Spacecraft VLBI and Doppler tracking: algorithms and implementation

Duev, Dmitry A.; Calvés, Guifre Molera; Pogrebenko, S. V.; Gurvits, L. I.; Cimò, G.; Bahamon, Tatiana Bocanegra

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201218885

Cited by 97 publications

(118 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…2, an improvement in the orbital solution accuracy (two orders of magnitude for the velocity) is clearly seen. An offset of ∼0.2 Hz in differential frequency at 8.4 GHz corresponds to an error of ∼0.7 cm/s in velocity for the nominal orbit, whereas for the improved orbit 3 Detailed description of the models used at this stage is given in Duev et al (2012). it is ∼1 mHz corresponding to ∼35 µm/s (with σ = 3 mHz, or 0.1 mm/s).…”

Section: Doppler Observations Of the Radioastron Downlink Signalmentioning

confidence: 99%

RadioAstron as a target and as an instrument: Enhancing the Space VLBI mission’s scientific output

Duev

Zakhvatkin

Stepanyants

et al. 2015

A&A

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Context. The accuracy of orbit determination has a strong impact on the scientific output of the Space VLBI mission RadioAstron. Aims. The aim of this work is to improve the RadioAstron orbit reconstruction by means of sophisticated dynamical modelling of its motion in combination with multi-station Doppler tracking of the RadioAstron spacecraft. Methods. The improved orbital solution is demonstrated using Doppler measurements of the RadioAstron downlink signal and by correlating VLBI observations made by RadioAstron with ground-based telescopes using the enhanced orbit determination data. Results. Orbit determination accuracy has been significantly improved from ∼600 m in 3D position and ∼2 cm/s in 3D velocity to several tens of metres and mm/s, respectively.

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Section: Doppler Observations Of the Radioastron Downlink Signalmentioning

confidence: 99%

RadioAstron as a target and as an instrument: Enhancing the Space VLBI mission’s scientific output

Duev

Zakhvatkin

Stepanyants

et al. 2015

A&A

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“…where D( f 0 ) is the spectral power density, m the slope of the spectral power density, f the frequency of the fluctuations, and the lower limit of integration is defined as f 0 = 1/τ with τ being the length of the phase-referencing nodding cycle (Duev et al 2012). …”

Section: Theory and Observable Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although this work focusses on VEX, we included data for Mars since MEX can also be used for interplanetary plasma studies in the same way. The ionosphere's TEC (black line) was calculated for the last three years of observations as suggested in Duev et al (2012).…”

Section: Theory and Observable Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Observations and analysis of phase scintillation of spacecraft signal on the interplanetary plasma

Calvés

Pogrebenko

Cimò

et al. 2014

A&A

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Aims. The phase scintillation of the European Space Agency's Venus Express (VEX) spacecraft telemetry signal was observed at X-band (λ = 3.6 cm) with a number of radio telescopes of the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network in the period 2009-2013. Methods. We found a phase fluctuation spectrum along the Venus orbit with a nearly constant spectral index of −2.42 ± 0.25 over the full range of solar elongation angles from 0 • to 45 • , which is consistent with Kolmogorov turbulence. Radio astronomical observations of spacecraft signals within the solar system give a unique opportunity to study the temporal behaviour of the signal's phase fluctuations caused by its propagation through the interplanetary plasma and the Earth's ionosphere. This gives complementary data to the classical interplanetary scintillation (IPS) study based on observations of the flux variability of distant natural radio sources. Results. We present here our technique and the results on IPS. We compare these with the total electron content for the line of sight through the solar wind. Finally, we evaluate the applicability of the presented technique to phase-referencing VLBI and Doppler observations of currently operational and prospective space missions.

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“…For the latter two, not only station coordinates and Earth orientation are of interest, but also the realization of the celestial reference frame (CRF), defined by positions of radio sources. VLBI has also been used to observe spacecrafts (e.g., Lebreton et al 2005;Duev et al 2012). Moreover, there are efforts to use the technique for the determination of planetary orbits (Jones et al 2015) and relating those to the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF; Fey et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geodetic VLBI with an artificial radio source on the Moon: a simulation study

Kłopotek

Hobiger

Haas

2017

J Geod

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We perform extensive simulations in order to assess the accuracy with which the position of a radio transmitter on the surface of the Moon can be determined by geodetic VLBI. We study how the quality and quantity of geodetic VLBI observations influence these position estimates and investigate how observations of such near-field objects affect classical geodetic parameters like VLBI station coordinates and Earth rotation parameters. Our studies are based on today's global geodetic VLBI schedules as well as on those designed for the next-generation geodetic VLBI system. We use Monte Carlo simulations including realistic stochastic models of troposphere, station clocks, and observational noise. Our results indicate that it is possible to position a radio transmitter on the Moon using today's geodetic VLBI with a two-dimensional horizontal accuracy of better than one meter. Moreover, we show that the nextgeneration geodetic VLBI has the potential to improve the two-dimensional accuracy to better than 5 cm. Thus, our results lay the base for novel observing concepts to improve both lunar research and geodetic VLBI.

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Spacecraft VLBI and Doppler tracking: algorithms and implementation

Cited by 97 publications

References 25 publications

RadioAstron as a target and as an instrument: Enhancing the Space VLBI mission’s scientific output

RadioAstron as a target and as an instrument: Enhancing the Space VLBI mission’s scientific output

Observations and analysis of phase scintillation of spacecraft signal on the interplanetary plasma

Geodetic VLBI with an artificial radio source on the Moon: a simulation study

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