Plots are in GSE (geocentric solar ecliptic) coordinates, so Earth is at [0,0], the Sun is at [1,0]. The plot is the projection of the orbit on the ecliptic plane.
6th orbit & part of 7th orbit in NMP: 4 RS windows, first S and N windows reach max latitude 13º, last S window reaches 21º already.
RS window (default) placement
Period | Window/GAM | EXT Start | Start | End | Hcentric | Distance | Range | Hgraphic | Latitude | Range | SC-Sun- | Earth | Angle | Conjunction | Safe Mode Comms Blackout | Largest Comms Roll | GAM Restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MTP 10 | South | 2023-07-13 | 2023-07-17 | 2023 07-27 | 0.65 | 0.59 | 0.53 | -12.86 | -13.07 | -12.83 | 166 | 162 | 155 | NO | NO | 00 | NO |
| MTP 10 | Perihelion | 2023-08-09 | 2023-08-13 | 2023-08-23 | 0.32 | 0.30 | 0.32 | -02.64 | 06.71 | 12.00 | 100 | 070 | 038 | NO | NO | 00 | NO |
| MTP 10 | North | N/A | 2023-08-23 | 2023-09-02 | 0.32 | 0.37 | 0.43 | 12.00 | 13.01 | 11.74 | 038 | 014 | 002 | NO | NO | 00 | YES |
| MTP 10 | VGAM 5 | N/A | 2023-09-28 | ||||||||||||||
| MTP 10 | South | 2023-12-11 | 2023-12-15 | 2023-12-25 | 0.58 | 0.51 | 0.45 | -20.95 | -21.32 | -20.47 | 038 | 045 | 055 | NO | NO | 00 | NO |
MTP10-North placement conflicts with VGAM5
Proposal RS window placement
- Move concatenated perihelion and North window earlier by ~5 days to avoid GAM. This will slightly decrease the downlink rates for these windows, but as we are moving towards Earth, SSMM can be filled up and all TM can be dumped right after the first 3 RSwindows.
- First South window can potentially be moved for better TM if we want to sacrifice the moderate latitude (13º).
Potentially we could move the 3 RSWs together to make 1 concatenated window : this could be helpful for L_FULL_LRES_MCAD_Coronal-Synoptic SOOP and R_FULL_HRES_HCAD_Density-Fluctuations (which has a short duration ~8hrs) - To check feasibility of this option, we should simulate what happens if
- we give more TM downlink share to IS payload during early MTP09
- let RS produce a lot of TM during MTP09 RSwindows (and store onboard)
- lower the TM downlink share to IS payload during the bad comms period overlapping MTP09 and MTP10 = April-June 2023 (EPD may be in far mode anyway for last part of that period)
- let all payload produce at regular or better rates during the first 3 MTP10 RSwindows
- If we care more about latitude than solar distance during the 2nd south window, it could potentially be moved earlier to gain TM. May help moving into MTP11 which has very bad TM constraints.
Planning proposal
I_DEFAULT outside of RSwindows, L_IS_STIX on inside all RSwindows
- MTP10-Full First Orbit (S + P + N): move windows together to make 1 concatenated window and run L_FULL_LRES_MCAD_Coronal-Synoptic SOOP (see above)
- Extra idea for MTP10-Perihelion: Short period (~30mins) of R_SMALL_HRES_HCAD_RSburst as this perihelion RSW has good TM downlink which even improves when moving further towards Earth
- Extra idea for MTP10-Perihelion: Short period (~30mins) of R_SMALL_HRES_HCAD_RSburst as this perihelion RSW has good TM downlink which even improves when moving further towards Earth
- MTP10-2nd South: connection science goals on slow solar wind sources. These require modelling to find the most likely connection point.
SOOPs L_SMALL_MRES_MCAD_Connection_Mosaic combined with L_SMALL_HRES_HCAD_SlowWindConnection (higher res/cadence RS to explore source region in more detail) or L_SMALL_MRES_MCAD_Ballistic-connection
If we happen to point at a coronal hole boundary, also the SOOP L_SMALL_HRES_LCAD_CH_Boundary_Expansion fits: first time at 20º -> preferred option for now (first opportunity at 20º
Modelled in SAP v0:
I_DEFAULT outside of RSwindows, L_IS_STIX on inside all RSwindows
- MTP10-Full First Orbit (S + P + N): L_FULL_LRES_MCAD_Coronal-Synoptic throughout the 3 RSwindows
+ during best TM of perihelion window 10mins of R_SMALL_HRES_HCAD_RS-burst
+ on 1st and last day of North window 8 hrs of R_FULL_HRES_HCAD_Density-Fluctuations - MTP10-2nd South: L_SMALL_HRES_LCAD_CH_Boundary_Expansion for 10 days