Mars Global Surveyor Ka-Band Link Experiment
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Frequencies below 10 GHz continue to be used for a large portion of satellite service, and new applications, including mobile satellite service and the global positioning system, use frequencies below 10 GHz. As frequency decreases below 10 GHz, attenuation due to precipitation and gases decreases and ionospheric effects increase. Thus the ionosphere, which can be largely neglected above 10 GHz, receives major attention. Although attenuation and depolarization due to rain are less severe below 10 GHz than above, they are nevertheless still important and constitute another major topic. The handbook emphasizes the propagation effects on satellite communications but material that is pertinent to radio navigation and positioning systems and deep-space telecommunications is included as well. Chapter 1 through 7 describe the various propagation impairments, and Chapter 9 is devoted to the estimation or calculation of the magnitudes of these effects for use in system design. Chapter 10 covers link power budget equations and the role of propagation effects in these equations. Chapter 8 deals with the complex subject of interference between space and terrestrial systems.
Radio science experiments use radio links between spacecraft and sensor instrumentation that is implemented in the Deep Space Network. The deep space communication complexes along with the telecommunications subsystem on board the spacecraft constitute the major elements of the radio science instrumentation. Investigators examine small changes in the phase and/or amplitude of the radio signal propagating from a spacecraft to study the atmospheric and ionospheric structure of planets and satellites, planetary gravitational fields, shapes, masses, planetary rings, ephemerides of planets, solar corona, magnetic fields, cometary comae, and such aspects of the theory of general relativity as gravitational waves and gravitational redshift.