STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2023-05-16 (Week 20) 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 19 (May 8-14) * On day 130 (May 10), the 66th SECCHI stepped calibration roll on Ahead was executed at 1315z for midpoint in the Ahead orbit. This was the 35th SECCHI stepped calibration roll conducted without gyro use. * As of day 134 (May 14), 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 6.4 Gbits during this week. Week 20 (May 15-21) * Ahead has twelve tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * The 156th momentum dump has been rescheduled for Monday, May 15, starting at 21:00 UT. * There is a DSN Madrid complex outage for a PCA maintenance upgrade planned for Wednesday May 17 10:30-14:30 UT, with repeats on Thursday May 18, 10:30-14:30 and Friday May 19 10:30 -14:30. Week 21 (May 22-28) * Ahead has eleven tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * A return to service demo track with Station 43 is scheduled for Thursday, May 25 03:10 - 05:10 UT. There will be no instrument commanding or SSR playback for that track. * Work will be done on the APL commercial power starting at 9:30 UT on Saturday, May 27 (day 147), and ending around 21:00 UT on Sunday, May 28 (day 148). The MOC will be on generator power during this period. Week 22 (May 29-Jun 4) * Ahead has nine tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * APL will be closed on Monday, May 29, for the Memorial Day holiday. Week 23 (Jun 5-11) * Ahead has eight tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * The DSN mission network will be undergoing maintenance between 13:30-20:30 UT (9:30 AM to 4:30 PM, EDT) on Thursday, Jun 8. There are no STEREO passes during this period. Week 24 (Jun 12-18) * Ahead has nine tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * The 157th momentum dump is scheduled for Tuesday, Jun 13, with ignition at 20:00 UT. * The Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass runs from Jun 17-27 (days 168-178). Week 25 (Jun 19-25) * Ahead has ten tracks during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 20: M May 15 (135) Ahead: Momentum dump, 21:00 UT T May 16 (136) W May 17 (137) T May 18 (138) F May 19 (139) S May 20 (140) S May 21 (141) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 21: M May 22 (142) T May 23 (143) W May 24 (144) T May 25 (145) Ahead: Return-to-service track with station 43 F May 26 (146) S May 27 (147) S May 28 (148) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 22: M May 29 (149) Memorial Day T May 30 (150) W May 31 (151) T Jun 01 (152) F Jun 02 (153) S Jun 03 (154) S Jun 04 (155) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 23: M Jun 05 (156) T Jun 06 (157) W Jun 07 (158) T Jun 08 (159) F Jun 09 (160) S Jun 10 (161) S Jun 11 (162) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 24: M Jun 12 (163) T Jun 13 (164) Ahead: Momentum dump, 20:00 UT W Jun 14 (165) T Jun 15 (166) F Jun 16 (167) S Jun 17 (168) Start of Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass S Jun 18 (169) Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Jun 17-27. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 25: M Jun 19 (170) T Jun 20 (171) W Jun 21 (172) T Jun 22 (173) F Jun 23 (174) S Jun 24 (175) S Jun 25 (176) Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Jun 17-27. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 * Nov 13 Solar Orbiter Full Disk Mosaic * Dec 25-Jan 3 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Dec 28 Solar Orbiter off-point for Parker Solar Probe 2024: * Mar 13-24 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 13 * Mar 26-Apr 4 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Mar 27-Apr 9 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 14 * Apr 12-15 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 15 * 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