Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Altunin, V. I..
A number of space radio astronomy missions with space telescopes operating at observing band frequencies below THz have been flown or are currently under development or in the planning stage.
The JPL/NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) plans to participate in the upcoming Space VLBI missions by using its 70m antenna time to co-observe with space-based radio telescopes. To enhance this support, the DSN is upgrading its radio astronomy equipment at L- and K-band, its VLBI recorders, and its computers and software for co-observing operations.
Radioastron is a space-based very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) mission to be operational in the mid-90's. The spacecraft and space radio telescope (SRT) will be designed, manufactured, and launched by the Russians. The United States is constructing a DSN subnet to be used in conjunction with a Russian subnet for Radioastron SRT science data acquisition, phase link, and spacecraft and science payload health monitoring. Command and control will be performed from a Russian tracking facility. In addition to the flight element, the network of ground radio telescopes which will be performing co-observations with the space telescope are essential to the mission. Observatories in 39 locations around the world are expected to participate in the mission. Some aspects of the mission that have helped shaped the flight operations concept are: separate radio channels will be provided for spacecraft operations and for phase link and science data acquisition; 80-90 percent of the spacecraft operational time will be spent in an autonomous mode; and, mission scheduling must take into account not only spacecraft and science payload constraints, but tracking station and ground observatory availability as well. This paper will describe the flight operations system design for translating the Radioastron science program into spacecraft executed events. Planning for in-orbit checkout and contingency response will also be discussed.
A mission operations system developed to meet the unique requirements of the prospective Russian space VLBI mission Radioastron is described. The challenges associated with the Radioastron operations are mainly due to the interrelationship between the space-based telescope and the ground observatories, and the mission's international character. The Radioastron project includes radio observatories located in 17 different countries, tracking facilities in possibly seven different countries, orbit determination centers in Russia and USA, and widely located data processing facilities. In addition, unique scheduling constraints arise from the competing demands placed on the ground observatory time by earth-based VLBI experiments, and the tracking station time by a Japanese space interferometry mission VSOP, which is expected to be in orbit concurrently with Radioastron. A diagram illustrating the organizational structure of the Radioastron project during operations is presented.
Doppler measurements of the two Vega balloons yield the following provisional estimates for the mean zonal wind velocity at the 53-54 km level in the Venus atmosphere: 69 + or - 1 m/sec for Vega 1 and 66 + or - 1 m/sec for Vega 2, with westward flow. The wind data show a perturbation which might be an evidence of solar tides.