PTTI APPLICATIONS TO DEEP SPACE NAVIGATION

David W. Curkendall

Abstract:	Radio metric deep space navigation relies nearly exclusively upon coherent, i.e. 2-way, Doppler and ranging for all precise applications. These data types and the navigational accuracies they can produce are reviewed. The deployment of Hydrogen maser frequency standards and the development of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) systems within the Deep Space Network is making possible the development of non-coherent, 1-way data form that promise much greater inherent navigational accuracy. These data, closely paralleling the observables taken with VLBI are much more sensitive to clock synchronizations, both time and frequency, and to instability during the measurement period itself that are the coherent data. The underlying structure between each data class and clock performance is charted. VLSI observations of the natural radio sources are the planned instrument for the synchronization task. This method and a navigational scheme using differential measurements between the spacecraft and nearby quasars are described.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 10th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting November 28 - 30, 1978 Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland
Pages:	659 - 691
Cite this article:	Curkendall, David W., "PTTI APPLICATIONS TO DEEP SPACE NAVIGATION," Proceedings of the 10th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting, Greenbelt, Maryland, November 1978, pp. 659-691.
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