Orbit Determination Accuracies Using Satellite-to-Satellite Tracking

The results are reported of the ATS-6/GEOS-3 and the ATS-6 NIMBUS-6 satellite-to-satellite orbit determination experiments. NASA intends to use the tracking data relay satellite system for operational orbit determination of NASA satellites. Hence, in the near future, satellite-to-satellite tracking data will be routinely processed to obtain orbits. The satellite-to-satellite tracking system used in the ATS-6/NIMBUS-6 and ATS-6/GEOS-3 experiments performed with a resolution of 1 to 2 m in range and less than 1 mm/s in range rate for a 10-s averaging. A Bayesian least squares estimation technique utilizing independent ranging to the synchronous relay satellite was determined to be the most effective procedure for estimating orbits from satellite-to-satellite tracking data. The use of this technique yields estimates of user satellite orbits which are comparable in accuracy to what is usually obtained from ground based systems.     

ATS-6 Millimeter Wave Propagation and Communications Experiments at 20 and 30 GHz

The Applications Technology Satellite (ATS-6) Millimeter Wave Experiment, developed and implemented by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, has provided the first direct measurements of 20-and 30-GHz Earth-space links from an orbiting satellite. Studies at eleven locations in the continental United States were directed at an evaluation of rain attenuation effects, scintillations, depolarization, site diversity, coherence bandwidth, and analog and digital communications techniques In addition to direct measurements on the 20-and 30-GHz links, methods of attenuation prediction with radars, rain gauges, and radiometers were developed and compared with the directly measured attenuation. This paper presents a review of the major results of the first year of measurements with ATS-6, with emphasis on the impact of the measurements on millimeter wave space systems design.     

ATS-6 Experiment Summary

The ATS-6 is the most advanced experimental satellite that has evolved from the Application Technology Satellite Program conducted and implemented by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA/GSFC). This project utilizes a state-of-the-art spacecraft and ground terminal network to perform advance studies and to conduct technological demonstrations in a large number of scientific areas. The design and implementation of this unique spacecraft permitted multiple experimentation simultaneously. The control of the spacecraft is performed at ATS Operational Control Center (ATSOCC) located at NASA/GSFC. Experimentation which was performed covered a wide spectrum of communications, technological, meterorological, and scientific subjects. Three principal ground terminals are utilized to assist the experimenters to acquire data. Data reduction and analysis are performed by the many facilities at NASA/GSFC in support of the experimenters.     

TDRSS Telecommunications Payload: An Overview

The telecommunications payload is described for the tracking and data relay satellite system (TDRSS). The salient design features of the electronic equipment, as well as the performance requirements that such equipment must satisfy to fulfill NASA and Western Union communication functions are presented. Operational characteristics associated with the single and multiple access channels used to relay information to and from users are also highlighted.     

ATS-6 Technical Aspects of the Health/Education Telecommunications Experiment

The Health/Education Telecommunications (HET) Experiment involved six different experiments conducted under the auspices of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) with technical assistance from NASA. The HET Experiment on ATS-6 was operated and controlled from a network coordination center in Denver, Colo., which included a 4-and 6-GHz Earth station. The HET Experiment used remote Earth terminals with 3-m-diameter dishes having a 35 dB gain at 2.5 GHz. In addition, comprehensive terminals operating at both C-band and S-band were used for communications with Alaska. The total network involved a complex of satellite and land links at C-band, S-band, and very high frequency (VHF), using the ATS-1, ATS-3, and ATS-6 satellites. The network performance exceeded expectations with remote terminal operations exhibiting a peak-to-peak signal to weighted rms noise ratio of 49 dB at least 99 percent of the time. The remote site operators performed well and were well motivated although they had little previous technical experience.     

基于中继测量的环月探测器定轨能力分析

嫦娥四号月球探测拟首次实现月球背面的软着陆,测控与数传依赖地月L2平动点的中继卫星,并有望获取四程测量与星间测量数据。对基于中继测量的环月探测器测定轨能力进行了仿真分析,结果表明,中继卫星可较好地实现环月探测器连续跟踪;在定轨能力方面,中继卫星自身轨道精度是制约环月探测器定轨精度的重要因素,当跟踪弧段达到5h以上时,定轨精度趋于稳定,但轨道精度较中继卫星的轨道精度相差1个量级;对于星间链路测量,除中继卫星自身的轨道精度外,星钟的稳定性是制约定轨精度的另一个重要因素,如果辅助以每天1h的地基跟踪亦可实现优于百m的定轨精度。     

Low-cost TDRSS communications for NASA's long duration balloonproject

A transponder and RF ground support equipment that are making tracking and data relay satellite system (TDRSS) communications available to lower budget NASA projects are discussed. The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)/Wallops Flight Facility's long duration balloon project (LDBP) will be the first to take advantage of this TDRSS user hardware for communications through the TDRSS S-band multiple access system during their around-the-world scientific balloon flight campaigns. The transponder is one tenth the cost of the current generation space-qualified transponder, and the TDRSS user RF test set (TURFTS) is less than one half the cost of the currently available transponder test equipment     

ATS-6 Radio Frequency Interference Measurement Experiment

The frequency band from 5.925 to 6.425 GHz is served by fixed satellites and by terrestrial microwave links. There is a possibility of microwave links pointed at the horizon causing interference to the uplinks of domestic and international communications satellites sharing the same frequency band. A mathematical model has been derived for predicting the fields at geostationary orbit based on the known characteristics and known distribution of the terrestrial microwave relay system. The Applications Technology Satellite-6 (ATS-6) is sensitive to signals in the range of 10 dBW radiated in the direction of the satellite. Signals in the range of 10-30 dBW have been recorded over various parts of the United States.     

ATS-6 Significance

The Applications Technology Satellite (ATS-6), the most powerful, most sophisticated, most versatile communications satellite flown to date, is the last of NASA's experimental satellites intended to demonstrate major advances in communications and spacecraft technology. It is a multipurpose, multidisciplinary spacecraft whose principal objectives were to demonstrate a large, unfurlable antenna structure and precise pointing and attitude control in the synchronous orbit The spacecraft carries 27 different experiments, 3 of which demonstrate users' applications of satellite communications. Significant advances in antenna technology, precise attitude control, materials technology, spacecraft structures, and thermal control have been successfully demonstrated. The most significant accomplishments of the ATS-6 mission are the demonstration of the practicality of satellite broadcasting to small, simple, inexpensive ground stations and the uses of this potential service in the solution of social problems involving education and health care. The success of these initial demonstrations has led ATS-6 experimenters and potential users to incorporate a Public Service Satellite Consortium dedicated to the provision of satellite broadcasting services for educational and health-care applications.     

ATS-6 the Geosynchronous, Very High Resolution Radiometer

The Geosynchronous Very High Resolution Radiometer (GVHRR), flown on the three-axis stabilized geosynchronous satellite, Applications Technology Satellite-6 (ATS-6), collected meteorological data for two months during the summer of 1974. Several hundred images were successfully taken. Data collection terminated when the instrument chopper motor failed. The instrument, its supporting ground equipment, and the data collected in orbit are described.     

ATS-5 Millimeter Wave Propagation Experiment

This paper describes the design of the millimeter wave experiment aboard the ATS-5 satellite. This equipment is the first millimeter wave communications equipment in space. The function of the equipment is to provide earthspace propagation data at Ku- and Ka- band frequencies. The designs of the phase locked Ka- band receiver, the Ku-band transmitter, the antennas, and the telemetry and processing equipment are described. Mechanical and environmental problems are also discussed.     

Recent progress in satellite radio beacon studies with particular emphasis on the ATS-6 radio beacon experiment

In May 1974 a new era in satellite radio beacon studies of the ionosphere opened with the ATS-6 Radio Beacon Experiment. The history of radio beacon studies up to that time is reviewed briefly and the particular features of the ATS-6 beacon are discussed together with the basic theory required to interpret the measurements. The main emphasis is on the ATS-6 beacon experiment but other beacon data are discussed which provide the necessary background. The diurnal and seasonal variations of the total electron content and the plasmaspheric content are presented for the U.S.A. and Europe. In winter the plasmaspheric content over the Western Hemisphere maximizes at night while in Europe and the Pacific it appears to peak near noon. This is thought to be caused by flow of plasma from the local and conjugate ionospheres. Night maxima of total electron content are found showing that they do not arise from depletions of the plasmaspheric content. The plasmaspheric content is highly sensitive to solarterrestrial disturbance, it reaches a minimum on the third day of a storm and may take between 10 and 20 days of partial filling and emptying to recover. Traveling disturbances in U.S.A., Europe, and India show similarities of speeds but not of direction. Beacon observations of micropulsations in total content, tropospheric fluctuations and Fresnel diffraction by intense ionospheric irregularities are discussed together with radio wave scintillations and some applications of beacon radio data to communications and navigation.     

A geopause satellite system concept

The forthcoming 10 cm range tracking accuracy capability holds much promise in connection with a number of Earth and ocean dynamics investigations. These include a set of earthquake-related studies of fault motions and the Earth's tidal, polar and rotational motions, as well as studies of the gravity field and the sea surface topography which should furnish basic information about mass and heat flow in the oceans. The state of the orbit analysis art is presently at about the 10 m level, or about two orders of magnitude away from the 10 cm range accuracy capability expected in the next couple of years or so. The realization of a 10 cm orbit analysis capability awaits the solution of four kinds of problems, namely, those involving orbit determination and the lack of sufficient knowledge of tracking system biases, the gravity field, and tracking station locations. The Geopause satellite system concept offers promising approaches in connection with all of these areas. A typical Geopause satellite orbit has a 14 hour period, a mean height of about 4.6 Earth radii, and is nearly circular, polar, and normal to the ecliptic. At this height only a relatively few gravity terms have uncertainties corresponding to orbital perturbations above the decimeter level. The orbit s, in this sense, at the geopotential boundary, i.e., the geopause. The few remaining environmental quantities which may be significant can be determined by means of orbit analyses and accelerometers. The Geopause satellite system also provides the tracking geometery and coverage needed for determining the orbit, the tracking system biases and the station locations. Studies indicate that the Geopause satellite, tracked with a 2 cm ranging system from nine NASA affiliated sites, can yield decimeter station location accuracies. Five or more fundamental stations well distributed in longitude can view Geopause over the North Pole. This means not only that redundant data are available for determining tracking system biases, but also that both components of the polar motion can be observed frequently. When tracking Geopause, the NASA sites become a two-hemisphere configuration which is ideal for a number of Earth physics applications such as the observation of the polar motion with a time resolution of a fraction of a day. Geopause also provides the basic capability for satellite-to-satellite tracking of drag-free satellites for mapping the gravity field and altimeter satellites for surveying the sea surface topography. Geopause tracking a coplanar, drag-free satellite for two months to 0.03 mm per second accuracy can yield the geoid over the entire Earth to decimeter accuracy with 2.5° spatial resolution. Two Geopause satellites tracking a coplanar altimeter satellite can then yield ocean surface heights above the geoid with 7° spatial resolution every two weeks. These data will furnish basic boundary condition information about mass and heat flows in the oceans which are important in shaping weather and climate.     

Zenith Pass Problem of Inter-satellite Linkage Antenna Based on Program Guidance Method

While adopting an elevation-over-azimuth architecture by an inter-satellite linkage antenna of a user satellite, a zenith pass problem always occurs when the antenna is tracing the tracking and data relay satellite （TDRS）. This paper deals with this problem by way of, firstly, introducing movement laws of the inter-satellite linkage to predict the movement of the user satellite antenna followed by analyzing the potential pass moment and the actual one of the zenith pass in detail. A number of specific orbit altitudes for the user satellite that can remove the blindness zone are obtained. Finally, on the base of the predicted results from the movement laws of the inter-satellite linkage, the zenith pass tracing strategies for the user satellite antenna are designed under the program guidance using a trajectory preprocessor. Simulations have confirmed the reasonability and feasibility of the strategies in dealing with the zenith pass problem.     

引入姿态误差的中继跟踪预报

航天器的姿态控制误差是客观存在的,由于中继终端跟踪能力有限,在某些情况下,姿态误差会导致跟踪中断,从而造成测控资源的浪费并影响正常执行任务。针对姿态控制误差影响中继跟踪的问题,通过对简化姿态旋转矩阵求导,推导出姿态误差与中继终端框架角和角速度的转换关系,得到引入姿态误差的中继终端跟踪预报模型。利用该模型对某航天器中继跟踪情况进行仿真计算,表明：考虑姿态误差情况下,中继跟踪弧段比无扰动情况要短一些,跟踪时间减少的时段发生在天线方位轴与航天器到中继星连线的夹角较小的时候。     

火星中继应答机技术现状及发展

火星中继已作为火星探测重要组成部分,被美国NASA(National Aeronautics and Space Administration,国家航空航天局)和ESA(European Space Agency,欧空局)广泛应用于火星EDL(Entry,Descent and Landing,进入、下降和着陆)以及火星表面探测中。针对该情况,介绍了火星中继系统的组成和工作情况。结合NASA和ESA火星探测的成功经验和成果,重点对火星轨道器和着陆器的中继应答机的性能进行了梳理和分析,并对该技术的后续发展进行了展望。基于此,可为我国自主火星探测提供借鉴和参考。     

下一代数据中继卫星系统发展思考

通过系统阐述中继卫星系统的发展过程,给出了主要国家和组织的中继卫星系统技术体制和现状.再结合卫星、载人航天器和深空探索的未来发展趋势,分析了下一代中继卫星系统的发展需求.在此基础上,从体系结构、卫星平台、链路调制体制、网络协议等方面,探讨并给出了下一代中继卫星系统的发展趋势和技术途径.为满足未来近地、深空航天任务,以及临近、低空快速移动用户的不同要求,节约系统成本,下一代中继卫星系统将向专业化和与其他系统融合的方向发展:星间链路将增加激光链路,数据速率可达到10 Gbit/s以上;多址业务成为主用,同时支持用户数能力将极大提高;对于链路调制体制,在采用CR(Cognitive Radio,认知无线电)和SDR(Software Defined Radio,软件定义无线电)技术的基础上,可实现实时自适应调整和根据需求加载配置;数据传输将采用网络化方式,天地间构成一体化DTN(Delay Tolerant Network,容延迟网络).     

ATS-6 Radio Beacon Experiment: The First Year

The Radio Beacon Experiment is designed to measure the total electron content and ionospheric content between the satellite and any observer within its field of view. Since Applications Technology Satellite-6 (ATS-6) is visible from about 43 percent of the Earth's surface, an international community of observers have made measurements using it. The radio parameters have to be measured to an accuracy of a few percent, which requires good system calibration and stability. The spaceborne beacon transmits signals on frequencies of 40, 140, and 360 MHz with amplitude modulations of 1 MHz and/or 0.1 MHz for the measurement of modulation phase, Faraday rotation, and amplitude. The overall system objectives and requirements are discussed along with the design of the ATS-6 transmitter and the receiver in Boulder, Colo. The role of the principal investigator in the context of the international program is considered with particular reference to the joint National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/Max Planck Institute (MPI) observation program. Monthly median hourly values of total content, plasmaspheric content, and shape factor show distinct diurnal and seasonal variations. A specific event is described to illustrate the use of a spaced receiver network.