Citation
Abstract
For more than half a century, ranging measurements in the Deep Space Network (DSN) have contributed to spacecraft navigation and radio science investigations. Due to solar plasma noise conditions and systematic instrumental effect limitations, performance over the past three decades has remained near the 1 m level. To meet the goal of 10 cm ranging, JPL invested in the design and development of the Advanced Ranging Instrument (ARI) that will improve the accuracy of ranging measurements by one order-ofmagnitude. The current ranging uses a single frequency uplink, 7.1 GHz (X-band). By using dual-frequency uplinks, X and 34 GHz (Ka-band), and generating three coherent downlinks (X-up/X-down, X-up/Ka-down, Ka-up/Ka-down), solar plasma noise can be removed completely and station delay can be measured continuously to obtain a precise calibration. Implementing wide-band pseudo noise (PN) code ranging further reduces system noise. The ARI has made these techniques available at Deep Space Station (DSS) 25 and initial tests were carried out with the European Space Agency (ESA) BepiColombo spacecraft in May and August 2019. The Ka-band range at 24 Mcps PN code has demonstrated a level of precision of ~1 cm.
Details
- Volume
- 42-223
- Published
- November 15, 2020
- Pages
- 1–10
- File Size
- 939.8 KB