STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2023-01-17 (Week 3) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * The next STEREO Annual Assessment is planned for Thursday, Feb 16, 2023, from 8:30-12:00 EST. The instrument teams are invited to present their instrument status. Because APL is retiring Webex, the meeting will be done via Conference Manager, which is browser-based. INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * Ahead is operating nominally. PLASTIC is in operational mode, but with a moderately higher than normal 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 2 (Jan 9-15) * On day 013 (Jan 13), during the DSS-55 support for Ahead, the track was ended two hours early at 2005z to provide track time for the Lunar Flashlight (LFL) Spacecraft Emergency. Before ending the support, the MOPs team completed all commanding and stopped the SSR playback to prevent data loss. See DR #M115398 for more information. The MOC has been informed that the donated time was useful for the LFL recovery. * On day 015 (Jan 15), during the DSS-34 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 0514z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of six frames of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the track and recovered all the affected data. * As of day 015 (Jan 15), all PLASTIC systems on Ahead are behaving well, except there is a moderate background count rate, which the team is continuing to monitor. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 6.1 Gbits during this week. Week 3 (Jan 16-22) * Ahead has eleven tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. Week 4 (Jan 23-29) * Ahead has ten tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * A Project Interface Test will be carried with station 25 on Tuesday, Jan 24. There will be no instrument commanding or SSR playback during this track. * Downlink testing with the APL 18 meter dish will be performed on Wednesday, Jan 25, between 18:40 and 20:00 UT. The spacecraft will be taken out of spaceweather mode during the test. * The 153rd momentum dump on Ahead is scheduled for Thursday, Jan 26, with ignition at 15:00 UT. Week 5 (Jan 30-Feb 5) * Ahead has ten tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * DSN will be performing mission network maintenance on Wednesday, Feb 1, between 12:30-20:30 UT. Ahead will have a support immediately following this period, and the MOC will test connectivity before the pass. Week 6 (Feb 6-12) * Ahead has nine tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * Maintenance on the MOC network will be performed between 13-14 UT (8-9 AM local) on Monday, Feb 6. Week 7 (Feb 13-19) * Ahead has eight tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps,and overall coverage is nominal. * Maintenance on the MOC network will be performed between 13-14 UT (8-9 AM local) on Monday, Feb 13. * The 13th battery discharge maintenance event is scheduled for Thursday, Feb.16, starting at 14:00 UT. * The next STEREO Annual Assessment is planned for Thursday, Feb 16, 2023, from 8:30-12:00 EST. Week 8 (Feb 20-26) * Ahead has ten tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 03: M Jan 16 (016) Martin Luther King holiday T Jan 17 (017) W Jan 18 (018) T Jan 19 (019) F Jan 20 (020) S Jan 21 (021) S Jan 22 (022) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 04: M Jan 23 (023) T Jan 24 (024) Ahead: Project Interface Test with station 25 W Jan 25 (025) Ahead: Downlink testing with APL 18m station, 18:40-20:00 UT T Jan 26 (026) Ahead: Momentum dump, 15:00 UT F Jan 27 (027) S Jan 28 (028) S Jan 29 (029) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 05: M Jan 30 (030) T Jan 31 (031) W Feb 01 (032) DSN network maintenance, 12:30-20:30 UT T Feb 02 (033) F Feb 03 (034) S Feb 04 (035) S Feb 05 (036) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 06: M Feb 06 (037) MOC network maintenance, 13-14 UT T Feb 07 (038) W Feb 08 (039) T Feb 09 (040) F Feb 10 (041) S Feb 11 (042) S Feb 12 (043) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 07: M Feb 13 (044) MOC network maintenance, 13-14 UT T Feb 14 (045) W Feb 15 (046) T Feb 16 (047) Ahead: Battery maintenance, 14:00 UT F Feb 17 (048) S Feb 18 (049) S Feb 19 (050) Notes: * STEREO Annual Assessment, Thursday, Feb 16, 8:30-12:00 EST, APL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 08: M Feb 20 (051) T Feb 21 (052) W Feb 22 (053) T Feb 23 (054) F Feb 24 (055) S Feb 25 (056) S Feb 26 (057) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2023: * Mar 13-23 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Mar 22-Apr 1 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 7 * Apr 4-17 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 8 * Apr 16 Solar Orbiter Venus occultation * Apr 20-24 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 9 * May 5 Behind: Mercury transit * Jun 17-27 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Jun 27 Solar Orbiter Mercury transit * 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 * Oct 1-10 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 10 * Oct 12-21 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 11 * Oct 23-Nov 1 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 12 * 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