OPERATIONS
Science Operations
FINAL MINUTES FOR SOHO 21 Nov 2008 SPWG MEETING
1. Boundary conditions
a) Orbit, attitude and manoeuvres
- SOHO will be upside down (180 degrees) as of Tuesday 18 Nov.
- manoeuvres
To the degree possible, manoeuvres take place during the last days of
34-m keyholes. Currently proposed or set manoeuvre dates are:
Feb 10 (TBC) station-keeping & momentum management
Feb 14 (TBC) roll
May 12 (TBC) station-keeping, momentum management, roll
b) Communications with the spacecraft
Graphical DSN schedule: http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/soc/dsn/
Keyhole dates for the next 6 months (All keyhole information is available
at or via http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/soc/keyholes.html):
* Jan 25-Feb 21 26m Keyhole
* Feb 1-14 34m Keyhole
* Apr 28-May 16 26m Keyhole
* May 02-12 34m Keyhole
- End-of-pass handling during MDI continuous contact periods
To avoid problems with transmitter masks at the end of passes during MDI
continuous, DSN has requested we bring the carrier down 30 min before the
end of pass. As a result, the last 30 min of all MDI continuous contacts
will be TM only. For ranging passes, the spacecraft will be transitioned
to record ~1 h before the end of the pass. The station will drop the
carrier and re-sweep into receiver 2. The spacecraft will then be
transitioned back to VC2 and VC3.
- DSN 26 m antenna decommissioning and the keyholes
DSN is in the process of decommissioning its 26 m antennae --- the only
one left is DSS-46. DSS-46 is planned to be decommissioned Aug 1,
2009. Since the current high-gain antenna (HGA) position along the
unmoved axis has been optimized for 26 m antennas, the spacecraft team is
investigating moving the HGA to a position optimized for 34 m
antennae. Such a change would shorten or remove the keyholes, but DSN
resource allocation issues and possible impacts on MDI and MDI/SDO-HMI
cross-calibration period need to be addressed. For analyses and details
see the minutes of Science Working Team meeting number 40 (available at
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/operations/SWT/Minutes/swt40.pdf, pages
38--41).
c) KNOWN submode (SM) dependent activities/submode changes:
* TOO JOP153/MMOP003 Future Major Flare Watch (SM5 if SUMER
observes target, SM6 otherwise)
* Jan 15,22 EIT Shutterless #34 (SM6)
* Apr 16,23 EIT Shutterless #35 (SM6)
* Apr 2-week SUMER campaign (TBD; SM5)
SUMER campaign dates may overlap with keyholes. Such overlaps shall be
scheduled only if periods of no SUMER data between passes are acceptable.
Potential conflict between the EIT shutterless #35 and the planned Apr
2009 SUMER campaign.
Except for Major Flare Watches, TRACE will be doing full disk mosaics
if/when EIT is not able to do synoptic sets due to keyhole operations.
d) Instrument maintenance activities
EIT bake-out periods will be during keyholes.
e) Spacecraft maintenance activities
A proposal to reduce PLM heaters on the upper panels has been
prepared. The complete proposal can be found at
http://zeus.nascom.nasa.gov/~bfleck/SOHO/PLM-heaters-reduction_2008-Nov-10.pdf.
The reduction is aimed at cooling the FPSS (the temperature of which is
above its qualification level) and based on a review of all PLM
temperatures (both TRP and instrument internal temperatures). In addition
it will also decrease the power consumption.
The heating reduction is limited to 15.7 W. In the past PLM heaters were
reduced by steps as big as 20 W (when OSR and FPSS heaters were switched
OFF in October 1998). According to the "rule of thumb" (PLM temperature
change of 0.07 K/W) the whole PLM temperature would decrease by less than
1.1 K. The thermal effects will be seen within 12 h of the heating
reduction.
With the seasonal warming, we suggest to do such a change in December
this year so as to reduce the FPSS peak temperature expected for January
4 2009 (perihelion).
f) Others
TRACE eclipse season began on 13 Sep 2008.
Daytime weekday passes of Mon-Wed are currently automated but
attended. Thu-Fri passes remain crewed for training and proficiency
reasons. Date of transition to unattended daytime automation remains TBD.
NRT during automated passes (both weekend and weekday) is currently
paused (briefly) regularly for resets of software anomalies. NRT schedule
(which includes the pauses) for all automated passes can be found at
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/soc/nighttime_nrt.txt.
FOT is currently developing and testing a software anomaly detection
system, which would pause NRT only when needed instead of the current
regular pauses. Due to problems in development the approach of regular
pauses remains the operational approach until TBD time.
2. Priorities for the coming month and more
a) Joint observing plans and campaigns
Continuing campaigns:
* 2002/02/25-- JOP136 Default RHESSI Collaborations (#6850),
POC: Tero Siili
* 2003/05/13-- Default CDS Co-observations with TRACE (#6950)
* 2005/09/20-- JOP153/MMOP003 Future Major Flare Watch (#8008)
* 2007/03/20-- Default CDS/Hinode-EIS co-observations (#7200)
Campaign #6850 is for "individual instrument studies" selecting an active
region target [partially] influenced by the Max Millennium target
selection to maximise chances of serendipitous co-observations.
EIT supports all with half/full-res 195 A CME watch in submode 5/6. It is
clear that STEREO-EUVI provides adequate "context" information for RHESSI
flare observations. Routine EIT submode and resolution switches are
probably no longer needed.
* Dec 12-15 MDI Continuous Contact
Note "End-of-pass handling during MDI continuous contact periods" in
section 1b.
Standard full disk, 1-min cadence magnetograms and dopplergrams.
* Jan 15, 22 EIT shutterless #34, EIT/CDS/MDI/TRACE/STEREO,
POC: Susanna Parenti
DSN passes (and hence exact times) still TBC.
MDI will support with full disk, 1-min cadence magnetograms and
dopplergrams.
* Jan 15-19 MDI Continuous Contact
Note "End-of-pass handling during MDI continuous contact periods" in
section 1b.
* Jan 23 HERSCHEL sounding rocket launch, LASCO/UVCS/TRACE
Timing TBC. The HERSCHEL teams has requested 23 Jan 2009 at local solar
noon as the launch time. Any day that week from the 20th to the 23rd is
free from science and programmatic objections. HERSCHEL launch has to
wait until January due to unexpected number of higher-priority missions
from White Sands Missile Range. Current consensus is that HERSCHEL will
get its first choice on the week of Jan 19.
LASCO will support with (3) polarized image sets in 60, 0, and -60
degrees at launch time.
* Mar 25-30 MDI Continuous Contact (TBC)
Note "End-of-pass handling during MDI continuous contact periods" in
section 1b.
* Apr 16, 23 EIT shutterless #35, EIT/CDS/MDI/TRACE/STEREO,
POC: Susanna Parenti
DSN passes (and hence exact times) still TBC.
MDI will support with full disk, 1-min cadence magnetograms and
dopplergrams.
* Apr 2-week SUMER Campaign, TBC
Timing remains TBC, since negotiations with Hinode Chief Observers (COs)
have not been finished yet. Most of Hinode COs meet in National
Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on the week beginning Nov 17 and
decisions on this campaign are expected to be made then.
SUMER also inquires about any flexibility on the dates of shutterless
#35.
CDS requests to be included on the mailings concerning these forthcoming
JOPs.
* Apr TBD JOP 210 Checking the possible drives of solar wind origin
in the coronal hole,
SUMER/Hinode-EIS/Hinode-SOT/Hinode-XRT (all TBC),
POC: Hui Tian.
Timing TBD.
* Apr TBD JOP 211 How does the solar wind originate from the
quiet-Sun region,
SUMER/Hinode-EIS/Hinode-SOT/Hinode-XRT (all TBC),
POC: Hui Tian.
Timing TBD.
* Apr TBD JOP 212 Connection between UV explosive event and
magnetic cancellation,
SUMER/Hinode-EIS/Hinode-SOT/Hinode-XRT,
POC: Hui Tian.
Timing TBD.
* Apr TBD JOP 214 Quiescent prominence structure and dynamics with Hinode and
La Palma,
SUMER/UVCS/Hinode-EIS/Hinode-SOT/Hinode-XRT/STEREO/TRACE,
TBC.
POC: Tom Berger
TRACE has not received any requests from JOP 214 & awaits date and
program information.
CDS requests to be added to the mailing list to receive pointing
coordinates for all JOPs.
* May 17-Jul 21 MDI 60-day continuous contact
Timing TBC. The continuous contact period will be a 60-day period within
the dates listed above.
* Jun 1 - Jul 5 Sunrise 5-day balloon flight
In June or July 2009 a balloon borne solar observatory called 'Sunrise'
is planned to be launched and SoHO (at least MDI and SUMER) as well as
TRACE supports have been requested. The launch date will be sometime
between Jun 1 and Jul 5, 2009 and the flight lasts 5 days. Coordinated
observations with SoHO would therefore be for five days sometime between
1 June to 10 July 2009.
A short description of SUNRISE is given in
http://star.mpae.gwdg.de/Sunrise/project/publicat/SPIE_2004.pdf
b) Intercalibration activities
Last ICAL was: Nov 04
ICALs are normally performed monthly. Below is a SOC proposal for ICAL
weeks for the next six months. Baseline will be to schedule it for
Thursday during contact.
* Dec 1-5 ICAL01 (#7113), CDS/EIT/STEREO/Hinode-EIS(TBD)
* Jan 5-9 ICAL01 (#7113), CDS/EIT/STEREO/Hinode-EIS(TBD)
* Jan 26-30 ICAL01 (#7113), CDS/EIT/STEREO/Hinode-EIS(TBD)
NOTE: 26-m keyhole begins on Jan 26 and 34-m keyhole
begins on Feb 1. ICAL might still be possible during this
period.
* Mar 2-6 ICAL01 (#7113), CDS/EIT/STEREO/Hinode-EIS(TBD)
* Apr 6-10 ICAL01 (#7113), CDS/EIT/STEREO/Hinode-EIS(TBD)
* May 11-22 ICAL01 (#7113), CDS/EIT/STEREO/Hinode-EIS(TBD)
Proposed compiled ICAL scheduling criteria, constraints and guidelines
(see also campaign #7113):
1) EIT/CDS are the primary participating instruments
2) STEREO-EUVI observations are included when possible. ICALs are
attempted to be scheduled not to coincide with STEREO manoeuvres or
other interruptions in observations (see
http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/plans.shtml).
3) EIT: ICALs OK at all other times except the weeks of shutterless
4) Dates, details and confirmation will be determined by the planners
with support from the SOHO SOCs.
5) Neither Hinode-SOT nor Hinode-XRT have current interest in
participating in ICALs. Hinode-EIT will from time-to-time perform its
sensitivity calibration exercise, but has no need to perform this
regularly as part of the SOHO ICAL. When it is convenient for
Hinode-EIS (given Hinode's constraints), SOHO will be informed ahead
of time of when the sensitivity calibration is to be performed. It
will then be up to SOHO whether to follow Hinode-EIS' pointing and
timing.
CDS ok. If Hinode-EIS can suggest convenient date & time, CDS can usually
accommodate.
c) Individual instrument plans
MDI:
See section 2a for MDI continuous contact periods.
MDI may reduce the ALT cadence during Keyholes to be less than 15 ALT
magnetograms per day if the lack of high rate telemetry is such that we
will lose all or almost all of the 15 ALT Magnetograms each day. The ALT
cadence will be decided on an individual Keyhole basis and even a daily
basis during each Keyhole depending on the 70 m antenna availability at
the time. MDI may also down-link select magnetograms in the 5 kbps
telemetry if no 70 m passes are available at least every 2 days for Mag
dump in the 160 kbps telemetry.
All requests for MDI support need to be made several months ahead of time
and sent to mdi-ops(at)mdisas.nascom.nasa.gov. Even outside keyholes,
MDI can only do 1-minute cadence observations when we have contact and
there is no recorder dump in progress.
MDI's REQUEST page is at http://mdisas.nascom.nasa.gov/coordination.txt
NOTE: Listing of a study on that page means *only* that a request has
been received, not that it will necessarily be supported.
A description of MDI Observing Modes most used for JOPs and campaigns (FD
vs. HR) can be found at http://mdisas.nascom.nasa.gov/Collaborate.
Anyone requesting MDI observations is encouraged to read this page in
order to have a better idea of what observing modes would be best suited
for a particular study. More detailed information about how MDI
operates, observational constraints and telemetry information can be
found at http://mdisas.nascom.nasa.gov/MDI_Collaboration_Details.
MDI has switched to Focus 5 (best focus for full-disk observing) on Oct
23, 2008.
MDI will do Full Disk Velocity observations for March and September 2009.
UVCS:
For weekly plans, see the SOHO calendar and the UVCS planning page:
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/uvcs/observations/obst.html.
CDS:
For details see http://solar.bnsc.rl.ac.uk/scientificops/request.shtml.
EIT/LASCO:
EIT: 195 A CME watch plus synoptics at 6-hour cadence, as usual. Full-res
CME watch whenever we're in submode 6. Hope never to change until the
Bogart mission.
SUMER:
See section 2a for details.
There are tentative plans for another SUMER-Hinode campaign in April
2009. To be coordinated with Hinode instrument teams. SUMER will also
observe during the Sunrise balloon flight.
TRACE:
NOTE that TRACE in general reserves the right to withdraw support from
agreed, existing collaborations if a sufficiently "good active region" is
called by the Max Millennium group.
For TRACE summer eclipse season see section 1f.
3. Any other business
* Tentative SPWG meeting times for next six months (only the next one will be decided in this meeting). Meetings take place as a baseline on Fridays after the daily and weekly meetings. Dec 19 Jan 23 Feb 20 Mar 27 Apr 24 May 29 The rest are FYI items: * In the future SOHO's DSN contacts will grow shorter as we lose 26-m antenna support and other, new missions get higher priority. The instrument teams are therefore requested to look at the NRT commanding that is done (especially for emergencies and recoveries) and see what can be converted into TSTOLs that the FOT can run (even without explicit instrument or SOC direction). * MDI high-rate support requests: no change, see URL http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/operations/SPWG/spwg-20080118.html * DSN support requests: preferably at least 6 months in advance. Keep this in mind for: ground-based collaborations that require MDI support, stellar/shutterless observations that require NRT, etc. * Future Mercury and Venus transits: no change, see URL http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/operations/SPWG/spwg-20080118.html * Hinode operational and planning information and guidelines: no change, see URL http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/operations/SPWG/spwg-20080118.html and http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/soc/JOPs/jop-submit.html * STEREO operational and planning information: no change, see URL http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/operations/SPWG/spwg-20080118.html * The SOHO JOP/ICAL database and the web pages are now the Solar JOP/ICAL database and web pages. This is due to anticipated increased contributions by and collaborations as well as intercalibrations with STEREO and Hinode. * New JOP vs. modified existing JOP rules-of-thumb: no change, see URL http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/operations/SPWG/spwg-20080118.html * SOHO calendar email notifications: no change, see URL http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/operations/SPWG/spwg-20080118.html
