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The Deep Space Network support of Pioneer Mission Operations during the cruise phases of Pioneers 6 through 9, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, and the orbital operations of Pioneer 12 spacecrafts is described. All Pioneer spacecraft appear in good health and are operating nominally. Tracking coverage from June 1980 through March 1981 is shown.
The Deep Space Network Report on Tracking and Data Acquisition for Project Voyager is presented. Long time base observation and system scans are described. Results of adaptive tracking techniques on Voyager 2 are reported. The reporting period is December 1980 through March 1981.
The current status of the transmitter automation development is reported. The work described is applicable to all transmitters in the Deep Space Network. New interface and software designs are described which improve reliability and reduce the time required for subsystem turn on and klystron saturation.
The radar astronomy activities supported by the Deep Space Network during the first quarter of 1981 are reported. The bodies observed include the asteroids Apollo and Toro, comet Bradfield, and the rings of Saturn.
This bibliography cites by primary author the externally distributed technical reporting, released during calendar year 1980, that resulted from scientific and engineering work performed, or managed, by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Three classes of publications are included: (1) JPL Publications (77-, 78-, 79-series, etc.), in which the information is complete for a specific accomplishment and can e tailored to wide or limited audiences and be presented in an established standard format or special format to meet unique requirements; (2) articles published in the open literature; and (3) articles from the bimonthly Deep Space Network (DSN) Progress Repot (42-series) and its successor, the Telecommunications and Data Acquisition (TDA) Progress Report (also 42-series).
Progress in the development and operations of the Deep Space Network is reported. Developments in Earth-based radio technology as applied to geodynamics, astrophysics, and the radio search for extraterrestrial intelligence are included.
The activities of the Deep Space Network in support of Radio Astronomy Operations during April and May 1981 are reported. Work in progres in support of an experiment selected for use of the DSN by the Radio Astronomy Experiment Selection Panel, Twin Quasi-Stellar Object VLBI, is reported.
A suboptimal quick look decoding algorithm for the deep space network convolutional code is discussed. Particular emphasis is given to the encoding and decoding schemes.
An efficient computational technique is developed to evaluate the performance of coherent receivers with noisy carrier reference and multiple antennas. The received signal is assumed to be uncoded residual carrier BPSK (binary phase shift keying), with a PLL (phase locked loop) used for extracting the carrier. Explicit relationships between the error probabilities and the various system parameters are given. Specific results are given for the performance gain of combined carrier referencing over baseband only combining when the channel alignment process is ideal. A simple asymptotic expression for the performance gain is determined when the number of antennas used is increased without bound. An example using a Block 3 Deep Space Network PLL illustrates the performance of each arraying structure. The technique used is applicable to the performance evaluation for other receivers having similar decision statistics.
A brief history of the HAL/S language, including the experience of other users of the language at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is presented. The current status of the compiler, as implemented on the Modcomp 7870 Classi computer, and future applications in the Deep Space Network (DSN) are discussed. The primary applications in the DSN will be in the Mark IVA network.
A comparison is made of the lubricating oil recycling methods used in the Deep Space Station 43 test and the basic requirements which could favor recycling of oil for continuous reuse. The basic conditions for successful recycling are compared to the conditions that exist in the Deep Space Network (DSN). This comparison shows that to recycle used oil in the DSN would not only be expensive but also nonproductive.
Initial results of bistatic radar observations of Mars made by the Viking Orbiter spacecraft are presented with particular emphasis on the previously unstudied polar regions. Bistatic radar scattering experiments were performed in near-equatorial regions by the Viking Orbiter 1, while other regions of the planet were observed by the polar-orbiting Orbiter 2, with scattered signals received by stations of the NASA Deep Space Network. In the equatorial region, the bistatic radar estimates of rms surface slope are found to be in qualitative agreement with results obtained using earth-based transmitter-receivers, showing a nearly 2:1 decrease in rms surface roughness between 20 and 22 deg N with no appreciable change in dielectric constant. Data in the north polar region reveal variations in surface roughness from 1 to 6 deg, with areas of smooth material generally located within rougher environs, surface roughness decreasing along Vastitas Borealis in the direction of the north pole, and north polar cap rms roughnesses on the order of 2.5-3.0 deg. Trends in radar reflectivity suggest a decreasing surface density with increasing latitude, consistent with a layer of seasonal CO2 or H2O snow increasing in depth as the pole is approached.
The analyses of Bruno (1973) and Blanchard (1974, 1975) of the effects of strong radio-frequency interference on the behavior of a phase-locked loop are examined in detail. The lock constraints derived directly from a steady-state trial solution by Bruno and those derived with simplifying assumptions from the same trial solution by Blanchard are compared, and circumstances which may be accommodated by the results of Bruno but not those of Blanchard are pointed out. An explicit approximation is then derived which extends the closed-form approximation of Bruno for the loop phase error to the entire lock region. Results are illustrated for a loop filter representative of a phase-locked loop in a deep space network receiver.
Faraday-rotation data from the linearly polarized 137-MHz beacons of the ATS-1, SIRIO, and Kiku-2 geosynchronous satellites are used to determine the ionospheric corrections to the range and Doppler data for interplanetary spacecraft navigation. The JPL operates the Deep Space Network of tracking stations for NASA; these stations monitor Faraday rotation with dual orthogonal, linearly polarized antennas, Teledyne polarization tracking receivers, analog-to-digital converter/scanners, and other support equipment. Computer software examines the Faraday data, resolves the pi ambiguities, constructs a continuous Faraday-rotation profile and converts the profile to columnar zenith total electron content at the ionospheric reference point; a second program computes the line-of-sight ionospheric correction for each pass of the spacecraft over each tracking complex. Line-of-sight ionospheric electron content using mapped Faraday-rotation data is compared with that using dispersive Doppler data from the Voyager spacecraft; a difference of about 0.4 meters, or 5 x 10 to the 16th electrons/sq m is obtained. The technique of determining the electron content of interplanetary plasma by subtraction of the ionospheric contribution is demonstrated on the plasma torus surrounding the orbit of Io.
TRISCAN scanning algorithm improves alinement between boresight of radar antenna and target. Algorithm originally developed for digitally pointed antennas in deep-space network; however, is possibly used in locating radio sources on Earth. TRISCAN estimates coordinate errors in hour angle and declination between predicted and true locations of radio source.
Progress in the development and operations of the Deep Space Network is reported including develoments in Earth-based radio technology as applied to other research programs. These programs are: geodynamics, astrophysics, and the radio search for extraterrestrial intelligence in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The continuing efforts of the Deep Space Network in support of Pioneer Mission Operations during the cruise phases of the Pioneers 6 through 11 spacecraft and Pioneer Venus orbital operations are discussed.
The increased bandwidth and sensitivity of the DSN maser-based receiver systems along with the increase in worldwide microwave spectrum usage dictated the need for employing additional measures to protect these systems from RFI (radio frequency inerference). Both in-band and out-of-band microwave signals at the input of the Deep Space Network (DSN) traveling wave masers (TWM) can adversely affect the maser performance in a variety of ways. Filters fabricated from superconducting materials operating below their superconducting transition temperature (Tc) possess the most potential for providing the necessary RFI protection without degrading the system performance.