Citation
Abstract
Deep Space Network (DSN) support for the Galileo mission to Jupiter began at launch in October 1989 and continued through the end of the prime mission in December 1997. The tracking and data acquisition support that was provided by the DSN up to the time that the spacecraft arrived at Jupiter (December 1995) is described in earlier issues of this publication [1-3]. This article, the final one of the series, covers the period from January 1996 through December 1997 and describes DSN support for the Galileo orbital operations at Jupiter, which included 10 satellite encounters over a period of 17 months. For a substantial portion of this period, the DSN was operated in the fully arrayed configuration for Galileo passes. This involved real-time combining of spacecraft signals from the DSN 70-m and 34-m antennas at Canberra with those from the 70-m antenna at Goldstone. The combined signals were enhanced further by the addition of the signal from the Australian 64-m radio astronomy antenna at Parkes, located 260-km northwest of Canberra. This article describes the implementation and remarkable performance of this very complex arrangement under real-time operational conditions.
Keywords
Details
- Volume
- 42-133
- Published
- May 15, 1998
- Pages
- 1–23
- File Size
- 369.7 KB