DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS AND PERFORMANCE OF A SPACEBORNE HYDROGEN MASER FREQUENCY STANDARD

E.S. Richter, B.A. Bettencourt, H.T.M. Wang, R.R. Hayes

Abstract:	An engineering development model (EDM) of a compact hydrogen maser atomic clock for spaceborne applications has been built by Hughes Aircraft Company, Space and Communications Group (S&CG). The clock weighs 29.1 kg and has a power consumption of 64 Watts. The clock has demonstrated an excellent immunity to baseplate temperature variations during thermal vacuum tests, maintaining a fractional frequency stability of 2x10-15 for a 10 sec averaging time in the presence of a 10°C sinusoidal baseplate temperature modulation. The drift rate is also quite low, a few parts in 10-15/day as measured against a VLG11 conventional maser. The design criteria, several technical solutions and the possibility of further reductions in size and weight are discussed.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 20th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting November 29 - 1, 1988 Sheraton Premiere Hotel Vienna, Virginia
Pages:	111 - 122
Cite this article:	Richter, E.S., Bettencourt, B.A., Wang, H.T.M., Hayes, R.R., "DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS AND PERFORMANCE OF A SPACEBORNE HYDROGEN MASER FREQUENCY STANDARD," Proceedings of the 20th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting, Vienna, Virginia, November 1988, pp. 111-122.
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