STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2023-10-31 (Week 44) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * The STEREO Science Center is now receiving beacon telemetry from a NOAA station in Fairbanks, Alaska. This should help close some coverage gaps with the realtime beacon data. Additional beacon telemetry from the NOAA station at Wallops is expected soon. 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 43 (Oct 23-29) * On day 297 (Oct 24), during the DSS-43 support, the uplink and downlink were lost between 2013z and 2023z due to an antenna azimuth brake issue. This anomaly resulted in the loss of ten minutes of real-time telemetry, commanding, 2-way tracking, and SSR data. After the uplink was reestablished, the MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers and recovered all of the affected data. See DR #C117523 for more information. * On day 302 (Oct 29), during the DSS-25 support, the antenna was declared red due to a hardware problem. This anomaly resulted in the loss of two hours of real-time telemetry, commanding, tracking and SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the subsequent DSS-53 track and recovered all the affected data. See DR #G124066 for more information. * On day 297 (Oct 24), the PLASTIC team conducted real-time commanding to increase the MCP voltage level. * As of day 302 (Oct 29), 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 6.6 Gbits during this week. 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 12:55 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 Thursday and Friday. Week 48 (Nov 27-Dec 3) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. An ESA Cebreros pass is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov 29. * The 162nd momentum dump is scheduled for Thursday, Nov 30, with ignition at 19:00 UT. Week 49 (Dec 4-10) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 44: M Oct 30 (303) T Oct 31 (304) W Nov 01 (305) SECCHI stepped calibration roll, 12:55 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) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 48: M Nov 27 (331) T Nov 28 (332) W Nov 29 (333) T Nov 30 (334) Ahead: Momentum dump, 19:00 UT F Dec 01 (335) S Dec 02 (336) S Dec 03 (337) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 49: M Dec 04 (338) T Dec 05 (339) W Dec 06 (340) T Dec 07 (341) F Dec 08 (342) S Dec 09 (343) S Dec 10 (344) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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