POLAR Telecon Agenda for January 25, 2008

 

Agenda:

 

0. Upcoming Polar Telecon

1. Operations

2. End of Mission Operations

3. THEMIS Conjunctions

4. MFE Data Processing Status

5. MDI Science Report

 

0.  Upcoming Polar Telecon

Friday January 25, 2008

4 pm ET, 3 pm CT, 2 pm MT, 1 pm PT

 

PIs and their designated representatives will be telephoned at their usual numbers.

Other participants may call in at:  1-800-988-9524

Password: Polar Telecon (Leader: John Sigwarth)

 

The web site for the final agenda will be:

http://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/polar/telecons/2008Jan25/

 

Future Polar Telecons

Next telecon: Friday February 29, 2008

 

Future Telecon Science Discussion Schedule

[Errors/omissions/preferences to: nicola.fox@jhuapl.edu]

 

February 2008:  CAMMICE

March 2008: VIS

April 2008: TIMAS

May 2008: Hydra

June 2008:  EFI

July 2008: MFE

August 2008:  CEPPAD

September 2008:  TIDE

October 2008:  PIXIE

November 2008:  UVI

December 2008: MDI

 

1. Operations

 

If you have any concerns about Polar operations, please contact Nicky Fox (nicola.fox@jhuapl.edu)

 

Polar Loadshed event

 

The Polar spacecraft executed a loadshed event this morning, January 24, 2008 between 0435 UT and 0830 UT.  All instruments were shut off by the loadshed and the stored command table was suspended.  Consequently, the Polar spacecraft did not bring up the radio frequency carrier as expected on the contact scheduled for 0830 UT.  This pass occurred during unattended operation.  On the next pass, the Flight Operations Team manually commanded the Polar transmitter on.  Telemetry was received immediately and the Polar FOT began diagnosing the problem.  Telemetry indicates that the spacecraft had experienced an Under-voltage-1 condition leading to the loadshed.  The trip point for the under voltage condition has been commanded from 21.0 V to 19.6 V.  This can be lowered to 19.1 V or deactivated if necessary.  At this time, all indications are that the Polar spacecraft is operating nominally.

 

The FOT is still in the process of determining the exact cause of the under-voltage condition, but the working hypothesis is that this problem is related to the eclipse season that Polar began on 1/20/2008.  The scheduled contacts are being extended to allow the instruments to be brought back on line quickly and staffing arrangements are being made for the weekend.  The last loadshed event for Polar was July 29, 2004. 

 

The Polar Instrument Teams should begin preparations for bringing their instrument back on line.  Rick Hudson has sent a mail message to each of the instrument’s point of contact.  The tentative order of reactivation is: 

 

The following is the tentative plan for Polar instrument recovery following

the Loadshed anomaly:

 

DOY 024 2240z - 2310z   - PWI

DOY 025 2025z - 2200z   - 2030 - 2155   HYDRA

DOY 026 1320z - 2055z   - 1320 - 1430   TIDE

                        - 1430 - 1540   TIMAS

                        - 1540 - 1610   EFI

                        - 1610 - 1720   MFE/magnetics

                        - 1720 - 1830   DPM recovery

                        - 1830 - 1940   UVI

                        - 1940 - 2010   CAMMICE/HIT

                        - 2010 - 2040   CEPPAD

DOY 027 1605z - 1705z   - VIS

DOY 027 2215z - 2315z   - VIS

DOY 028 1845z - 1935z   - VIS

DOY 029 1555z - 1834z   - VIS

DOY 030 1130z - 2040z   - VIS

DOY 031 1100z - 1425z   - VIS

 

Please be ready and prepared to work with the Flight Operations Team to execute the recovery as quickly as possible.  Some teams will be asked to support the recovery Saturday and/or Sunday.  With your help we hope to have Polar back in full operation by the middle of next week. 

 

The eclipse season will continue until 3/5/2008. The longest eclipses are no more than 45 minutes.

 

 

Next Polar Sun Angle maneuver

 

The upcoming flip maneuver (#18) will be conducted in two segments (provided there is enough fuel).

 

The first maneuver segment is planned for February 11 (DOY 042) from 2100 - 0001 UTC (~3hrs 1min).

 

The second segment is planned for February 12 (DOY 043) from 1900 – 0038 UTC (~5hrs 38min).

 

A maneuver trim would be conducted on February 14 (DOY 045) during the support from 2145 - 0050 UTC.

 

Should the hydrazine be depleted before reaching the intended target attitude, we will attempt to vent the cold helium gas as a method to thrust Polar in the appropriate direction. These "maneuvers" would take several more hours (over the course of several days) to complete.

 

The Instrument maneuver timeline for a nominal burn will be sent out this week.

 

Unattended Weekends

 

The 12 hour shifts during the weekdays are still being covered as usual and the MOC staff has a pager to cover emergencies on the weekend.

 

MOC staff pager: 301-224-0386

Mike Machado should be contacted by cell phone for instrument emergencies.

Mike's cell phone: 443-694-4317

 

2. End of Mission Operations

 

Instrument operations will cease on 4/15/08 and spacecraft operations on 4/30/08. A number of teams have requested special operations for their instruments prior to shut down. These include:

 

EFI – deploying booms to full extent

TIMAS – operate during a maneuver

HYDRA – test other high voltage levels

PIXIE – attempt to power the instrument

TIDE - exercise some high voltage supplies for Start MCPs

 

If any other teams wish to conduct instrument “tests” during this period, please email Nicky (nicola.fox@jhuapl.edu) as soon as possible.

 

3.  THEMIS Conjunctions

 

The THEMIS Team has looked at the major conjunctions thus far.  Below please find their list with some comments.  A wiki page will be created for people to put in their own comments and put together a more comprehensive list towards the end of next week.  THEMIS is holding a science gathering at Berkeley next Tuesday to discuss any observations or findings regarding these events. In particular they are interested in the determination of meridian of the activity.

 

 ================================

Major Conjunction Substorm List

Criteria:

AE>100nT

Fast Survey

B&C likely bracket Rx site

================================

                     Comments

2008-01-09    07:00  Twd flows on B at 23Re

2008-01-05    03:00  Twd flows on B at 14.5Re

              08:00  Twd flows on B at 16.2Re

2008-12-28    01:20  Twd PSBL beams at 14.5Re

              04:30  Twd PSBL beams at 14.5Re

2008-12-20    04:00  Probes clustered: inner Msphere

 

 

Other Major Conjunction Activations

------------------------------------

                     Comments

2008-01-01    01:30  No SS but injections/twd flows   

              03:50  SS injections/ no twd flows

              04:00  SS injections/ no twd flows

              11:30  No SS / Ewd but no twd flows

2008-12-24    05:50  Tail activity earlier,

                     THEMIS AE >250nT, AE quiet

------------------------------------

 

Cluster Conjunction Activations

------------------------------------

2008-01-11    05:50  Minor Conjunction

------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

4. MFE Data Processing Status

 

MFE Data Processing Status

 

 

5.  The MDI Science Report

 

Powerpoint

 

PDF