Radio frequency interference from near-earth satellites

A pessimistic statistical model was developed for predicting the extent of radio frequency interference (RF1). Based on the assumptions underlying the model, DSN S-band operations can expect one RF1 interruption every 4.1 days, with the average incident lasting 24 s. This implies that 52 or more such satellites, with uncorrelated orbital trajectories, will cause in excess of 5 min of RF1 per day at a DSN station.