POLAR Telecon Agenda for
Agenda:
0. Upcoming Polar Telecon
1. Budget news
2. Operations:
Tape Recorder Failure
GTM Anomaly
Sun Angle Maneuver
3. MFE Data Processing Status
4. Polar Science Workshop 2005
5. Polar/
0. Upcoming Polar Telecons
Today:
PIs and their designated representatives will be telephoned at their usual numbers.
Other participants may call in at: 1-888-793-1765, password POLAR TELECON
(Leader: John Sigwarth)
The web site for the final agenda will be:
http://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/polar/telecons/2005Jan28/
Future Polar Telecon
Future Telecon Science Discussion Schedule
[Errors/omissions/preferences to: nicola.fox@jhuapl.edu
Mar 2005: EFI
Apr 2005: TIMAS
May 2005: HYDRA
June 2005: MFE
July 2005: CEPPAD
Aug 2005: TIDE
Sep 2005: PIXIE
Oct 2005: SEPS
Nov 2005: UVI
Dec 2005: MDI
Jan 2006: CAMMICE
Feb 2006:
1. Budget news
NASA headquarters has not as yet provided instruction on the question of Polar funding needed for operations in FY2006. NASA headquarters is aware of the problem and they are working it. As soon as the Polar project receives instruction, we will pass on the information.
A reminder to those teams on grants. Please send in your final reports for the current grant and the proposal for the new grant about 2 months before your end date. Many of the teams with early renewal dates have received their new grants. For the remaining teams that have already submitted their documents, your proposals are being put through the procurement system.
2. Operations
If you have any concerns about Polar operations, please contact Nicky Fox (nicola.fox@jhuapl.edu)
Polar Tape Recorder Failure
Polar experienced a digital tape recorder (DTR ) anomaly on DOY 352 (
An anomaly review team (ART) was convened to discuss the events and how to proceed with operations with only one DTR. A similar anomaly occurred on WIND on 12/13/97 where DTR 2 failed. The ART looked at the operational areas of load activities, scheduling, and automation activities. Load activities consisting of single DTR operations have been developed. The DT record activity has been altered so that it can playback and then go into record mode before the end of a scheduled support. Single DTR operations have been conducted since the anomaly. The capacity of a single DTR is about 6.5 hours.
A "best effort" attempt to get all the data was made throughout the holidays as the DSN schedule was locked down. All loads for Polar have been rebuilt with the single DTR activities.
The FOT are routinely producing a gap report which highlights the data loss possibilities for each week. They are actively working to fill the gaps in order to minimize the data loss. When it is not possible to change the playback and real-time schedule, the current science operations plan is to ensure that apogee and inbound pass are recorded. This will continue through the next few months until the science focus switches to the Fast and THEMIS ground-based coordinated campaign. At this time we will be ensuring the perigee data are not lost. Data capture for the last few weeks has averaged between
80% to 90%.
GTM Anomaly
There was a GTM anomaly at 021:04:00:20, toward the end of the unattended contact at 021:03:30-04:20. Recovery occurred on the next contact at 021:16:00-17:00. This is the eleventh GTM upset since November 10, 2003 - all on GTM 2 - and the fifteenth since launch.
Sun Angle Maneuver
The Polar spacecraft maneuver occurred on January 19, 2005. The spurious nutation of the spacecraft which was observed between some pulses on November 10, 2004 was not a factor during this maneuver. The spacecraft thrusters performed nominally.
The next Polar spacecraft maneuver is planned for March 2, 2005.
3. MFE Data Processing Status Update
4. Polar Science Workshop, 2005
The next Polar Science Team Workshop has been scheduled for February 22-23, 2005, at the Goddard Space Flight Center Visitor Center. Anyone wishing to make a presentation at the workshop should send an email to Nicky Fox containing the title of the talk and also a brief (2-3 sentence) abstract. (nicola.fox@jhuapl.edu)
The workshop will provide a forum for discussion on Polar science results with particular emphasis on the new high-time resolution science results and collaborations with other Sun-Solar System missions. The meeting is not restricted to the Polar science team but is open to scientists from all missions.
A web page has been constructed in preparation for the workshop, the URL is
http://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/polar/workshops/Feb2005/
The web page contains on-line registration, participant list, hotel information, and a meeting agenda.
Suggested topics for presentation and discussion at the meeting
Chris Russell would like others to examine their data during these intervals to see if they
too observe interesting behavior.
=================
Event 1 2003 Sep 19 Day 262
0600 to 1000UT
Polar crosses the current sheet slowly
Near center of current sheet (0740 to 0805) plasma sheet thins and Bx grows to over 50nT WITHOUT By or BZ (GSM) changing! We interpret this as an extreme current sheet thinning very close to the Earth. This is followed by an equally interesting rotation and weakening of the field leading to a strong dipolarization.
=================
Event 2 2003 Oct 15, Day 288
0200-0400 UT
Polar crosses the current sheet more rapidly. A weak thinning event is seen at 0250 UT followed by weak dipolarization.
================
Event 3 2003 Oct 13 Day 286
2000 - 2200 UT
Polar makes a fast current sheet crossing. Region of possible tearing in the current sheet at 2118 but no dynamics until 2135UT.
The following is a list of Polar-Cluster conjunctions in the cusp/cleft for 2005 1 to 2005 54. The conditions for a conjunctions are that (Polar has to be in cusp/cleft either hemisphere) and (at least one of the Cluster spacecraft has to be in cusp/cleft either hemisphere). Cluster seems close to the magnetosheath for many of these intervals.
start time stop time
2005 8
2005
10
2005
13
2005
20
2005
27
2005
29
2005
32
2005
32
2005
35
2005
36
2005
39
2005
51
2005
53
2005
53
5. Polar/