STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2023-10-17 (Week 42) 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 41 (Oct 9-15) * On day 287 (Oct 14), the SECCHI instrument reset at 19:59:08z. The SECCHI team reconfigured the instrument to operational mode by 288-0243z. This was the 77th reset of the SECCHI instrument on the Ahead observatory. * As of day 288 (Oct 15), all PLASTIC systems 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. * The PLASTIC team has made available to the SSC up-to-date preliminary science data to be used to improve the daily summary plots. Improved plots will appear with a delay of 1-2 days. Week 42 (Oct 16-22) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. An ESA Malague pass originally scheduled for Wednesday, Oct 18 was deleted when time became available on station 63. * The 161st momentum dump is scheduled for Friday, Oct 20, with ignition at 21:00 UT. Week 43 (Oct 23-29) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 12 runs from Oct 23 to Nov 1, days 296-305. * Time has been allocated for PLASTIC commanding on Tuesday, Oct 24 to increase their MCP voltage, with additional time on Wednesday, Oct 25 as a backup. * Late Wednesday, Oct 25 (or early Thursday UTC) is the 17th STEREO launch anniversay. Week 44 (Oct 30-Nov 5) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * The 68th SECCHI stepped calibration roll is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov 1, starting at 13:55 UT. This is the midpoint roll. * Sunday, Nov 5, is the end of daylight savings time in the US. Week 45 (Nov 6-12) * Ahead has nine passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * Friday, Nov 10, is Veterans Day, which is an APL holiday. Week 46 (Nov 13-19) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * Solar Orbiter is performing a full disk mosaic on Monday, Nov 13. * Network maintenance is planned on Monday, Nov 13, and Wednesday, Nov 15, between 07:15-13:00 UT each day. Both periods are outside of passes. Week 47 (Nov 20-26) * Ahead has nine passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * Thursday, Nov 23, is Thanksgiving. APL will be closed on both the Thursday and Friday. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 42: M Oct 16 (289) T Oct 17 (290) W Oct 18 (291) T Oct 19 (292) F Oct 20 (293) Ahead: Momentum dump, 21:00 UT S Oct 21 (294) End of Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 11 S Oct 22 (295) Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 11, Oct 12-21. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 43: M Oct 23 (296) Start of Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 12 T Oct 24 (297) W Oct 25 (298) T Oct 26 (299) 17th STEREO launch anniversary F Oct 27 (300) S Oct 28 (301) S Oct 29 (302) Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 12, Oct 23-Nov 1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 44: M Oct 30 (303) T Oct 31 (304) W Nov 01 (305) SECCHI stepped calibration roll, 13:55 UT End of Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 12 T Nov 02 (306) F Nov 03 (307) S Nov 04 (308) S Nov 05 (309) End of daylight savings time in US Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 12, Oct 23-Nov 1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 45: M Nov 06 (310) T Nov 07 (311) W Nov 08 (312) T Nov 09 (313) F Nov 10 (314) Veteran's Day Holiday S Nov 11 (315) S Nov 12 (316) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 46: M Nov 13 (317) Solar Orbiter Full Disk Mosaic T Nov 14 (318) W Nov 15 (319) T Nov 16 (320) F Nov 17 (321) S Nov 18 (322) S Nov 19 (323) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 47: M Nov 20 (324) T Nov 21 (325) W Nov 22 (326) T Nov 23 (327) Thanksgiving F Nov 24 (328) S Nov 25 (329) S Nov 26 (330) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: 2023: * 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