ACE Weekly 04/17/2012 - 04/23/2012 All ACE spacecraft subsystems are performing as expected. ======================================================================== Orbit/Attitude: Type Attitude Date 04/23/2012 DOY 114 2012 Thrusters 2R 4R+ 4R- Duration 17:08 min Start 18:39:46z Stop 18:56:54z HGAStart -7.58deg HGAStop +7.71deg SunStart 12.30deg SunStop 5.34deg SpinStart 5.0460rpm SpinStop 5.0509rpm Nutation 0.16deg Firing 87 pulses FuelUsed 0.2632lbs FuelRemain 122.4216lbs FinalSCMass 1356.682lbs The next attitude maneuver is scheduled for Friday 05/04/2012. ======================================================================= OCRs: None ======================================================================== Activities: Data Capture: 100% DOY 099-106 2012 The next Solar Exclusion Zone transit (SEZ) is coming up with a minimum Sun-Earth-Vehicle angle (SEV) of 0.67 degrees on Sunday 5/6/2012. This angle is larger than the Nov 2011 transit (0.42 deg) and the Feb 2012 sun crossing (0.16 deg). The radio solar flux had been extremely low (<115 sfu) for the past month. But since April 15, the solar flux has jumped up to 150 sfu (4/22/2012). Estimates are that if the solar flux jumps above ~200 sfu, then there will be data loss (<24 hours) during the May transit. WS1 ranging test on Wednesday 04/18/2012. WS1 continues adjusting the range equipment configuration to work for ACE. ======================================================================== Anomalies: Update on AR#S12-0001 S-ACE-0639 SWEPAM-E Overcount Alarm The SWEPAM-Electron Overcount Alarm continues to flag since DOY 102 20:32:24z, with 2 brief instances where it returned to zero (DOY 107 1429-1434 & DOY 114 1945-1949). From the instrument team: "It seems to be related to a combination of higher counts as we approach solar maximum, and the fact that around the same time we lowered the count level we also changed to spending more time operating in a mode in which alarm flags are not cleared." The instrument team will look at the data to determine the next course of action. IMPACT: The instrument automatically reduces voltages when the overcount alarm occurs.