STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2020-11-10 (Week 46) 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 45 (Nov 2-8) * On day 307 (Nov 2), during the DSS-34 support for Ahead, the command modulation toggled offline for four seconds and aborted the command system bind at 0431z. This anomaly had no impact on operations and command bind was reestablished at 0539z. See DR #C115284 for more information. * On day 307 (Nov 2), during the DSS-14 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 2356z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of one frame of SSR data. * On day 311 (Nov 6), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, the uplink sweep was five minutes late at 1310z. Later, the transmitter tripped offline and aborted the command system bind at 1320z, due to a DC over current interlock. The station declared the transmitter red after three failed attempts to restart the uplink. This anomaly resulted in the loss of ten minutes of SSR data between 1326z and 1336z, when the receiver transitioned from two-way to one-way downlink mode and during the subsequent uplink resweep activity. See DR #M112796 for more information. * On day 312 (Nov 7), during the DSS-74 (ESA New Norcia) support for Ahead, ESA engineers corrected the downlink glitch problem. The problem was caused by the latest M&C software change, which implemented a new approach to acquiring the spacecraft downlink signal when transitioning from 1-way to 2-way mode. ESA disabled the new feature for STEREO to correct the problem. * As of day 313, 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 6.4 Gbits during this week. Week 46 (Nov 9-15) * As the station 63 transmitter is still red, with an expected repair date of Friday, two passes with ESA stations have been added to the schedule on Thursday (New Norcia) and Friday (Cebreros) to avoid any possibility of triggering the 72 hour command event timeout. Ahead now has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are seven passes at 720 kbps, and two at 480 kbps. * 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. * The station 35 support on Wednesday, Nov 18, will be conducted at 720 kbps to check the ability of the 34 meter stations to support that downlink rate at this point in the mission. This will be a normal track, allowing instrument commanding, and with the telemetry committed. There's ample capability to recover any lost telemetry in following tracks if the test is not successful. * 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. * Thursday, Nov 26, is Thanksgiving. APL will be closed Thurdsay and Friday, Nov 26-27. * A return-to-service track with station 54, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, Nov 24, has been moved to Saturday, Nov 28. 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. Week 51 (Dec 14-20) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, and two at 360 kbps. Other * In regard to the recent discussions about the possibility of using Near Earth Object telescopes to search for STEREO Behind when it approaches Earth in 2023, the Flight Dynamics Facility is awaiting a formal request for researching what area of space needs to be searched. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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) Ahead: Return-to-service track with station 54 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) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 51: M Dec 14 (349) T Dec 15 (350) W Dec 16 (351) T Dec 17 (352) F Dec 18 (353) S Dec 19 (354) S Dec 20 (355) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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