NASAs Deep Space Network will be monitoring Mars spacecraft nonstop during the flyby using all of the antennas at the Madrid and Goldstone Deep Space communications complexes. Chart showing spacecraft communications with Deep Space Network. The three colored curves show (click to enlarge) when Mars is above the horizon at the Deep Space Network facilities in Spain (MDSCC), California (GDSCC), and Australia (CDSCC) over an 18 hour period centered near comet Siding Springs (CSS) close approach to Mars (thin grey curve). As you can see in the diagram above, the four Madrid stations will cover the period of closest approach (18:27 UTC, 11:27 am PDT) and the five Goldstone stations will cover our spacecraft during the period of maximum particle flux (20:07 UTC, 1:07 pm PDT). Every station at Madrid and Goldstone, including the large 70m antennas, will be pointed at Mars. -- DSN Project Manager Alaudin Bhanji of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Credit: NASA/DSN NASAs Deep Space Network and Comet Siding Spring at Mars October 16, 2014: Comet Siding Spring C/2013 A1 will make a historic close flyby of Mars on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2014 and NASAs Deep Space Network (DSN) is ready to support the spacecraft at Mars. The comet will fly past Mars about one-third of the distance of the moon from Earth on Sunday afternoon. The DSN will be monitoring Mars spacecraft nonstop during the flyby using all of the antennas at the Madrid and Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complexes. DSN will be providing telecom support (uplink and downlink) to all of the orbiting missions during the comet flyby of Mars; the landed assets (Curiosity and Opportunity) will not be tracked at that time, said DSN Project Manager Alaudin Bhanji of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Rover observations will be relayed to Earth after the flyby. For the comet flyby, NASA has maneuvered its orbiters behind the planet to hide in order to protect them from high-velocity dust particles coming off the comet. Those maneuver commands were sent by the DSN. The DSN is a network of three antennas, placed approximately equidistant around the globe (California, Spain and Australia) and is the largest and most sensitive scientific telecommunications system in the world. This special set up allows us to have the ability to continuously communicate with spacecraft exploring our solar system, both near and far. The DSN also tracks near-Earth objects, such as comets and asteroids, with its radar imaging capability called the Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSSR). Radar is a powerful technique for studying an objects size, shape, rotation state, surface features and surface roughness, and for improving the calculation of its orbit. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complexs 70m Antenna/A large antenna silhouetted against a sunset sky. Sunset shot of the 70m antenna at Goldstone, California. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, located in the Mojave Desert in California, is one of the three complexes which comprise the DSN. Image Credit: NASA The DSN is not tracking the comet. Comet Siding Spring has never been close enough to be imaged from ground based radar, said Bhanji Instead, images and data will come from the spacecraft orbiting and roving the surface of Mars. They are NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), Mars Odyssey, MAVEN (Mars Atmospheric and Volatile EvolutioN) and rovers Curiosity and Opportunity. Indias Mars Orbiter Mission (ISRO) and Europes Mars Express (ESA) orbiters will also take data. Never in exploration history has a group of spacecraft had the opportunity to take data from a comet and planet at such close proximity. Comet Siding Spring will pass within about 87,000 miles (139,500 km) of the Red Planet. (This is less than one-tenth the distance of any known comet flyby of Earth.) The comet nucleus itself will be traveling at a rate of about 126,000 mph (56 km per second). Comet Siding Springs flyby of Mars is unprecedented, and not without its dangers. Chad Edwards, chief telecommunications engineer for JPLs Mars Exploration Program, has been working closely with the DSN over the past few months to develop a communications strategy for the Mars spacecraft during the close passage of comet Siding Spring. We approached this as a critical event similar to a Mars entry, descent and landing event (EDL), with the objective of maintaining communications with all of our orbiters (as well as ESAs Mars Express and ISROs MOM orbiters) during the flyby. Although our risk assessment has dropped based on detailed modeling of the comet, we still want to ensure robust tracking coverage during the flyby, said Edwards Adjustments to communication rates will be made as needed during the comet flyby. Safeguards are also in place should any of the spacecraft suffer an anomaly. Once the risk of the comet has passed, the orbiters will resume high-rate communications to return the science products that we are all very much anticipating, he added. The DSN is operated by NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which also operates many of the agencys interplanetary robotic space missions.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 12:33:07 +0000
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