Mars Express Bistatic Radar Experiment Operations Plan and Report 04 November 2005 Summary ======= DSN Antenna: 63 Pass: 887 Orbit: 2325 Orbit Start Time: 2005-11-04T14:30:04 HGA Pointing: Inertial Specular Condition (ERT): 2005-11-04T19:10:00 Target Latitude (deg N): 41.54 Longitude (deg W): 94.82 (Rp (km): 3389.053 Slant Range (km): 7085 Slew Angle (deg): 65.88 Doppler (carrier, fd; Hz): -49955 Doppler (echo, fr; Hz): -45163 Doppler Difference (fdd; Hz): -4792 Earth-Mars Distance (m): 6.984E+10 Experiment Set Up ================= This experiment was conducted using Madrid's DSS 63. The support team at JPL included Danny Kahan and Gene Goltz. Dick Simpson was present for part of the time. Jess Velasco was the NOPE. Performance Problems ==================== The original schedule had BOT near the end of Slew #1. Because the pre-cal was completed more than an hour early, the station was able to go to point before the slew began. This provided some de facto BCAL time as well as more time for MiniCal #1. Some time was saved at the end by omitting more than 50 minutes of telemetry and going directly to the post-cal. rsops2, which is used by the RSSG to monitor RSR1, failed at about 19:15. Danny Kahan was able to use the "gconnect" function on another work station to regain control of the RSR. It appears that there was no impact on the data. There was interference to the X-RCP echo during approximately 19:17:30- 19:18:30 and to the noise window during approximately 19:20:15-19:22:10. This was probably from MGS. None of the other three channels was affected. The carrier is in the same frequency window as the surface echo until about 19:04. 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 Kahan RSR1B X-LCP 1-W auto 60 Kahan RSR2A S-RCP 1-W auto 60 Goltz RSR2B X-RCP 1-W auto 68 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 recorded by Kahan and Goltz and transcribed by Simpson. Times are in UTC and should be considered approximate. "Steps" are as defined in the briefing message. Acronyms and abbreviations are explained after Table 3. Table 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Step/ RSR1A RSR1B RSR2A RSR2B Time Action S-LCP X-LCP S-RCP X-RCP Ancillary Information ----- -------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ---------------------------------- fgain 60 60 60 68 **********************************_PRE-CAL_********************************** att auto 10.0 20.0 Attenuators after AUTO setting 01 -9.8 -9.9 -10.2 -9.7 ADC amplitudes (dB) 02 -9.8 -0.1 -10.1 -0.2 03 -0.7 -0.1 -10.2 -0.2 04 -0.7 -0.1 -0.4 -0.1 att auto 21.0 31.5 20.0 24.0 Attenuators after reset 16:20 05 -9.9 -9.3 -10.1 -9.9 Begin 25 kHz recording (SCHAN=3) Physical AMB temperatures: S1=15.62, s2=17.00, X1=14.34 Weather: T=11.56C P=935.31 mb H=45.35% Sky=partly cloudy 16:25 06 -10.0 -9.5 -10.0 -8.9 16:30 07 -10.0 -21.6 -10.0 -15.0 16:35 08 -10.1 -21.7 -10.1 -22.0 16:40 09 -10.0 -18.2 -10.1 -22.2 Confirm 12.5 K diodes 16:45 10 -10.0 -9.1 -10.1 -9.9 Physical AMB temperatures: S1=15.62 S2=17.12, X1=14.25 16:50 11 -9.9 -9.4 -10.1 -9.8 16:55 12 -10.0 -21.7 -9.9 -22.0 17:00 13 -10.0 -21.7 -9.6 -22.2 17:05 14 -9.9 -21.6 -17.7 -22.1 17:10 15 -10.0 -21.7 -21.6 -22.2 Confirm 12.5 K diode 17:15 16 -9.6 -21.8 -21.6 -22.0 17:20 17 -17.5 -21.8 -21.7 -22.1 17:25 18 -21.0 -21.7 -21.5 -22.0 Physical AMB temperatures: S1=15.62, S2=16.94, X1=14.25 17:30 -21.8 -22.0 Stop RSR 25 kHz recording ************************************ BOT ************************************ 17:51 -18.6 -16.3 BOT (no FROs) 18:15 -19.7 -19.2 Begin recording 25 kHz (SCHAN=3) 18:19 -2490 Signal present; offset (Hz) ********************************_MINI-CAL #1 ******************************** 18:25 01 -19.6 -19.0 -19.8 -14.2 XR ND on 18:28 02 -19.7 -19.0 -16.7 -19.6 XR ND off; SR ND on -1227 -2504 Carrier offset (Hz) 18:31 03 -19.8 -16.9 -19.9 -19.1 SR ND off, XL ND on 18:34 04 -16.6 -19.2 -19.9 -19.2 XL ND off, SL ND on 18:37 05 -19.9 -19.3 -20.0 -19.2 SL ND off ************************************ BSR ************************************ 18:55 -20.3 -20.0 Begin 100 kHz recording (SCHAN=4) 19:10 -20.6 -20.1 Predicted maximum echo 19:25 -20.9 -20.5 End 100 kHz recording (SCHAN=4) ********************************* MINICAP #2 ******************************** 19:41 01 -20.1 -20.2 -21.1 -14.2 XR ND on; confirm 12.5K ND 19:44 02 -20.2 -20.2 -21.3 -19.8 XR ND off; SR ND on 19:47 03 -20.3 -17.6 -21.4 -20.6 SR ND off; XL ND on 19:50 04 -16.7 -20.3 -21.5 -20.6 XL ND off; SL ND on 19:53 05 -20.3 -20.5 -21.3 -20.5 SL ND off 20:30 -21.7 -22.1 EOT; move DSS 63 to zenith ********************************* POST-CAL ********************************* 20:33 DSS 63 at zenith 20:39 01 -10.2 -9.4 -10.2 -9.8 Physical AMB temperatures: S1=15.19; S2=15.81; X1=13.88 20:42 02 -9.9 -9.4 -10.4 -9.8 20:45 03 -9.9 -9.4 -9.9 -9.8 20:48 04 -10.0 -9.1 -10.3 -9.8 20:51 05 -9.5 -9.4 -10.3 -9.8 20:54 06 -17.4 -21.7 -22.0 -22.0 20:57 07 -21.0 -18.1 -22.0 -22.0 21:00 08 -21.0 -21.7 =17.9 -22.1 21:03 09 -20.9 -21.7 -22.1 -14.8 21:06 10 -20.9 -21.7 -22.1 -22.1 Physical AMB temperaturee: S1=15.12, S2=15.56, X1=13.81 Weather: T=8.22C, P=937.68, H=56.31 Sky Conditions = clear 21:10 stop recording; EOA 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 Updated Summary: 2006-05-28 Updated Performance Problems: 2006-05-29