STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2023-04-11 (Week 15) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * None 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 14 (Apr 3-9) * On day 095 (Apr 5), during the DSS-55 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 2249z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 14 frames of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the subsequent DSS-63 track and recovered all the affected data. * On day 098 (Apr 8), during the DSS-56 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 1843z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 21 frames of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the subsequent DSS-36 track and recovered all the affected data. * As of day 099 (Apr 9), 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 6.3 Gbits during this week. Week 15 (Apr 10-16) * Ahead has ten tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * The 155th momentum dump on Ahead is scheduled for tomorrow, Apr 12, with ignition at 20:00 UT. * DSN maintenance is planned for Wednesday, Apr 12, between 20-24 UT. * Solar Orbiter will observe an occultation of Venus by the Sun on Sunday, Apr 16. Week 16 (Apr 17-23) * Ahead has nine tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * DSN maintenance is planned for Wednesday, Apr 19, between 20-24 UT. * The Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window #9 starts on Thursday, Apr 20, and runs through April 24 (DOY 110-114). Week 17 (Apr 24-30) * Ahead has eight tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. A track on Thursday was deleted to help the Lunar Flashlight mission. * DSN mission network maintenance will be performed at the MOC starting on Wednesday April 26 22:45 UT - April 27 at 02:45 UT. Week 18 (May 1-7) * Ahead has nine tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. An ESA New Norcia track is scheduled for Saturday, May 6. Week 19 (May 8-14) * Ahead has ten tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. An ESA Cebreros pass is scheduled for Tuesday, May 9. * The 66th SECCHI stepped calibration roll is scheduled for Wednesday, May 10, starting at 13:15 UT Week 20 (May 15-21) * Ahead has eleven tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * The 156th momentum dump is scheduled for Tuesday, May 16, starting at 15:00 UT. Other * The SECCHI high telemetry campaign is now completely scheduled, ranging over 4.5 weeks between Jul 3-Aug 2. Thanks go to Brandon Sauls for making this happen. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 15: M Apr 10 (100) T Apr 11 (101) W Apr 12 (102) Ahead: Momentum dump, 20 UT. T Apr 13 (103) F Apr 14 (104) S Apr 15 (105) S Apr 16 (106) Solar Orbiter Venus occultation Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 8, Apr 4-17 * Time change for momentum dump ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 16: M Apr 17 (107) End of Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 8 T Apr 18 (108) W Apr 19 (109) T Apr 20 (110) Start of Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 9 F Apr 21 (111) S Apr 22 (112) S Apr 23 (113) Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 8, Apr 4-17 * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 9, Apr 20-24 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 17: M Apr 24 (114) End of Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 9 T Apr 25 (115) W Apr 26 (116) T Apr 27 (117) F Apr 28 (118) S Apr 29 (119) S Apr 30 (120) Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 9, Apr 20-24 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 18: M May 01 (121) T May 02 (122) W May 03 (123) T May 04 (124) F May 05 (125) S May 06 (126) S May 07 (127) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 19: M May 08 (128) T May 09 (129) W May 10 (130) Ahead: SECCHI stepped calibration roll, 13:15 UT T May 11 (131) F May 12 (132) S May 13 (133) S May 14 (134) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 20: M May 15 (135) T May 16 (136) W May 17 (137) T May 18 (138) F May 19 (139) S May 20 (140) S May 21 (141) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: 2023: * Jun 17-27 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Jun 27 Solar Orbiter Mercury transit * Jul 2 Behind: Closest approach to Earth * Jul 3-Aug 2 Ahead: SECCHI high telemetry campaign * Aug 17 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 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