ACE Weekly Report (05/03/02  05/09/02)

All ACE spacecraft subsystems are performing nominally. Two attitude 
maneuvers were successfully performed on 05/06/02.  The next attitude 
maneuver is scheduled for 05/17/02.

An engineering test is in progress to determine a new HGA constraint. The 
current constraint is 5.5 degrees, however the FOT has been given 
authorization to drift to as much as 6.0 degrees prior to maneuvers. The 
constraint was increased on 26 April, as part of a several step process 
that will occur over the next two months with the maximum constraint being 
reached by late June, when the spacecraft will be at its maximum 
range.  This approach allows the spacecraft to drift until the new 
constraint is violated, at which time an attitude maneuver is executed.

Date: HGA angle reached prior to Attitude Maneuver (degrees):

03/28/02 ~4.8
04/04/02 ~4.8
04/11/01 ~5.1
04/18/02 ~5.2
04/26/02 ~5.6
05/06/02 ~5.8
05/17/02 ~5.9 (expected)

Analysis is ongoing, though no degradation in signal strength has been seen.

Total Percentage Data Capture for April:  99.992%

Anomalies:
05/06/02 DOY 126  Late acquisition and carrier-up (~15 mins) due to DSS-24 
console problems. (DR#G101115)

05/07/02 DOY 127  Lost contact due to station outage.  DSS-16 declared 
RED.  Was able to add a 75 minute, no ranging pass with DSS-66 for a 
partial recorder dump.  DOY 128 pass with DSS-66 extended to allow dumping 
of previous day's recorder data.  All data recovered.  (DR#G101122)