The antenna phase center motion effect in high-accuracy spacecraft tracking experiments

Journal article (2021)

Authors

D. A. Litvinov Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Lebedev Physical Institute
N. V. Nunes York University
A. I. Filetkin Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow
N. Bartel York University
L. Gurvits Astrodynamics & Space Missions - Aerospace Engineering , Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC
G. Molera Calves University of Tasmania
V. N. Rudenko Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow
M. V. Zakhvatkin Russian Academy of Sciences
Research Group
Astrodynamics & Space Missions (Aerospace Engineering) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2021 D. A. Litvinov, N. V. Nunes, A. I. Filetkin, N. Bartel, L. Gurvits, G. Molera Calves, V. N. Rudenko, M. V. Zakhvatkin
DOI
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2021.07.036
RadioAstron Gravitational redshift Antenna phase center motion Gravity Probe A High-gain antenna Space-VLBI
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Published Date

2021

Language

English

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Faculty

Aerospace Engineering

Department

Space Engineering

Research Group

Astrodynamics & Space Missions

Abstract

We present an improved model for the antenna phase center motion effect for high-gain mechanically steerable ground-based and spacecraft-mounted antennas that takes into account non-perfect antenna pointing. Using tracking data of the RadioAstron spacecraft we show that our model can result in a correction of the computed value of the effect of up to 2×10-14 in terms of the fractional frequency shift, which is significant for high-accuracy spacecraft tracking experiments. The total fractional frequency shift due to the phase center motion effect can exceed 1×10-11 both for the ground and space antennas depending on the spacecraft orbit and antenna parameters. We also analyze the error in the computed value of the effect and find that it can be as large as 4×10-14 due to uncertainties in the spacecraft antenna axis position, ground antenna axis offset and misalignment, and others. Finally, we present a way to reduce both the ground and space antenna phase center motion effects by several orders of magnitude, e.g. for RadioAstron to below 1×10-16, by tracking the spacecraft simultaneously in the one-way downlink and two-way phase-locked loop modes, i.e. using the Gravity Probe A configuration of the communications links.