Preface
This quarterly publication provides archival reports on developments in programs
managed by JPL's Telecommunications and Mission Operations Directorate (TMOD), which
now includes the former Telecommunications and Data Acquisition (TDA) Office. In space
communications, radio navigation, radio science, and ground-based radio and radar
astronomy, it reports on activities of the Deep Space Network (DSN) in planning,
supporting research and technology, implementation, and operations. Also
included are standards activity at JPL for space data and information systems and
reimbursable DSN work performed for other space agencies through NASA. The preceding
work is all performed for NASA's Office of Space Communications (OSC).
TMOD also performs work funded by other NASA program offices through and with the cooperation
of OSC. The first of these is the Orbital Debris Radar Program funded by the Office of Space
Systems Development. It exists at Goldstone only and makes use of the planetary radar
capability when the antennas are configured as science instruments making direct observations
of the planets, their satellites, and asteroids of our solar system. The Office of Space
Sciences funds the data reduction and science analyses of data obtained by the Goldstone Solar
System Radar. The antennas at all three complexes are also configured for radio astronomy
research and, as such, conduct experiments funded by the National Science Foundation in the
U.S. and other agencies at the overseas complexes. These experiments are either in microwave
spectroscopy or very long baseline interferometry.
Finally, tasks funded under the JPL Director's Discretionary Fund and
the Caltech President's Fund that involve TMOD are included.
This and each succeeding issue of The Telecommunications and Data Acquisition Progress Report will
present material in some, but not necessarily all, of the aforementioned programs.