Ulysses navigation at Jupiter encounterThe Ulysses spacecraft encountered Jupiter in February 1992, to provide a gravity assist for its prime mission over the poles of the sun. Orbit determination performed before the nominal final targeting maneuver resulted in the maneuver being cancelled. A surprisingly large Jupiter ephemeris error resulted in a slightly different encounter than planned, but one still meeting requirements. In an accompanying experiment, an alternative method of processing two-way range data was demonstrated, showing that orbit solutions obtained from only range and Doppler data can approach the accuracy of solutions based on Very Long Baseline Interferometry, range and Doppler data. Post-encounter reconstruction of the spacecraft orbit shows that the Jupiter-relative position of the spacecraft is known to within 3 kilometers, and that the Jupiter ephemeris at the time of encounter has an uncertainty of 11, 12, and .8 kilometers in the transverse, normal, and radial directions relative to Jupiter's orbit plane.
Document ID
19930029297
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Mcelrath, Timothy P. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Tucker, Bernadette (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Criddle, Kevin E. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Menon, Prem R. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Higa, Earl S. (JPL Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 15, 2013
Publication Date
August 1, 1992
Subject Category
Space Communications, Spacecraft Communications, Command And Tracking