Simultaneous tracking of two spacecraft in orbit about a distant planet, by two widely-separated earth-based radio antennas, provides more accurate positioning information than can be obtained by tracking each spacecraft separately. A demonstration of this tracking technique, referred to as Same-Beam Interferometry (SBI), is in progress using the Magellan and Pioneer 12 orbiters at Venus. Signals from both spacecraft fall within the same beamwidth of the earth-based tracking antennas. The plane-of-sky position difference between spacecraft is precisely determined by double-differenced phase measurements. This data type complements line-of-sight Doppler. Data were collected from Magellan and Pioneer 12 on Aug. 11-12, 1990, shortly after Magellan was inserted into Venus orbit. Orbits for both spacecraft were fit with one day data arc using Doppler and SBI data and compared to orbits fit to only Doppler data. The Doppler plus SBI orbits show improved orbit-to-orbit consistency over the Doppler-only orbits.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Orbit determination for Magellan and Pioneer 12 using same-beam interferometry


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Conference ; 1991 ; Durango, CO, United States


    Publication date :

    1992-01-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English


    Keywords :



    Precise tracking of the Magellan and Pioneer Venus orbiters by same-beam interferometry

    Border, James S. / Folkner, William M. / Kahn, Robert D. et al. | NTRS | 1991


    High-Precision Magellan Orbit Determination for Stereo Image Processing

    Chodas, P. W. / Lewicki, S. A. / Hensley, S. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1993



    Aerobraking the Magellan spacecraft in Venus orbit

    Doody, D. F. / International Academy of Astronautics | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1995