Mars Express Bistatic Radar Experiment Operations Plan and Report 30 May 2006 Summary ======= DSN Antenna: 14 Pass: 1094 Orbit: 3062 Orbit Start Time: 2006-05-29T22:19:27 HGA Pointing: Specular Start End -------- -------- Specular Condition (ERT): 03:57:00 04:48:20 Target Latitude (deg N): -12.77 3.33 Longitude (deg E): -129.40 -146.04 Rp (km): 3394. Incidence/Reflection Angle (deg): 55.03 51.07 Slant Range (km): 9496. 10969. Slew Angle (deg): 69.94 77.87 Doppler (carrier, fd; Hz): 7777. 9462. Doppler (echo, fr; Hz): -16925 -3309 Doppler Difference (fdd; Hz): 24702 12770 Earth-Mars Distance (m): 3.213E+11 Experiment Set Up ================= This experiment was conducted using Goldstone's DSS 14. Gene Goltz, Danny Kahan, and Dick Simpson were in the Radio Science Support Area at JPL; Jesse Velasco was in the NOPE area, at least at the beginning. For the most part, Kahan operated the RSR's and Goltz handled communications. There was a delay in the pre-cal as DSS 14 waited for some resources to become available. Performance Problems and Notes ============================== The X-LCP noise diode appeared to come on shortly after the X-RCP noise diode was turned off (both within Step 8 of the pre-cal). There was no change in levels at Step 9, when it should have been enabled. But it did go off at Step 11, as per the procedure. S-LCP ADC amplitude levels at the end of the pre-cal were not stable, ranging from -18.3 to -20.6 dB. The same thing happened in the second half of the post-cal (levels -16.9 to -18.5 dB). Predicts ended at 05:50; this generates an RSR warning message, but does not affect operation. Steps 5-6 were combined in the post-cal; but the station recognized this, backed up, and corrected the error (at a small loss in time). The NMC log does not contain DSS 14 azimuth and elevation readings after about 03:09. Danny Kahan was able to generate these independently. Data Acquisition ================ RSRs were configured as in Table 1: Table 1 ---------------------------------------------------- RSR Channel Mode ATT FGAIN Operator dB ----- ------- ---- ---- ----- ---------------------- RSR3A S-LCP 1-W auto 60 Kahan RSR3B X-LCP 1-W auto 60 Kahan RSR2A S-RCP 1-W auto 60 Kahan RSR2B X-RCP 1-W auto 60 Kahan RSR subchannels (SCHAN) were defined as follows: Table 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subchannel Sample Rate Comments ---------- ----------- --------------------------------------------- 1 2 ksps backup (not recorded) 2 8 ksps backup (not recorded) 3 25 ksps Primary recording bandwidth 4 100 ksps Backup recording Table 3 lists ADC amplitude levels read from RSR displays during the experiment. Times are in UTC and should be considered approximate. "Steps" are as defined in the briefing message. RSR ATT settings are in units proportional to dB. Acronyms and abbreviations are explained after Table 3. Table 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Activity Time Step # S-LCP X-LCP S-RCP X-RCP Notes / Comments -------- ----- --------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ------------------------ 2006/150 -------- Pre-Cal 01:36 1 01:36 att auto -9.5 -9.8 -10.2 -9.9 All to sky 01:39 2 -10.0 -0.1 -10.0 -0.0 X-Band to AMB 01:40 3 -0.9 -0.1 -10.1 0.0 S-LCP to AMB 01:41 4 -0.9 -0.2 -0.4 -0.1 S-RCP to AMB AMB physical temps: S1=17.88C S2=24.12C X1=16.06C att auto 21.5 23.5 15.5 23.0 Reset ATT (prop to dB) -10.0 -9.9 -10.7 -9.7 Weather confitions: T=76F, H=12 percent sky=clear and calm 01:45 rec 3 e Begin 25 kHz recording 01:47 5 -9.9 -9.8 -10.0 -9.6 Configure DTT's 01:50 6 -10.0 -9.9 -10.0 -9.5 XR ND ON 01:55 7 -10.0 -21.9 -10.1 -20.1 X-Band to sky 02:00 8 -10.0 -19.7 -10.0 -22.6 XR ND OFF DSS14 confirms XL ND off 02:05 9 -10.0 -19.7 -10.1 -22.4 XL ND ON (no change) DSS14 confirms 12.5K ND 02:10 10 -10.0 -9.6 -10.0 -9.9 X-Band to AMB AMB physical temps: S1=17.69C S2=23.88C X1=16.3C 02:15 11 -10.0 -9.7 -10.1 -9.8 XL ND OFF 02:20 12 -10.0 -21.8 -10.1 -22.5 X-Band to sky 02:25 13 -10.0 -21.9 -9.7 -22.5 SR ND ON 02:30 14 -9.9 -21.9 -19.2 -22.4 SR to sky 02:35 15 -10.0 -21.9 -21.8 -22.5 SR ND OFF DSS14 confirms 12.5K ND 02:40 16 -9.8 -21.8 -21.7 -22.4 SL ND ON 02:45 17 -18.3 -21.9 -21.9 -22.4 SL to sky 02:50 18 -19.3 -21.8 -21.7 -22.5 SL ND OFF AMB physical temps: S1=18.56C S2=23.88C X1=16.31C 02:55 end Move antenna to point BOT/AOS 03:04 -20.4 -21.4 -21.5 -21.8 S-Band AOS (ADB amp, dB) 03:05 -20.6 -21.4 -21.4 -21.6 X-Band AOS 03:08 N/A 29.7 44.3 58.8 C/N (dB/Hz) N/A -2093 -1116 -2098 Carrier offset (Hz) DSS14 carrier lock S+X 03:19 15.2 35.6 43.6 65.9 C/N (dB/Hz) -1188 -2361 -1190 -2368 Carrier offset (Hz) SLEW#1 03:29 11.9 33.3 43.2 55.9 C/N (dB/Hz) 03:30 3.8 32.6 41.0 46.2 C/N (dB/Hz) 03:35 DSS 14 S-Band LOS FRO -4200 -21000 -4200 -21000 RSR FRO (SCHAN 3,4; Hz) -20.1 -21.2 -21.4 -20.8 ADC amp (dB) MiniCal1 03:37 1 -20.3 -21.1 -21.3 -19.0 XR ND ON DSS 14 X-Band LOS 03:40 2 -20.4 -21.2 -18.9 -20.8 XR ND OFF; SR ND ON 03:43 3 -20.5 -19.3 -21.3 -21.2 SR ND OFF; XL ND ON 03:46 4 -18.8 -21.1 -21.4 -20.7 XL ND OFF; SL ND ON 03:49 5 -20.5 -21.0 -21.3 -20.7 SL ND OFF 03:52 end BSR 03:56 rec 4 e Begin 100 kHz recording 03:57 Begin spec point track 04:00 -20.4 -21.0 -21.2 -20.7 ADC ampl (dB) 04:18 -20.3 -20.9 -21.1 -20.6 ADC ampl (dB) no yes yes yes carrier detect (SCHAN 2) 04:24-04:27 Poss XL echo near center 04:47-04:54 -20.2 -20.4 -20.8 -20.2 Poss XL echo near +4500 04:58 -19.8 -20.1 -20.7 -20.1 Begin slew back to Earth 04:59 rec 4 d End 100 kHz recording MiniCal2 05:00 1 -19.9 -20.3 -20.6 -18.5 XR ND ON 05:03 2 -19.9 -20.0 -18.6 -20.0 XR ND OFF; SR ND ON 05:06 3 -19.8 -18.4 -20.6 -20.0 SR ND OFF; XL ND ON 05:09 4 -18.5 -19.9 -20.4 -19.8 XL ND OFF; SL ND ON 05:12 5 -19.7 -19.8 -20.4 -19.9 SL ND OFF 05:15 end -19.6 -19.9 -20.3 -20.5 Begin moving to zenith Post-Cal 05:20 FRO 0 0 0 0 All FRO=0 05:25 -18.7 -21.9 -21.7 -22.4 DSS14 at zenith 05:27 1 -10.0 -9.7 -10.0 -9.7 All to AMB AMB physical temps S1=19.31 S2=22.62 X1=18.44 05:30 2 -10.1 -9.5 -10.0 -9.4 XR ND ON 05:33 3 -10.0 -9.7 -9.8 -9.8 XR ND OFF; SR ND ON 05:36 4 -10.1 -9.5 -10.1 -9.7 SR ND OFF; XL ND ON 05:39 5,6 -18.2 -21.9 -21.8 -22.4 XL ND OFF; SL ND ON; All to sky (incorrect) 05:44 5 -9.7 -9.6 -10.0 -9.8 All to AMB 05:46 6 -17.1 -21.9 -21.7 -22.4 All to sky 05:49 7 -18.5 -19.5 -21.7 -22.5 SL ND OFF; XL ND ON 05:52 8 -16.9 -21.9 -19.3 -22.4 XL ND OFF; SR ND ON 05:55 9 -19.1 -21.8 -21.9 -20.0 SR ND OFF; XR ND ON 05:58 10 -19.5 -21.9 -21.9 -22.4 XR ND OFF AMB physical temps: S1=18.94C S2=22.38C X1=18.25C Weather conditions: T=66F H=12 percent sky=clear EOA 06:02 rec 3 d -19.6 -21.9 -21.8 -22.5 Stop 25 kHz recording AMB = ambient load BOT = Beginning of Track CNR = Carrier to noise ratio 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 rcvr = receiver S1 = ambient load for S-RCP S2 = ambient load for S-LCP SL = S-LCP SNR = Signal to noise ratio SR = S-RCP TLM = telemetry X1 = Ambient load for both X-band channels XL = X-LCP XR = X-RCP Dick Simpson Original: 2006-05-30 NMC problem noted: 2006-07-19