NASA SOHO high gain antenna status 27 Jun 2003

Scientific telemetry from SOHO was lost at approximately 01:50 UT today, during a contact through the DSS-46 26-meter antenna of the Deep Space Network (DSN), as the spacecraft entered a telemetry “keyhole” expected to last until July 14. Until that time, we will be able to monitor spacecraft and instrument health and safety in low-rate telemetry during contacts using DSN 34-meter antennas and one of the spacecraft’s low-gain antennas.

13:30 UT: We were able to pick up medium-rate telemetry (including scientific telemetry) through a DSN 34-meter antenna. The signal to noise ratio is now down to only 2:1, though, and we expect to lose scientific telemetry again shortly.

17:40 UT: At the end of the 4-hour 34-meter contact, signal to noise had dropped by almost a factor of two, so we don’t expect to be able to bring up high rate on the next 34-meter contact. Spacecraft engineers are looking at whether it would be feasible to acquire medium-rate telemetry through a low-gain antenna during 34-meter contacts.