NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Multi-spacecraft coherent Doppler and ranging for interplanetary-navigationFuture plans for planetary exploration currently include using multiple spacecraft to simultaneously explore one planet. This never before encountered situation places new demands on tracking systems used to support navigation. One possible solution to the problem of heavy ground resource conflicts is the use of multispacecraft coherent radio metric data, also known as, bent-pipe data. Analysis of the information content of these data types show that the information content of multi-spacecraft Doppler is dependent only on the frequency of the final downlink leg and is independent of the frequencies used on other legs. Numerical analysis shows that coherent bent-pipe data can provide significantly better capability to estimate the location of a lander on the surface of Mars than can direct lander to Earth radio metric data. However, this is complicated by difficulties in separating the effect of a lander position error from that of an orbiter position error for single passes of data.
Document ID
19950021365
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Pollmeier, Vincent M.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 1995
Publication Information
Publication: NASA. Goddard Space Flight Center, Flight Mechanics(Estimation Theory Symposium 1995
Subject Category
Space Communications, Spacecraft Communications, Command And Tracking
Accession Number
95N27786
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
No Preview Available