Citation
Abstract
Ranging measurements produced by the Deep Space Network (DSN) are used for determining spacecraft (S/C) position. For the past 40 years, two-way ranging measurements, where a single station performs uplinks and downlinks, have been contributing to accurate deep-space navigation. The performance of ranging measurement has been steadily improving and currently provides accuracy at the 1-m level in one-way distance for systematic errors. Unlike two-way ranging, three-way ranging, where different stations are used for uplink and downlink, is not used in the navigation data acquisition due to a larger systematic error. The large systematic error in three-way ranging is mainly due to the Deep Space Station (DSS) not being able to correctly calibrate internal DSS delays, and the DSN currently commits three-way ranging measurement with a 1-sigma systematic error of 100 m in one-way distance. As an S/C travels farther away from Earth, the DSN must prepare for conditions of long round-trip light time (RTLT), where conventional two-way ranging measurement is no longer feasible. The new method was developed to reduce unmodeled biases in the DSS delay for three-way ranging, to 2 m maximum in one-way distance from the existing 100 m of systematic error.
Details
- Volume
- 42-199
- Published
- November 15, 2014
- Pages
- 1–11
- File Size
- 141.1 KB