Starting out, my plan has been for each collaboration group to study and share how their detector behaves in the SAA. Then we will together make a plan on how to operate in the SAA.
Would you please report what the current known effects are of going through the SAA? Any plans forward and time estimates are greatly appreciated. At the site visit I gave an estimation for mid-Feb, for BSD specifically, and mid-April for everything. The exact timing for each instrument isnt as important as the mid-April timeframe. However, since I said mid-Feb for BSD I would like to be able to give some words as to the status and plan.
I have these latest words from Jason regarding the SAA specifically. (this is in addition to what Stephane has reported)
" Stephane and his students are going to look at the period of time we were on in the SAA due to the communication failure on 8/26 (we were on from 19:20 GMT to 21:35 GMT). It may be wise for every detector team to look at data in this period as well as looking at all of the housekeeping data for any abnormalities. We are also going to look at BSD data from 9/6 where we ran a trigger tube alone at 1200V for 6 minutes. "
Quick reminder about the SAA and the current procedure:
The ISS orbits the SAA for a 10-12 hour duration. During this 10-12 hour duration, the ISS passes the SAA every ~90 minutes. Each pass lasts 0-15 minutes (0 means that sometimes the pass is less than 1 minute, but its not exactly 0). Currently, SOC operators turn off HV for the CAL and BSD, and turn off bias for TBCD and SCD. This "low-voltage mode" is started before entering the SAA orbits and after leaving the SAA orbits. Low voltage mode lasts 12-14 hours/day. CREAM is in standby mode during this time.
Kind regards,
Jacob
