STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2021-06-15 (Week 24) 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 23 (Jun 7-13) * On day 160 (Jun 9), the 58th SECCHI stepped calibration on Ahead was executed at 1650z for midpoint in the Ahead orbit. This was the 27th SECCHI stepped calibration roll conducted without gyro use. * On day 161 (Jun 10), the SECCHI team commanded an instrument reboot on Ahead at 15:37:46z and reconfigured the instrument to operational mode by 1800z. This was the 65th reset of the SECCHI instrument on the Ahead observatory. The team performed the reboot to correct a few unexplained anomalies that have occurred since the last watchdog reset on May 19, 2021, at which time the camera electronics box (CEB) had problems starting properly. The actual start of the anomaly was the beginning of the day on June 6. The team reported that the reboot has resolved the issue. * On day 162 (Jun 11), the SECCHI 180 degree roll on Ahead was executed successfully at 1800z for the fourth Betelgeuse star observation (3rd campaign). * As of day 164, 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 6.5 Gbits during this week. Week 24 (Jun 14-20) * Ahead has twelve tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight tracks at 720 kbps, three at 480 kbps, and one at 360 kbps. * The 138th momentum dump on Ahead was completely successfully today, Jun 15, with ignition at 15:00 UT. Week 25 (Jun 21-27) * Ahead has twelve tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight tracks at 720 kbps, and four at 480 kbps. * MOC firewall maintenance is scheduled for Monday, Jun 21, between 11:00-13:00 UT. This is outside the DSN schedule. The network will be tested after the maintenance ends. * The Ahead spacecraft will be rolled by 180 degrees on Saturday, Jun 26, between 14-16 UT to allow the SECCHI HI-2 telescope to observe Betelgeuse. Week 26 (Jun 28-Jul 4) * Ahead has eleven tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight tracks at 720 kbps, and three at 480 kbps. * MOC firewall maintenance is scheduled for Monday, Jun 28, between 11:30-13:00 UT. This is outside the DSN schedule. The network will be tested after the maintenance ends. * The Ahead spacecraft will be rolled by 180 degrees on Friday, Jul 2, between 20-22 UT to allow the SECCHI HI-2 telescope to observe Betelgeuse. * Sunday, Jul 4, is Independence Day. The holiday will be observed on Monday, Jul 5. Week 27 (Jul 5-11) * Ahead has thirteen tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eleven tracks at 720 kbsp, and two at 480 kbps. * APL will be closed Jul 5 for the Independence Day weekend. * The Ahead spacecraft will be rolled by 180 degrees on Friday, Jul 9, betwen 18-20 UT to allow the SECCHI HI-2 telescope to observe Betelgeuse. This will be the last in this series of Betelgeuse observations. Week 28 (Jul 12-18) * Ahead has twelve tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine tracks at 720 kbps, and three at 480 kbps. * A return-to-service track for station 63 is scheduled for Monday, Jul 12. There will be no instrument commanding or SSR playback during this track. Week 29 (Jul 19-25) * Ahead has thirteen tracks during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are twelve tracks at 720 kbps, and one at 480 kbps. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 24: M Jun 14 (165) T Jun 15 (166) Ahead: Momentum dump, 15 UT W Jun 16 (167) T Jun 17 (168) F Jun 18 (169) S Jun 19 (170) S Jun 20 (171) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 25: M Jun 21 (172) T Jun 22 (173) W Jun 23 (174) T Jun 24 (175) F Jun 25 (176) S Jun 26 (177) S Jun 27 (178) Ahead: 180 degree roll to observe Betelgeuse, 14-16 UT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 26: M Jun 28 (179) T Jun 29 (180) W Jun 30 (181) T Jul 01 (182) F Jul 02 (183) Ahead: 180 degree roll to observe Betelgeuse, 20-22 UT S Jul 03 (184) S Jul 04 (185) Independence Day ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 27: M Jul 05 (186) Independence Day observed T Jul 06 (187) W Jul 07 (188) T Jul 08 (189) F Jul 09 (190) Ahead: 180 degree roll to observe Betelgeuse, 18-20 UT S Jul 10 (191) S Jul 11 (192) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 28: M Jul 12 (193) Ahead: Return-to-service track with station 63. T Jul 13 (194) W Jul 14 (195) T Jul 15 (196) F Jul 16 (197) S Jul 17 (198) S Jul 18 (199) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 29: M Jul 19 (200) T Jul 20 (201) W Jul 21 (202) T Jul 22 (203) F Jul 23 (204) S Jul 24 (205) S Jul 25 (206) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 23 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 * Dec 4 Solar eclipse in Antartica * Dec 17-21 Solar Orbiter METIS observations of Comet Leonard 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