A new high performance multipurpose satellite tracking system

The European Space Agency's (ESA) multipurpose satellite tracking system is introduced. The system is able to perform accurate satellite ranging and Doppler measurements for a variety of mission types, i.e., from near-Earth satellites to deep space probes. The ranging signal is analyzed and described in an analytical manner from which the limits of the system performance are derived. A model of the overall system is presented and a few simulation results obtained thereby are compared with measurements performed with the ESA's Giotto and Hipparcos scientific missions