Citation
Abstract
Atmospheric-loss fluctuations due to both water vapor and liquid water contribute to fluctuations in 32-GHz (Ka-band) signals. During weather characterized by high atmospheric liquid water content and varying wind speeds, there will be significant variations in a spacecraft’s received signal strength, which will have an impact on spacecraft telemetry data return. The expected dominant effect of severe weather on received Ka-band signals will be on amplitude fading. However, as long as sufficient margin is available, telemetry data return should be nominal. Received spacecraft signal phase is less significantly affected by liquid water than by water vapor, even during the most severe weather conditions. In this article, spacecraft signal data at Ka-band acquired during a worst-case weather condition pass were analyzed and compared with spacecraft signal data acquired during nominal weather conditions.
Keywords
Details
- Volume
- 42-151
- Published
- November 15, 2002
- Pages
- 1–19
- File Size
- 358.6 KB