STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2019-01-08 (Week 2) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- * None. INSTRUMENT and SPACECRAFT STATUS -------------------------------- * Ahead is operating nominally. * 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 1 (Dec 31-Jan 6) * On day 004 (Jan 4), the fourth acceptance test of the CCSDS SLE bluebook version 4 software update between the Ahead MOC with ESA using New Norcia (DSS-74) was conducted. While SLE telemetry binds were successful, commanding was not attempted due to an issue with the candidate ground software release. This issue was resolved later that day. One additional test with ESA will be requested for ground software validation. * The average daily science data return for Ahead was 5.8 Gbits during this week. Week 2 (Jan 7-13) * The fifth SLE test with the DSN is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan 9. This is anticipated to be the last test with the DSN. * Ahead has nine passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, and one at 240 kbps. Week 3 (Jan 14-20) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are nine passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, and one at 240 kbps. Week 4 (Jan 21-27) * The Martin Luther King federal holiday occurs on Monday, Jan 21. This is not a holiday at APL. * Ahead has 11 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, one at 360 kbps, and two at 240 kbps. Week 5 (Jan 28-Feb 3) * The 116th momentum dump on Ahead is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan 30, with ignition at 21:00 UT. This is the 35th dump without using the gyros. * Ahead has 9 passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are six passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, and one at 240 kbps. Week 6 (Feb 4-10) * Ahead has twelve passes during the week, and overall coverage is nominal. There are eight passes at 720 kbps, two at 360 kbps, and two at 160 kbps. Week 7 (Feb 11-17) * The 46th SECCHI stepped calibration roll is scheduled for Monday, Feb 11, with ignition at 10:15 UT. This is the midpoint roll. * Ahead has nine passes during the week, all at 720 kbps, and overall coverage is nominal. Other * APL continues to operate during the government shutdown. However, they have only limited insight into instrument health. All the instrument teams report that they continue to operate. * There was some confusion with the weekly minutes distributed last week. The first version was actually the correct one, and can be found at https://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/minutes/ * The DSN reports that the transmitter masks for the Madrid station have been updated. Planning confirms that they are now working with the updated masks. * The MOC is targeting the end of February for implementing the new SLE version. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 02: M Jan 07 (007) T Jan 08 (008) W Jan 09 (009) T Jan 10 (010) F Jan 11 (011) S Jan 12 (012) S Jan 13 (013) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 03: M Jan 14 (014) T Jan 15 (015) W Jan 16 (016) T Jan 17 (017) F Jan 18 (018) S Jan 19 (019) S Jan 20 (020) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 04: M Jan 21 (021) Martin Luther King day T Jan 22 (022) W Jan 23 (023) T Jan 24 (024) F Jan 25 (025) S Jan 26 (026) S Jan 27 (027) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 05: M Jan 28 (028) T Jan 29 (029) W Jan 30 (030) Ahead: Momentum dump, 21:00 UT T Jan 31 (031) F Feb 01 (032) S Feb 02 (033) S Feb 03 (034) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 06: M Feb 04 (035) T Feb 05 (036) W Feb 06 (037) T Feb 07 (038) F Feb 08 (039) S Feb 09 (040) S Feb 10 (041) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scheduled activities for Week 07: M Feb 11 (042) Ahead: SECCHI stepped calibration roll, 10:15 UT T Feb 12 (043) W Feb 13 (044) T Feb 14 (045) F Feb 15 (046) S Feb 16 (047) S Feb 17 (048) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming events: Behind events are contingent on recovering the spacecraft. 2019: * Mar Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 240 kbps for 34 meter * Mar 31-Apr 10 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Apr Behind: Switch downlink rate to 240 kbps for 34 meter * Aug 28-Sep 7 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Nov 4 Ahead: Close approach of Parker Solar Probe * Dec 26 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby 2020: * Jan 24-Feb 4 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * May Behind: Switch downlink rate to 360 kbps for 34 meter * Jun Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 360 kbps for 34 meter * Jun Behind: Switch downlink rate to 480 kbps for 34 meter * Jun 2-13 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Jul 11 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby, in HI2-A field-of-view * Sep Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 480 kbps for 34 meter * Sep 22-Oct 2 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2021: * Jan 13-23 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Feb 20 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby * Apr 25-May 4 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Jul Behind: Switch downlink rate to 720 kbps for 34 meter * Aug Ahead: Switch downlink rate to 720 kbps for 34 meter * Aug 5-15 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Oct 16 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby * Nov 17-26 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2022: * Feb 21-Mar 2 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * May 28-Jun 7 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Sep 2-11 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Dec 7-16 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2023: * Mar 13-23 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * May 5 Behind: Mercury transit * Jun 17-27 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Jul 17 Behind: Closest approach to Earth * Aug 13 Ahead: Closest approach to Earth * Aug 21 Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby * Sep 23-Oct 3 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Dec 25-Jan 3 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2024: * Mar 26-Apr 4 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * 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: * Mar 19-27 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass * Apr 7 Ahead: Mercury transit * Jun 15-24 Parker Solar Probe perihelion pass 2026: 2027: * Feb 1 Behind: Mercury transit 2028: 2029: * Jun 30 Ahead: Mercury transit