Reliable and effective communications with a Venus Aerobot are critical to return meaningful volumes of science and health & status data, as well as to perform advanced radio navigation [Cheung et al, 2019]. While direct-to-Earth tracking was demonstrated on Vega using global VLBI techniques, the available data rates (~ 4 bps) and tracking accuracy goals (15 km, 1 m/s )1,2 do not satisfy today’s expectations for science investigations of the Venusian atmosphere. Hence, future missions are expected to use an orbiter as both a high-capacity communications link and for more precise tracking. In this paper we address the unique challenges of providing long-term, highly-accurate tracking and high capacity data transfer between an Orbiter and an Aerobot that is otherwise hidden by the clouds in the Venusian atmosphere, following a flight path around the planet in the super-rotating wind fields. Radio navigation tracking performance has been modeled for the Aerobot/Orbiter system, using an existing singlefrequency transponder, supplemented by a precision oscillator on the orbiter. Communications and power limitations, path delay and other confounding factors are also considered. This analysis confirms that the desired Aerobot tracking accuracy (5 km, 50 cm/s, 1σ) can readily be achieved even with sparse tracking data. We see that we can estimate the Aerobot position and Venusian winds with an average accuracy of 2-4.7 km and 13-33 cm/sec, with a worstcase of ~12 km and ~57 cm/sec (1σ). We also get ~1 cm/sec average wind speed between passes, despite not knowing the detailed history at that level.
NAVIGATION AND COMMUNICATION THROUGH THE VENUSIAN CLOUDS
Proceedings of the 44th Annual American Astronautical Society Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, 2022 ; Kapitel : 27 ; 451-468
2024-01-01
18 pages
Aufsatz/Kapitel (Buch)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Aerobots to Explore Venusian Clouds
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