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Komarek, T. A.

Publications and source records attributed to Komarek, T. A..

10 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2004

The 2009 Mars Telecommunications Orbiter

The first spacecraft with a primary function of providing communication links while orbiting a foreign planet has begun development for a launch in 2009. NASA's Mars Telecommunications Orbiter would use three radio bands to magnify the benefits of other future Mars missions and enable some types of missions otherwise impractical. It would serve as the Mars hub for a growing interplanetary Internet. And it would pioneer the use of planet-to-planet laser communications to demonstrate the possibility for even greater networking capabilities in the future. With Mars Telecommunications Orbiter overhead in the martian sky, the Mars Science Laboratory rover scheduled to follow the orbiter to Mars by about a month could send to Earth more than 100 times as much data per day as it could otherwise send. The orbiter will be designed for the capability of relaying up to 15 gigabits per day from the rover, equivalent to more than three full compact discs each day. The same benefits would accrue to other future major Mars missions from any nation.

Wilson, G. R.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Radio tracking system

The principles and techniques of deep space radio tracking are described along with the uses of tracking data in navigation and radio science. Emphasis is placed on the measurement functions of radio tracking.

Breidenthal, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1981

ISPM X-band uplink technology demonstration. Part 1: Overview

The ground and spacecraft hardware research, design, and implementation lead to an end to end in flight technology demonstration on the International Solar Polar Mission spacecraft. An introduction to the overall effort is given and the flight experiment objectives are established. The expected improvements in the telecommunications performance are summarized. Also presented is a conceptual mission operations plant.

Komarek, T. A.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Viking relativity experiment - Verification of signal retardation by solar gravity

Analysis of 14 months of data obtained from radio ranging to the Viking spacecraft verified, to an estimated accuracy of 0.1%, the prediction of the general theory of relativity that the round-trip times of light signals traveling between the earth and Mars are increased by the direct effect of solar gravity. The corresponding value for the metric parameter gamma is 1.000 plus or minus 0.002, where the quoted uncertainty, twice the formal standard deviation, allows for possible systematic errors.

Reasenberg, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Lander Locations, Mars Physical Ephemeris, and Solar System Parameters: Determination from Viking Lander Tracking Data

Radio tracking data from the Viking landers have been analyzed to determine the parameters of the Mars physical ephemeris, the radii of Mars at the landing sites, and the lander locations. The orientation of the Mars rotation axis, referred to the 1950.0 earth mean equator, equinox, and epoch, was determined to be 317.340+/-0.003 degrees right ascension and 52.710+/-0.002degrees declination. The planet's rotation period was determined to be 24 h, 37 min, 22.663+/-0.002 s. Analyses indicate that the determination of the motions of the Mars rotation axis will require additional tracking data. The Mars radii at the sites of landers 1 and 2 are 3389.38+/-0.06 km and 3381.91+/-0.08 km, respectively. The areocentric location of lander 1 is 22.272+/-0.002 degrees N, 47.94+/-0.2 degrees W. The lander 2 location is 47.670+/-0.002 degrees N, 225.71+/-0.2 degrees W. The areocentric right ascensions of the landers are determined to be 277.314+/-0.002 degrees for lander 1 and 99.546+/-0.002degrees for lander 2 at 0000 hours, January 1, 1977 (Julian date 2443144.57). Possible determinations of relativity parameters, solar oblateness, asteroid mass, and variations of the universal gravitational constant, from their effects on the planetary motions, will require the additional tracking data of the Viking extended mission.

Mayo, A. P.↗
NASA NTRS1977

The Viking solar corona experiment

The 1976 Mars solar conjunction resulted in complete occultations of the Viking spacecraft by the sun at solar minimum. During the conjunction period, coherent 3.5- and 13-cm wavelength radio waves from the orbiters passed through the solar corona and were received with the 64-m antennas of the NASA Deep Space Network. Data were obtained within at least 0.3 and 0.8 R sub s of the photosphere at the 3.5- and 13-cm wavelengths, respectively. The data can be used to determine the plasma density integrated along the radio path, the velocity of density irregularities in the coronal plasma, and the spectrum of the density fluctuations in the plasma. Observations of integrated plasma density near the south pole of the sun generally agree with a model of the corona which has an 8:1 decrease in plasma density from the equator to the pole. Power spectra of the 3.5- and 13-cm signals at a heliocentric radial distance of about 2 R sub s have a 1/2 power width of several hundred hertz and vary sharply with proximate geometric miss distance. Spectral broadening indicates a marked progressive increase in plasma irregularities with decreasing ray altitude at scales between about 1 and 100 km.

Tyler, G. L.↗
NASA NTRS1977

A solar plasma stream measured by DRVID and dual-frequency range and Doppler radio metric data

S- and X-band DRVID, S- and X-band dual-frequency range (SX(p)), and Doppler (SX(p)) measured a 15-fold increase in the line-of-sight electron content of the solar plasma above the normal plasma background. A general increase in the plasma electron content continued for nearly 50 hours: it started about 12:00 (GMT) on 12 March 1976 and continued to grow until 17:00 (GMT) on 14 March. For the next 55 hours, between 17:00 (GMT) on 14 March to 00:54 (GMT) on 17 March, the plasma level diminished as the background level was approached. Not only were the temporal changes and absolute level of the plasma content measured but the measurements were also used to ascertain the mean-plasma-concentration location: it was estimated to be 4.1 light minutes from earth.

Winn, F. B.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Terminology of ranging measurements and DSS calibrations

A set of basic terminology related to deep space ranging measurements is proposed. Calibration equations are derived for the dish-mounted zero delay device method for 26-m antenna systems and the translator method for 64-m antenna systems.

Komarek, T. A.↗