Mars Express Bistatic Radar Experiment Operations Plan and Report 12 December 2005 Summary ======= DSN Antenna: 63 Pass: 0925 Orbit: 2458 Orbit Start Time: 2005-12-11T19:48:52 HGA Pointing: Inertial Specular Condition: 2005-12-12T02:23:00 ERT Target: (47.61N, 133.98E, 3381981 m) Incidence/Reflection Angle: 67.35 deg Slant Range: 11815 km Slew Angle: 45.29 deg Doppler (carrier, fd): -29444 Hz Doppler (echo, fr): -10600 Hz Doppler Difference (fdd): -18844 Hz Earth-Mars Distance: 9.294E10 m Set Up ====== Gene Goltz and Danny Kahan provided RSSG support; Jesse Velasco was the NOPE. Dick Simpson consulted a couple times by telephone from Stanford. Operations Notes ================ The BSR activity followed immediately after a DSS 63 MEX tracking and gravity pass. It appears that the X-RCP noise diode was incorrectly set during the pre-cal. The setting during the previous pass was MFQ=20; the fourth command in Pre-Cal Step-05 should have reset MFQ=ON, but there is no record in the NMC log of such a command. That means the X-RCP noise diode would have run at 50% duty cycle during the pre-cal. The X-LCP noise diode was set to MFQ=ON at 21:51:21 and the X-LCP calibrations are correct. The same command was finally issued to the X-RCP noise diode at Step-13 (22:16:17) so that the X-RCP mini-cals and post-cal were correct. It appears from the quick-look processing that the S-RCP noise diode was not turned on while the ambient load was connected during the post-cal. This is confirmed by the NMC log. Instead of "DC02 SNT E" at 03:24:06, the command issued was "DC02 DISC," which would have disconnected the closed loop receiver (and noise diode controller) from the S-RCP channel. There is 1.5 dB peak-to-peak modulation on the X-Band carrier during the pre- experiment BCAL. There may also be modulation on the S-Band carrier, but the amplitude is much less. Data Acquisition ================ The set up period began at 345/21:10. The station was ready to begin the pre-cal procedure less than 20 minutes later. RSRs were configured as in Table 1: Table 1 --------------------------------------------- RSR Channel Mode ATT FGAIN Operator dB ----- ------- ---- ---- ----- --------------- RSR1A S-LCP 1-W auto 60 Kahan RSR1B X-LCP 1-W auto 60 Kahan RSR2A S-RCP 1-W auto 68 Goltz RSR2B X-RCP 1-W auto 60 Goltz RSR subchannels (SCHAN) were defined as follows: Table 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Subchannel Sample Rate Comments ---------- ----------- --------------------------------------------- 1 1 ksps 2 8 ksps 3 25 ksps Primary recording bandwidth 4 100 ksps Backup recording Table 3 lists ADC amplitude levels read from RSR displays during the experiment; these were provided by Danny Kahan. Where available, signal-to- noise ratios, frequency offsets, and other measurements are also listed. Times are in UTC read from a wall clock and may not reflect actual times when configurations changed. "Steps" are as defined in the briefing message. Acronyms and abbreviations are explained after Table 3. Table 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIME (ERT) RSR1A RSR1B RSR2A RSR2B COMMENTS 2005-12-11 S-LCP X-LCP S-RCP X-RCP ADC ADC ADC ADC (dB) (dB) (dB) (dB) ---------- ------ ------ ------ ------ -------------------------------------- 21:20 60 60 60 68 FGAIN settings (dB) Weather = clear ************ PRE-CAL ************ 21:25 -10.0 -9.9 -9.6 -9.9 Step 1: all to sky RSR attenuators reset using auto 21:29 -9.9 -0.2 -9.6 -0.1 Step 2: X-Band to AMB 21:30 -0.5 -0.1 -9.5 -0.2 Step 3: S-LCP to AMB 21:31 -0.5 -0.1 -0.2 -0.1 Step 4: X-RCP to AMB Ambient load physical temperatures: S1=14.50, S2=14.94, X1=13.00 21:32 22.5 31.5 19.5 24.0 Attenuator settings after re-auto Weather: T=07.39C, H=29.59%, P=933.52 -10.1 -8.8 -9.7 -9.7 ADC amplitudes (dB) 21:35 -10.1 -8.7 -9.6 -9.6 Step 5: configure DTT01 and DTT02 Begin 25 kHz recordings 21:40 -10.1 -8.8 -9.6 -9.1 Step 6: X-RCP ND on 21:45 -10.3 -21.1 -9.7 -16.8 Step 7: X-Band to sky 21:50 -10.2 -21.1 -9.6 -21.9 Step 8: X-RCP ND off 21:55 -10.2 -17.6 -9.7 -21.9 Step 9: X-LCP ND on DSS 63 confirms 12.5 noise diode 22:00 -10.3 -8.5 -9.7 -9.6 Step 10: X-Band to AMB Ambient load physical temperatures: S1=14.94, S2=14.94, X1=15.69 22:05 -10.1 -8.7 -9.7 -9.6 Step 11: X-LCP ND off 22:10 -10.2 -21.2 -9.8 -21.9 Step 12: B-Band to sky 22:15 -10.1 -21.2 -9.3 -22.0 Step 13: S-RCP ND on 22:20 -10.2 -21.1 -17.3 -21.9 Step 14: S-RCP to sky 22:25 -10.1 -21.1 -21.4 -22.0 Step 15: S-RCP ND off DSS 63 confirms 12.5 noise diode 22:30 -9.7 -21.1 -21.4 -22.0 Step 16: S-LCP ND on 22:35 -17.2 -21.1 -21.4 -21.9 Step 17: S-LCP to sky 22:40 -21.4 -21.2 -21.4 -22.0 Step 18: S-LCP ND off Ambient load physical temperatures: S1=14.88, S2=14.88, X1=13.81 22:45 -21.5 -21.2 -21.4 -21.9 Antenna going to point; end 25 kHz record *********** Beginning of Track *********** 2005-12-12 ---------- 00:10 -21.1 -20.7 -21.1 -20.9 Tracking 00:59 -20.9 -20.4 -20.8 -20.2 begin 25 kHz record 01:30 +1000 16000 +1000 16000 Enter RSR frequency offsets (Hz) *********** MINI-CAL #1 *********** 01:48 -20.4 -20.0 -20.7 -14.2 Step 1: X-RCP ND on DSS 63 confirms 12.5 noise diode; Brief echoes seen, S+X rcp 01:51 -20.3 -19.9 -17.0 -20.1 Step 2: XR ND off, SR ND on 01:54 -20.5 -17.1 -20.6 -19.9 Step 3: SR ND off, XL ND on 01:57 -16.7 -19.8 -20.5 -20.1 Step 4: XL ND off, SL ND on 02:00 -20.4 -19.9 -20.5 -20.0 Step 5: S-LCP ND off *********** BSR *********** 02:08 -20.2 -19.7 -20.4 -19.8 begin 100 kHz record 02:23 -19.7 -19.5 -20.3 -19.6 peak echoes seen 02:38 -19.7 -19.1 -20.1 -19.4 end 100 kHz record *********** MINI-CAL #2 *********** 02:50 -19.7 -18.3 -19.7 -13.8 Step 1: X-RCP ND on DSS 63 confirms 12.5 noise diode 02:53 -19.6 -17.9 -16.5 -18.6 Step 2: XR ND off, SR ND on 02:56 -19.6 -15.9 -19.5 -18.4 Step 3: SR ND off, XL ND on 02:59 -16.3 -17.7 -19.5 -18.2 Step 4: XL ND off, SL ND on 03:02 -19.3 -17.7 -19.5 -18.0 Step 5: SL ND off *********** POST-CAL *********** 03:10 antenna to zenith 03:18 -10.3 -9.0 -9.9 -9.7 Step 1: all to AMB Ambient load physical temperatures: S1=13.06, S2=13.31, X1=11.44 03:21 -10.2 -8.9 -9.8 -8.7 Step 2: X-RCP ND on 03:24 -10.2 -8.9 -9.7 -9.6 Step 3: XR ND off, SR ND on 03:27 -10.2 -8.6 -9.9 -9.5 Step 4: SR ND off, XL ND on 03:30 -9.6 -8.9 -9.7 -9.5 Step 5: XL ND off, SL ND on 03:33 -16.9 -21.3 -21.6 -21.8 Step 6: all to sky 03:36 -21.3 -17.7 -21.5 -21.9 Step 7: SL ND off, XL ND on 03:39 -21.3 -21.4 -17.4 -21.9 Step 8: XL ND off, SR ND on 03:42 -21.4 -21.3 -21.4 -14.4 Step 9: SR ND off, XR ND on 03:45 -21.3 -21.4 -21.6 -21.9 Step 10: XR ND off Ambient load physical temperatures: S1=13.00, S2=13.31, X1=11.44 Weather: T=01.11C, H=48.36%, P=934.35, clear 03:50 End 25 kHz record AMB = ambient load BOT = Beginning of Track CONSCAN = conical scan tracking CW = continuous wave (carrier only) EOT = End of Track FRO = frequency offset HGA = high-gain antenna LOS = loss of signal ND = noise diode No = noise power Pc = carrier power S1 = ambient load for S-RCP S2 = ambient load for S-LCP SL = S-LCP SR = S-RCP TLM = telemetry X1 = Ambient load for both X-band channels XL = X-LCP XR = X-RCP Dick Simpson Added acronyms: 2006-01-12