STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2023-07-18 (Week 29) 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 28 (July 10-16) * On day 191 (Jul 10), during the DSS-63 support for Ahead, the transmitter was declared red due to a hardware problem. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 3.4 hours of real-time commanding and 2-way tracking data. See DR # M116051 for more information. * On day 192 (Jul 11), during the DSS-35 support for Ahead, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 0500z. This anomaly resulted in the loss of four frames of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the support and recovered all the affected data. * On day 197 (Jul 16), the second week of the SECCHI high downlink campaign (HDC) was completed for STEREO-A closest approach to Earth (occurs on Aug 17, 2023). During the HDC, SECCHI will be repeating data collections from 2007 and 2008 for high cadence EUVI, COR1/2, and HI1/2 images. Extra DSN track coverage has been planned for the HDC (Jul 3 - Aug 2, 2023) to increase the daily science data return to 10-11 Gbits per day (normally 5-6 Gbits). * As of day 197 (Jul 16), 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 11.0 Gbits during this week. Week 29 (Jul 17-23) * Ahead has sixteen passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. Adjusted track coverage on Thursday, Jul 20, but maintained sufficient coverage. * The 158th momentum dump was successfully carried out yesterday, Jul 17, with ignition at 19:30 UT. * Additional tracks for SECCHI high downlink campaign (Weeks 27-31) Coverage is still adequate for that. Week 30 (Jul 24-30) * Ahead has fifteen passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * Additional tracks for SECCHI high downlink campaign (Weeks 27-31) Week 31 (Jul 31-Aug 6) * Ahead has thirteen passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * Last week of SECCHI high downlink campaign, ends on Wednesday, Aug 2. * An ESA Malargüe track is scheduled for Monday, Jul 31. * The 14th battery discharge event is scheduled for Thursday, Aug 3, starting at 15:00 UT. Week 32 (Aug 7 - Aug 13) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * Aug 7 will begin slow roll to prepare for closest approach to Earth on Aug 17. The roll will be from Aug 7-21. * Wednesday Aug 9, DSN mission network maintenance 06:30-10:30 UT. We don't have a track during that time, but do have one after that. Week 33 (Aug 14 - Aug 20) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * Aug 17 STEREO-A closest approach to Earth Week 34 (Aug 21-27) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * STEREO Ahead's slow roll ends on Aug 21. Other: * A telescope in Calar Alto, Spain used by the Near Earth Object program has been attempting to find STEREO Behind over the last two weeks as it was thought to pass close by Earth. The estimated limiting magnitude was 22. Some initial "smudges" in the images were considered to be possible marginal detections, but these proved not be consistent with each other. At this point, with Behind presumed to be receding from Earth now, there is little chance of any additional attempts to observe STEREO Behind. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 29: M Jul 17 (198) Ahead: Momentum dump, 19:30 UT T Jul 18 (199) W Jul 19 (200) T Jul 20 (201) F Jul 21 (202) S Jul 22 (203) S Jul 23 (204) Notes: * SECCHI high downlink campaign Jul 3-Aug 2 - Science goals: Coronal outflows, AR at/close to limb, Jul 17-Aug 2 - EUVI (195 @ 2.5-min; 304 @ 10-min; 171/284 @ 2-hr full disk) - COR2 (tB @ 2.5-min w/ 18-sec exp) - HI1 @ 20-min, HI2 @ 2-hr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 30: M Jul 24 (205) T Jul 25 (206) W Jul 26 (207) T Jul 27 (208) F Jul 28 (209) S Jul 29 (210) S Jul 30 (211) Notes: * SECCHI high downlink campaign Jul 3-Aug 2 - Science goals: Coronal outflows, AR at/close to limb, Jul 17-Aug 2 - EUVI (195 @ 2.5-min; 304 @ 10-min; 171/284 @ 2-hr full disk) - COR2 (tB @ 2.5-min w/ 18-sec exp) - HI1 @ 20-min, HI2 @ 2-hr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 31: M Jul 31 (212) T Aug 01 (213) W Aug 02 (214) End of SECCHI high downlink campaign T Aug 03 (215) Ahead: battery discharge maintenance event, 15:00 UT F Aug 04 (216) S Aug 05 (217) S Aug 06 (218) Notes: * SECCHI high downlink campaign Jul 3-Aug 2 - Science goals: Coronal outflows, AR at/close to limb, Jul 17-Aug 2 - EUVI (195 @ 2.5-min; 304 @ 10-min; 171/284 @ 2-hr full disk) - COR2 (tB @ 2.5-min w/ 18-sec exp) - HI1 @ 20-min, HI2 @ 2-hr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 32: M Aug 07 (219) T Aug 08 (220) W Aug 09 (221) T Aug 10 (222) F Aug 11 (223) S Aug 12 (224) S Aug 13 (225) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 33: M Aug 14 (226) T Aug 15 (227) W Aug 16 (228) T Aug 17 (229) Ahead: Closest approach to Earth F Aug 18 (230) S Aug 19 (231) S Aug 20 (232) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 34: M Aug 21 (233) Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby T Aug 22 (234) W Aug 23 (235) T Aug 24 (236) F Aug 25 (237) S Aug 26 (238) S Aug 27 (239) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: 2023: * 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