STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2021-03-23 (Week 12) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * On day 074 (Mar 15), three MOC planning/assessment machines and Raid were upgraded to the x86 architecture and transitioned to operations successfully. The machine names/functions are Vernon (data archive server & raid), Neville (Assessment processing), and Arthur (telemetry plotting). The MOPs team used the new machines to ingest spacecraft telemetry and create the assessment data products successfully over the last week. The STEREO Science Center (SSC) has verified the delivered data products. 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 11 (Mar 15-21) * On day 077 (Mar 18), the 57th SECCHI stepped calibration on Ahead was executed at 1330z for aphelion in the Ahead orbit. This was the 26th SECCHI stepped calibration roll conducted without gyro use. * As of day 080 (Mar 21), 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 6.2 Gbits during this week. Week 12 (Mar 22-28) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, and two at 480 kbps. * The 10th annual battery discharge maintenance will occur on Wednesday, Mar 24, starting at approximately 20:00 UT during a station 63 pass. * The MOC has been informed that station DSS-35 is currently red. Ahead is scheduled for a station 35 pass tonight, and the MOC is taking action to minimize the impact in case the pass is missed. They will use an earlier pass to remove the solid state recorder commands for the station 35 pass, and will instead operate the recorder from the ground if the pass does occur. Week 13 (Mar 29-Apr 4) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * NASA will be performing IoNet maintenance on Tuesday, Mar 30, between 17:00-19:00 UT. * The 136th momentum dump is scheduled for Wednesday, Mar 31, starting at 16:30 UT. Week 14 (Apr 5-11) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eleven passes at 720 kbps, and one at 480 kbps. Week 15 (Apr 12-18) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, one at 480 kbps, and one at 360 kbps. Week 16 (Apr 19-25) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, and one at 480 kbps. * Solar Orbiter will be testing Remote Sensor Synoptics, Apr 21-28. * The eighth Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass runs from Apr 25 to May 4. Week 17 (Apr 26-May 2) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, and two at 480 kbps. * A return-to-service track for station 14 is scheduled for Tuesday, Apr 27, between 00:00-03:00 UT. There will be no instrument commanding or SSR playback during this track. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 12: M Mar 22 (081) T Mar 23 (082) W Mar 24 (083) End of Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Checkout Window 3 Ahead: Battery discharge maintenance, 20 UT T Mar 25 (084) F Mar 26 (085) S Mar 27 (086) S Mar 28 (087) Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Checkout Window 3, Mar 21-24. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 13: M Mar 29 (088) T Mar 30 (089) W Mar 31 (090) Ahead: Momentum dump, 16:30 UT T Apr 01 (091) F Apr 02 (092) S Apr 03 (093) S Apr 04 (094) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 14: M Apr 05 (095) T Apr 06 (096) W Apr 07 (097) T Apr 08 (098) F Apr 09 (099) S Apr 10 (100) S Apr 11 (101) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 15: M Apr 12 (102) T Apr 13 (103) W Apr 14 (104) T Apr 15 (105) F Apr 16 (106) S Apr 17 (107) S Apr 18 (108) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 16: M Apr 19 (109) T Apr 20 (110) W Apr 21 (111) Start of Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Synoptics T Apr 22 (112) F Apr 23 (113) S Apr 24 (114) S Apr 25 (115) Start of Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Synoptics, Apr 21-28. * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Apr 25-May 4. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 17: M Apr 26 (116) T Apr 27 (117) Ahead: Return-to-service track with station 14. W Apr 28 (118) End of Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Synoptics T Apr 29 (119) F Apr 30 (120) S May 01 (121) S May 02 (122) Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensor Synoptics, Apr 21-28. * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Apr 25-May 4. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2021: * May 13-Jul 15 Betelgeuse visible in SECCHI HI2 with 180 degree roll * Aug 5-15 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Aug 9 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby * Aug 18 Solar Orbiter in quadrature with Earth * Aug 31 Solar Orbiter METIS roll * Sep 12-19 Solar Orbiter remote sensing window * Oct 16 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby * Nov 5 Solar Orbiter along Sun-Earth line * Nov 17-26 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Nov 27 Solar Orbiter Earth flyby 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 * Sep 4 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby * 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: * Feb 18 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby * Mar 19-27 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Apr 7 Ahead: Mercury transit * Jun 15-24 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2026: * Dec 24 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby 2027: * Feb 1 Behind: Mercury transit 2028: * Mar 18 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby 2029: * Jun 10 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby * Jun 30 Ahead: Mercury transit 2030: * Sep 3 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby