STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2026-03-31 (Week 14) 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 13 (Mar 23-29) * On day 082 (Mar 23), during the DSS-54 support, turbo decoder lock was lost briefly at 05:14 UT, due to an uplink problem caused by the selection of the incorrect uplink ACQ template. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 35 frames of SSR data. The MOPs team repositioned the SSR pointers during the support and recovered all the affected data. See DR #M118951 for more information. * On day 082 (Mar 23), during the DSS-74 (ESA New Norcia) support, real-time commanding was not available in the MOC, due to a DSN network misconfiguration preventing the SLE command bind. This anomaly resulted in the loss of 1.9 hours of real-time commanding. * On day 083 (Mar 24), the 184th momentum dump was executed successfully at 14:00 UT, which imparted an estimated delta V of 0.067 m/sec. This was the 103rd momentum dump conducted without gyro use. After thruster operations completed, there was a 1.2 degree of roll angle error. Fine pointing stabilized 2.3 minutes after completion of the momentum dump. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 6.7 Gbits during this week. Week 14 (Mar 30 - Apr 5) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, four at 720 kbps, and eight at 480 kbps. Overall coverage is nominal. The schedule for this week was modified to accommodate changes in DSN availability due to the planned Artmeis II launch. * The Artemis II launch opportunity window opens on Wednesday, April 1st, and closes Friday, April 11th. * There will be a MOC firewall upgrade on Wednesday, April 1st, from 11:00-15:00 UT. Week 15 (Apr 6-12) * Ahead has fifteen passes during the week, one at 720 kbps, and fourteen at 480 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. The schedule for this week was modified to accommodate changes in DSN availability due to the planned Artmeis II launch. * An ESA Cebreros track is scheduled for Wednesday, April 8th, from 04:30 to 05:25 UT. * An ESA Malargue track is scheduled for Wednesday, April 8th, from 07:05 to 09:10 UT. * An ESA Malargue track is scheduled for Thursday, April 9th, from 14:45 to 18:45 UT. Week 16 (Apr 13-19) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, four at 720 kbps and seven at 480 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * There is a DSN mission network maintenance scheduled for Wednesday, April 15th, from 10:30-14:30 UT. Week 17 (Apr 20-26) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, one at 720 kbps and eleven at 480 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * An ESA Malargue track is scheduled for Monday, April 20th, from 15:00 to 18:00 UT. Week 18 (Apr 27 - May 3) * Ahead has eleven passes during the week, one at 720 kbps and ten at 480 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. Week 19 (May 4-10) * Ahead has thirteen passes during the week, three at 720 kbps and ten at 480 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. * The 2nd DSN Emergency Control Center (ECC) test track will be conducted on Tuesday, May 5th, from 19:15-21:15 UT. There will be no SSR playback or instrument commanding during this track. * The 185th momentum dump is scheduled for Wednesday, May 6th, at 13:30 UT. Other COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 14: M Mar 30 (089) T Mar 31 (090) W Apr 01 (091) Artemis II launch window begins T Apr 02 (092) C/2026 MAPS campaign ends F Apr 03 (093) S Apr 04 (094) S Apr 05 (095) Notes: * Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 27, Mar 29-Apr 3 * Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) observing campaign: - HI-1 20 min. cadence, no HI-1 beacon images, Mar 29 - Apr 2 * Artemis II launch window, Apr 1-10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 15: M Apr 06 (096) T Apr 07 (097) W Apr 08 (098) T Apr 09 (099) F Apr 10 (100) Artemis II launch window ends S Apr 11 (101) S Apr 12 (102) Notes: * Artemis II launch window, Apr 1-10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 16: M Apr 13 (103) T Apr 14 (104) W Apr 15 (105) T Apr 16 (106) F Apr 17 (107) S Apr 18 (108) S Apr 19 (109) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 17: M Apr 20 (110) T Apr 21 (111) W Apr 22 (112) T Apr 23 (113) F Apr 24 (114) S Apr 25 (115) S Apr 26 (116) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 18: M Apr 27 (117) T Apr 28 (118) W Apr 29 (119) T Apr 30 (120) F May 01 (121) S May 02 (122) S May 03 (123) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 19: M May 04 (124) T May 05 (125) W May 06 (126) Ahead: Momentum dump, 13:30 UT T May 07 (127) F May 08 (128) S May 09 (129) S May 10 (130) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: 2026: * Jun 4-12 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Aug 4-14 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 28 * Aug 15-25 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 29 * Sep 1-9 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Sep 11-21 Solar Orbiter Remote Sensing Window 30 * Nov 28-Dec 6 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Dec 24 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby 2027: * Feb 25-Mar 4 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Feb 8 Solar Orbiter Perihelion * May 24-31 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * July 7 Solar Orbiter Perihelion * Aug 21-28 Parer Solar Probe perihelion pass * Nov 17-24 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Dec 4 Solar Orbiter Perihelion 2028: * Feb 14-21 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Mar 18 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby * May 8 Solar Orbiter Perihelion * May 12-19 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Aug 8-15 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Oct 5 Solar Orbiter Perihelion * Nov 5-12 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2029: * Jun 10 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby * Jun 30 Ahead: Mercury transit 2030: * Sep 3 Solar Orbiter Venus flyby ######################################################################## Access the STEREO-SCI-OPS Home Page and Archives: http://listserv.jhuapl.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A0=STEREO-SCI-OPS Unsubscribe from the STEREO-SCI-OPS List: http://listserv.jhuapl.edu/scripts/wa.exe?TICKET=NzM5NjAzIHNoYWVsYS5pLmpvbmVzbWVjaG9sc2t5QE5BU0EuR09WIFNURVJFTy1TQ0ktT1BTIGvQ3MCEIhMC&c=SIGNOFF ########################################################################