STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2023-11-21 (Week 47) 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 46 (Nov 13-19) * On day 317 (Nov 13), DSN conducted a Mission Network maintenance from 0715z through 1300z. After the maintenance, the MOPs team verified the SLE telemetry and command connectivity with DSN. * On day 319 (Nov 15), during the DSS-53 support, the IDR telemetry data file transfer failed for the last two VC6 and VC7 files at 0700z. This failure likely was related to the DSN Network maintenance that started at 0715z. The MOPs team manually FTP’d the IDR telemetry files and reprocessed the level-0 data for day 319 to recover all the affected data. * On day 319 (Nov 15), DSN conducted a Mission Network maintenance from 0715z through 1300z. After the maintenance, the MOPs team verified the SLE telemetry and command connectivity with DSN. * As of day 323 (Nov 19), 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 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. Week 50 (Dec 11-17) * Ahead has nine passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. Week 51 (Dec 18-24) * Ahead has ten passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. Week 52 (Dec 25-31) * APL will be closed for Christmas on Monday, Dec 25. * There will be no telecon during the week, due to the holidays. * Parker Solar Probe's perihelion pass runs from Dec 25-Jan 3. * Solar Orbiter will offpoint for Parker Probe on Dec 28. Other * The STEREO Science Center requested information on expected telemetry changes as the Ahead spacecraft recedes from Earth. * The STEREO Annual Assessment is planned for next February. Rather than hold a meeting, the plan is for the system and instrument teams to prepare the usual powerpoint presentations which will then be posted for comments. Dan Wilson will summarize the high points from the presentations. If enough questions arise, a meeting may be scheduled. The MOC also pointed out that they do daily tracking. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 50: M Dec 11 (345) T Dec 12 (346) W Dec 13 (347) T Dec 14 (348) F Dec 15 (349) S Dec 16 (350) S Dec 17 (351) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 51: M Dec 18 (352) T Dec 19 (353) W Dec 20 (354) T Dec 21 (355) F Dec 22 (356) S Dec 23 (357) S Dec 24 (358) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 52: M Dec 25 (359) Start of Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass T Dec 26 (360) W Dec 27 (361) T Dec 28 (362) Solar Orbiter off-point for Parker Solar Probe F Dec 29 (363) S Dec 30 (364) S Dec 31 (365) Notes: * Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass, Dec 25-Jan 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: 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