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The highlights of 20 years of maser use and development are presented. Masers discussed include cavity, traveling wave, K band, and S band. Noise temperatures measured since 1960 are summarized. Use of masers in the Deep Space Network is presented. Costs associated with the construction of masers systems are given.
Deep Space Network progress in flight project support, tracking and data acquisition research and technology, network engineering, hardware and software implemention, and operations is documented. In addition, developments in Earth based radio technology as applied to geodynamics, astrophysics, and the radio search for extraterrestrial intelligence are reported.
The Tidbinbilla interferometer, designed specifically to provide accurate radio position measurements of compact radio sources in the Southern Hemisphere with high sensitivity using the 26 m and 64 m antennas of the Deep Space Network at Tidbinbilla, near Canberra, is discussed. The instrument also provides high accuracy flux density measurements for compact radio sources.
The Block 1, phase 1 VBLI System, implemented in the Deep Space Network and currently undergoing system testing, is discussed. The system can be characterized as the modification of existing equipment and the addition of new software in the 64 m subnet and the addition of new hardware and software in the Network Operations and Control Center. It is to be operational to support Voyager project navigation requirements and is to provide, on a weekly basis, the information related to station clock synchronization, UT1, and polar motion.
The activities of the Deep Space Network in support of the Pioneer 10 and 11 and Pioneer 12 (Pioneer-Venus) Missions from 16 December 1979 through 31 May 1980 are reported. The mission status for each of the spacecraft is also reported.
The cruise phases of Pioneer 6 through 9 missions and the operations of the Deep Space Network in supoort of the Pioneer missions are reported for the period of 16 December 1979 through 31 May 1980. Pioneer 6 through 9 are in cruise mode and spacecraft appear to be operating nominally. Pioneer 8 continues to require the 100 kW transmitter from 64 m stations due to the spacecraft's degraded receiver. Difficulties in acquiring a downlink from the Pioneer 6 are discussed.
The input signal conditioner portion of the multimegasymbol telemetry demodulator and detector feasibility model is described. The input signal conditioner accepts the 55 MHz wideband IF signal of a Block 4 Deep Space Network receiver and provides selectable bandpass filtering, total power automatic gain control, and frequency translation providing inphase and quadrature outputs at baseband.
The reduction and interpretation of the radio science data from the Voyager 1 and 2 encounters of the planet Jupiter and its satellites resulted in the preparation of several papers for publication in the special Voyager-Jupiter issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research. The radio science and tracking systems of the Deep Space Network provide the data which makes this research possible. This article lists submitted papers by title, with their authors and with abstracts of their contents.
Progress in the development and operations of the Deep Space Network along with developments in Earth-based radio technology as applied to geodynamics, astrophysics, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence are reported.
The search strategy and resultant observational plan which was developed to carry out a comprehensive Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) over that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum known as the terrestrial microwave window is described. The limiting sensitivity achieved was parameterized and calculated for Deep Space Network antennas as well as several radio astronomy observatories. A brief description of the instrumentation to be employed in the search and the classes of signals to be looked for is given. One observational goal is to survey the entire sky over a wide range of frequency to a relatively constant flux level. This survey ensures that all potential life sites are observed to some limiting equivalent isotropic radiated power depending upon their distance. A second goal is to survey a set of potential transmission sites selected a priori to be especially promising, achieving very high sensitivity over a smaller range of frequency.
A functional description of the Ground Communications Facility (GCF) and its relationships with other elements of the Deep Space Network and the NASA Communications Network is presented together with development objectives and goals and comments on implementation activities in support of flight projects. The voice, teletype, high speed data, wideband data, monitor and control, data records, network log processor, and network communications equipment subsystems are individually examined.
The Deep Space Network programming system is described by a heuristic model. Interaction with two elements of that system, anomaly reporting and the MBASIC (trademark) language, is described in detail. Feedback from anomaly reporting indicates that the methodology resulted in a low anomaly rate and thereby also provided positive feedback. The need to reduce operating costs prompted the implementation of the MBASIC (trademark) language as a compiler.
The planning procedure being used to establish a technical library for the Deep Space Network support section is described. The inventory and survey methods employed are described and the preliminary results of these methods are discussed.
The triangle (antenna) scan (TRISCAN) is a method of improving the alignment between the boresight of the Deep Space Network antennas and a particular target, spacecraft, or radio source (star). For stars, the method works in conjunction with the noise adding radiometer and the antenna pointing system to form estimates of the alignment offset coordinates. This information is then used to position the antenna for improved target alignment. A comparison with CONSCAN is included since a CONSCAN study led to TRISCAN development.
The radar astronomy activities supported by the Deep Space Network during June, July, and August 1980 are reported. The planetary bodies observed were Venus, Mercury, and the asteroid Toro. Data were obtained at both S and X band, and the observations were considered successful.
A new method of intercontinental clock synchronization has been developed and proposed for possible use by NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN), using a two-way/three-way radio link with a spacecraft. Analysis of preliminary data indicates that the real-time method has an uncertainty of 0.6 microsec, and it is very likely that further work will decrease the uncertainty. Also, the method is compatible with a variety of nonreal-time analysis techniques, which may reduce the uncertainty down to the tens of nanosecond range.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's program of astrometric VLBI as one element of a navigation system for interplanetary spacecraft includes developing a radioastrometric source catalog, and a catalog of positions of compact extragalactic radio sources correct to about 0.01 arc sec. The three (64 m) antenna complexes of the Deep Space Network in Spain, Australia, and the U.S. are involved, each equipped to receive simultaneously at wavelengths of 13 and 3.6 cm with total system temperatures of about 20-25 K at both wavelengths. The program is to provide precise values of parameters used in navigational computations, including UT1 accurate to about 0.001s, and current values of polar motion to 30 cm. Bandwidth synthesis methods were applied to measure delays as well as rates regarding source positions derived from observations using the Mark II VLBI recording system which has a sampling rate of four million bits per second.
The paper investigates a continuous round-trip radio link at S band (2.2 GHz) that was maintained during the Pioneer Saturn encounter between stations of the Deep Space Network and the spacecraft. From an analysis of the Doppler shift in the radio carrier frequency, a number of gravitational effects on the trajectory were determined. Gravitational moments for Saturn were found from a preliminary analysis, as well as mass values for the Saturn satellites Rhea, Iapetus, and Titan. It was determined that the densities of all three satellites are low and consistent with the compositions of ices. Theoretical calculations for the Saturn interior are described which use the latest observational data, including Pioneer Saturn and state-of-the-art physics for the internal composition.