STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2020-11-17 (Week 47) 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 46 (Nov 9-15) * On day 315 (Nov 10), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, the transmitter was declared red due to a power supply problem. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 2.7 hours of real-time commanding and 2-way tracking data. In addition, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1526z, which resulted in the loss of two frame of SSR data. See DR #M112812 for more information. * On day 316 (Nov 11), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, the transmitter was declared red due to a power supply problem. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 2.1 hours of real-time commanding and 2-way tracking data. See DR # M112815 for more information. * On day 316 (Nov 11), during the DSS-14 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 317-0039z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of one frame of SSR data. * On day 317 (Nov 12), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, the uplink activities were 40 minutes late at 1715z due to transmitter communication errors. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 0.7 hours of real-time commanding and 2-way tracking data, and 6752 frames of SSR data. MOPs repositioned the SSR pointers during the track and recovered all the affected data. See DR #M112816 for more information. * As of day 320 (Nov 15), 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 5.5 Gbits during this week. * Because problems were anticipated with station 63, an ESA New Norcia pass was added on Thursday, Nov 12. This was found to be helpful. An additional ESA Cebreros pass on Friday, Nov 13, had been requested, but was unavailable due to a schedule conflict. 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. There will be no instrument commanding or SSR playback during this track. 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. Week 52 (Dec 21-27) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are ten tracks at 720 kbps, and one at 480 kbps. * The 56th SECCHI stepped calibration roll is scheduled for Monday, Dec 21, starting at 13:30 UT. * APL will be closed for a half day on Christmas Eve, Dec 24, and will be closed all day on Friday, Dec 25, for Christmas. Other * NASA is closing down its mailing list server lists.nasa.gov at the end of the year. Starting with this report, the weekly minutes will be sent to the new address at STEREO-SCI-OPS@LISTSERV.JHUAPL.EDU. Thanks go to the MOC for agreeing to host the new mail server. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Ahead: Station 35 support at 720 kbsp 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) Ahead: Momentum dump, 19 UT 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) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 52: M Dec 21 (356) Ahead: SECCHI stepped calibration roll, 13:30 UT T Dec 22 (357) W Dec 23 (358) T Dec 24 (359) F Dec 25 (360) Christmas S Dec 26 (361) S Dec 27 (362) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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