Mars Express Bistatic Radar Experiment Operations Plan and Report 03 Febuary 2008 Summary ======= DSN Antenna: 63 Pass: 1709 Orbit: 5251 Orbit Start Time: 2008-02-02T22:43:46 HGA Pointing: Specular Start Center End -------- ---------- -------- Specular Condition (ERT): 00:35:00 01:06:00 01:37:00 Target Latitude (deg N): 7.24 22.20 45.88 Longitude (deg E): 70.49 65.01 69.14 Rp (km): 3394. 3394. 3394. Incidence/Reflection Angle (deg): 59.79 60.87 62.77 Slant Range (km): 8853. 6835. 4094. Slew Angle (deg): 60.42 58.27 54.46 Doppler (carrier, fd; Hz): 8380 13573 20337 Doppler (echo, fr; Hz): 24903 34573 44928 Doppler Difference (fdd; Hz): -16522 -21000 -24591 Earth-Mars Distance (m): 1.187E+11 1.187E+11 1.187E+11 Experiment Set Up ================= This experiment was conducted using Madrid's DSS 63. Gene Goltz and Danny Kahan were in the Radio Science Support Area at JPL. Dick Simpson had a cold and checked in by phone from time to time. Performance Problems and Notes ============================== There were puzzlin g changes in the X-RCP noise level; these are indicated by "???" in Table 3. Data Acquisition ================ RSRs were configured as in Table 1. Table 1 ---------------------------------------------------- RSR Channel Mode ATT FGAIN Operator dB ----- ------- ---- ---- ----- ---------------------- RSR1A S-LCP 1-W auto 60 RSR1B X-LCP 1-W auto 60 RSR2A S-RCP 1-W auto 60 RSR2B X-RCP 1-W auto 65 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 -------- ----- --------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ------------------------- Set-Up 21:25 channel 1A 1B 2A 2B 21:25 fgain 60 60 60 65 Pre-Cal 21:41 1 21:42 att auto -9.7 -9.9 -10.0 -10.1 21:43 2 -9.7 -0.2 -10.0 -0.2 21:45 3 -0.5 -0.3 -10.0 -0.3 21:46 4 -0.5 -0.3 -0.5 -0.3 21:47 att auto (26.0) (31.5) (23.0) (31.0) Attenuator settings (dB) -10.0 -9.2 -10.0 -10.0 ADC amplitude (dB) Ambient load phys temps: S1=16.69 S2=16.19 X1=14.62 Weather: T=5C H=33 percent sky=clear 21:50 rec 3 e Begin 25 kHz recording 21:50 5 -10.1 -9.3 -9.9 -9.9 21:55 6 -10.0 -9.1 -9.9 -9.7 22:00 7 -10.0 -21.1 -10.0 -19.7 22:05 8 -10.0 -21.1 -9.8 -22.3 22:10 9 -10.0 -18.0 -10.0 -22.1 Confirm 12.5 ND selection 22:15 10 -9.9 -8.9 -10.0 -10.0 Ambient load phys temps: S1=16.62 S2=16.12 X1=14.56 22:20 11 -9.9 -9.3 -9.8 -10.0 22:25 12 -9.9 -21.1 -9.9 -22.1 22:30 13 -10.0 -21.2 -9.7 -22.2 22:35 14 -10.0 -21.1 -19.5 -22.1 22:40 15 -10.0 -21.0 -21.6 -22.0 Confirm 12.5 ND selection 22:45 16 -9.5 -21.0 -21.6 -22.1 22:50 17 -17.0 -21.0 -21.6 -22.1 22:55 18 -21.1 -21.1 -21.7 -22.1 Ambient load phys temps: S1=16.94 S2=16.06 X1=14.75 23:00 end -21.1 -21.0 -21.5 -22.1 Stop 25 kHz recording 23:15:20 ??? -17.2 23:30 BOT -20.9 -20.5 -21.7 -17.2 resume 25 kHz recording 23:57:44 ??? -20.5 MiniCal1 00:15 1 -20.8 -20.5 -21.6 -16.2 confirm 12.5 ND selection 00:18 2 -20.9 -20.5 -19.4 -17.2 00:21 3 -20.9 -17.6 -21.5 -17.3 00:24 4 -16.9 -20.6 -21.5 -17.1 00:27 5 -20.8 -20.5 -21.5 -17.1 00:30 end -20.9 -20.5 -21.5 -17.1 BSR 00:32 sfro 3/SX +2 +18 +2 +18 Receiver offset (kHz) 00:35 begin BSR -20.8 -20.3 -21.4 -17.3 begin 100 kHz recording 01:37 end BSR -20.5 -19.5 -21.3 -16.9 stop 100 kHz recording MiniCal2 01:45 1 -20.6 -19.7 -21.2 -16.1 confirm 12.5 ND selection 01:48 2 -20.5 -19.3 -19.2 -17.0 01:50:09 ??? -20.4 01:51 3 -20.5 -17.1 -21.1 -20.4 01:54 4 -16.8 -19.6 -21.1 -20.5 01:57 5 -20.5 -19.7 -21.2 -20.6 02:00 end -20.4 -19.7 -21.1 -20.6 02:02 sfro 3/SX 0 0 0 0 Receiver offset (kHz) 02:07:26 ??? -16.8 02:20 EOT/stow -20.2 -19.4 -20.9 -16.7 02:20:43 ??? -21.4 Post-Cal 02:34 1 -9.9 -9.1 -10.0 -9.9 Ambient load phys temps: S1=16.56 S2=15.62 X1=14.25 02:38 2 -10.0 -9.2 -10.0 -9.6 02:41 3 -10.0 -9.2 -9.8 -9.9 02:44 4 -10.0 -8.9 -9.9 -9.9 02:47 5 -9.5 -9.2 -10.1 -9.8 02:50 6 -17.1 -20.8 -21.7 -21.7 02:53 7 -21.1 -17.5 -21.6 -21.7 02:56 8 -21.1 -20.7 -19.3 -21.5 02:59 9 -21.0 -20.5 -21.7 -19.0 03:02 10 -21.1 -20.4 -21.6 -21.2 Ambient load phys temps: S1=16.44 S2=15.62 X1=14.12 Weather: T=5C H=28 percent sky=clear 03:08 rec 3 d 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 from spreadsheet: 2008-05-20