb 1-19 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Synoptics * Feb 20 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby * Feb 20-25 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Checkout Window 2 * Mar 21-24 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Checkout Window 3 * Apr 21-28 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Synoptics * Apr 25-May 4 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * May 13-Jul 15 Betelgeuse visible in SECCHI HI2 with 180 degree roll * 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