03.20.09:
The CALIPSO laser switch has been completed and normal operations resumed on March 20, 2009. Release of standard data products from the backup laser are expected to resume in mid-April afer a period to review the instrument's calibration.

02.17.09:
CALIPSO laser operations have been suspended as of February 16, 2009 due to a fault that was detected in the instrument. The issue is under investigation.

02.04.09:
CALIPSO lidar operations will be temporarily suspended for the first two weeks of March 2009 to allow for a switch from the primary laser to the backup laser. The laser switch is being made at this time because of a slow pressure leak in the primary laser's container. Data production activities will be suspended and should resume in late April 2009 after an assessment of the laser's performance and data products are completed.

03.18.08: The CALIPSO satellite will be performing an orbit raise maneuver on March 18, 2008. The payload will be down for the maneuver from 01:28 to 09:58UTC.

03.12.08: The CALIPSO spacecraft transitioned to Safe Hold Mode on March 3 in response to an anomaly with one of the reaction wheels used to maintain the satellite attitude. The Safe Hold sequence automatically turned off the CALIPSO payload, activated survival heaters, and placed the satellite in a sun-pointing inertial mode. The spacecraft reactivation process was completed on March 7 with no sign of degraded reaction wheel performance. The payload was fully reactivated and began collecting science data on March 11.

12.17.07: The CALIPSO satellite will be performing a drag makeup maneuver (DMU) on Monday December 17, 2007. The payload will be configured in a low consumption mode at 1:45 and return to nominal data acquisition at 10:15UTC on the 17th.

12.03.07: The next CALIPSO drag make-up maneuver is scheduled on December 17, 2007. We anticipate that the CALIPSO payload will be out of service for approximately 12 hours beginning at midnight on December 17.

11.21.07: NASA Headquarters has approved the CALIPSO pitch change proposal. The CALIPSO attitude will change to 3 degrees on November 28, 2007, the change will take place at approximately 21:03UTC.

11.19.07:The CALIPSO Satellite is tentatively scheduled to execute a pitch change on Wednesday, November 28 2007. The LIDAR pointing will move forward from 0.3 to 3.0 degrees forward from nadir. The maneuver will be finalized after the HQ meeting scheduled for Tuesday, November 20, 2007.

11.15.07: The production of Level 1 and 2 Version 1.22 lidar data products has been suspended. The production system is being reconfigured and tested to support the reprocessing of the CALIPSO data set with the updated Version 2.0 software algorithms.

11.14.07: Approximately twenty-two hours of CALIPSO science data were lost due to a ground network support conflict on November 5, 2007. Universal Space Networks, CALIPSO's X-band science data network provider, chose to support the DOD wideband gapfiller satellite over CALIPSO when a station outage in Hawaii occurred and a backup station in Santiago Chile was unavailable.

10.18.07: CALIPSO payload returned to nominal data acquisition at 16:06 UTC on October 16, 2007.

10.15.07: The CALIPSO payload will be configured in a low power state for a maneuver at 3:07 UTC on October 16, 2007. The maneuver execution planned includes two burns executing at 4:07 UTC and 6:35 UTC. A pressure check of the backup laser and Built In Test System measurements will be performed over approximately fifteen hours beginning at 16:35 UTC. The payload will be reconfigured for operation on the primary laser beginning at 7:20 UTC on October 17, 2007 and is scheduled to resume science measurements at 12:30 UTC.

09.12.07: The CALIPSO satellite returned to 0.3 degree forward pitch on September 9, 2007 at 19:45 UTC. The next DMU is tentatively scheduled for October 10, 2007. The maneuver date will be finalized at the end of the month.

09.06.07: The CALIPSO satellite pitch orientation will be changed from 3.0 degrees forward to 0.3 degrees forward @ 20:41 UTC on Thursday September 6, 2007. The satellite orientation will remain at 0.3 degrees until a decision is made to make a permanent change of attitude angle.

The next CALIPSO drag make-up maneuver is tentatively planned on October 10, 2007. The CALIPSO payload will be out of service beginning on October 9, 2007 through October 10, 2007 in order to perform a check of the redundant laser transmitter and to support maneuver operations in a low power state.

08.15.07: The CALIPSO satellite pitch orientation will be changed from 0.3 degrees forward to 3.0 degrees forward @ 20:43 UTC on Tuesday August 21, 2007 for sixteen days. The orientation change is being made to further investigate Lidar performance when observing high altitude clouds with oriented ice crystals.

07.06.07: The CALIPSO payload will be out of service between 01:45 UTC on July 12, 2007 until 10:15 UTC on July 12, 2007 17, 2007. The down time is necessary so the CALIPSO satellite can perform a drag make up maneuver to maintain its position in the A-train constellation.

05.14.07: The CALIPSO payload will be out of service between 00:56 UTC on May 15, 2007 until 09:20 UTC on May 15, 2007. The down time is necessary so the CALIPSO satellite can perform an inclination maneuver to maintain its position as part of the A-train constellation.

04.23.07: The CALIPSO payload will be out of service between 09:15 UTC on April 24, 2007 until 09:20 UTC on April 26, 2007. The down time is necessary so the CALIPSO satellite can perform an inclination maneuver to maintain its position in the A-train constellation and to perform a periodic check of the redundant CALIPSO laser system, along with Lidar calibration measurements.

04.06.07: CALIPSO resumed nominal data acquisition April 6, 2006 at 14:20 UTC.

04.05.07: The payload was commanded to standby at 16:03 UTC today and will return to nominal data acquisition on April 6, 2007 by 14:00 UTC.

03.27.07: CALIPSO completed its planned drag make up maneuver early this morning, March 27, 2007, as planned. The maneuver was executed using two burns with the first burn at 03:41 and the second burn at 06:09. The maneuver efficiency was 98% with the actual semi major axis increase of 25.5 m versus 26 m targeted. The CALIPSO payload resumed nominal data acquisition at approximately 10:21 UTC.

The next planned CALIPSO maneuver is on April 26, 2007. The CALIPSO payload will be out of service for one-two days prior to the maneuver to support periodic backup laser checks.

03.12.07: CALIPSO successfully executed the first of three planned maneuvers as part of the Spring 2007 A-train inclination maneuver sequence on March 8, 2007. The next maneuver is tentatively scheduled on March 27, 2007. The CALIPSO payload will be out of service from approximately 1200 UTC on March 26, 2007 until 1200 UTC on March 27, 2007 to conserve power during maneuver operations.

01.12.07: The CALIPSO payload will be out of service between 08:45 UTC on January 15, 2007 until 13:28 UTC on January 17, 2007. The down time is necessary so the CALIPSO satellite can perform a drag make up orbit maneuver to maintain its position in the A-train constellation and to perform a periodic check of the redundant CALIPSO laser system.

The next scheduled outage will occur in support of an overall A-Train inclination manuever sequence with the first of three CALIPSO maneuvers tentatively scheduled on March 8, 2007.

12.20.06: CALIPSO resumed nominal data acquisition December 19, 2006 at 13:56 UTC. Payload performance is nominal based on a review of telemetry received last night and early this morning. CALIPSO will remain in nominal data acquisition until a planned drag make up orbit maneuver tentatively planned January 16, 2007.

12.14.06: Space weather conditions continue to be unfavorable for CALIPSO operation. Space weather 100 MeV and 10 MeV warnings remain in effect through at 01:00 UTC December 15, 2006 and we anticipate that these warnings will be extended later today. The solar activity forecast predicts at least a 75% chance of additional proton events through December 16, 2006 with NOAA sunspot Region 930 responsible for the elevated activity.

Tentative plans are being developed to begin CALIPSO reactivation on Monday, December 18, 2006 and return to science operations with X-band data transmission on December 19, 2006.

Correction (see change made below): The CALIPSO payload controller was powered OFF at 8:06 UTC on December 13, 2006 and not at approximately 12:15 UTC as initially reported.

12.13.06: Space weather conditions deteriorated overnight. The NOAA Space Environment Center issued 100 MeV and 10 MeV warnings and alerts at 03:00 UTC December 13, 2006. In response to these conditions, the payload controller was turned OFF at approximately 12:15 UTC 8:06 UTC December 13, 2006 as a precautionary measure. Space weather warnings at both the 10 MeV and 100 MeV levels remain in effect until 23:59 UTC December 13, 2006. It is possible that these warnings will be extended later today.

12.12.06: CALIPSO reactivation began today when the CALIPSO Payload Controller was successfully turned on at 12:14 UTC.

A 10 MeV space weather alert remains in effect until 16:00 UTC today. The 10 MeV alert must be clear before further activation of the CALIPSO payload can be performed. We anticipate favorable conditions and plan to continue CALIPSO reactivation on December 13, 2006.

12.11.06: The space weather forecast is improving and plans to resume CALIPSO operations are being finalized.

Plans to resume operations follow:

December 12, 2006: Reactivate Payload Controller provided conditions remain less than 100 MeV

December 13, 2006: Apply power to laser system, Configure PL in Standby provided conditions are less than < 10 MeV. Resume data acquisition at earliest opportunity (late 12/13/2006 or early 12/14/2006).

12.07.06: We received notification of a space weather 100 MeV warning at 7:11 PM on Wednesday, 12.06.06. Because of this warning we have turned off the CALIPSO payload controller, and we expect that we won't resume operations before Monday, 12.11.06.