|
Radio Science Subsystem
A radio science subsystem (RSS) is a subsystem placed on board a spacecraft for radio science purposes. Function of the RSS The RSS uses radio signals to probe a medium such as a planetary atmosphere. The spacecraft transmits a highly stable signal to ground stations, receives such a signal from ground stations, or both. Since the transmitted signal parameters are accurately known to the receiver, any changes to these parameters are attributable to the propagation medium or to the relative motion of the spacecraft and ground station. The RSS is usually not a separate instrument; its functions are usually "piggybacked" on the existing telecommunications subsystem. More advanced systems use multiple antennas with orthogonal polarizations. Radio science Radio science is commonly used to determine the gravity field of a moon or planet by observing Doppler shift. This requires a highly stable oscillator on the spacecraft, or more commonly a "2-way coherent" transponder that p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subsystem
A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment, is described by its boundaries, structure and purpose and expressed in its functioning. Systems are the subjects of study of systems theory and other systems sciences. Systems have several common properties and characteristics, including structure, function(s), behavior and interconnectivity. Etymology The term ''system'' comes from the Latin word ''systēma'', in turn from Greek ''systēma'': "whole concept made of several parts or members, system", literary "composition"."σύστημα" Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, '' |
Doppler Shift
The Doppler effect or Doppler shift (or simply Doppler, when in context) is the change in frequency of a wave in relation to an observer who is moving relative to the wave source. It is named after the Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, who described the phenomenon in 1842. A common example of Doppler shift is the change of pitch heard when a vehicle sounding a horn approaches and recedes from an observer. Compared to the emitted frequency, the received frequency is higher during the approach, identical at the instant of passing by, and lower during the recession. The reason for the Doppler effect is that when the source of the waves is moving towards the observer, each successive wave crest is emitted from a position closer to the observer than the crest of the previous wave. Therefore, each wave takes slightly less time to reach the observer than the previous wave. Hence, the time between the arrivals of successive wave crests at the observer is reduced, causing an increa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gas Cloud
An interstellar cloud is generally an accumulation of gas, plasma, and dust in our and other galaxies. Put differently, an interstellar cloud is a denser-than-average region of the interstellar medium, the matter and radiation that exists in the space between the star systems in a galaxy. Depending on the density, size, and temperature of a given cloud, its hydrogen can be neutral, making an H I region; ionized, or plasma making it an H II region; or molecular, which are referred to simply as molecular clouds, or sometime dense clouds. Neutral and ionized clouds are sometimes also called ''diffuse clouds''. An interstellar cloud is formed by the gas and dust particles from a red giant in its later life. Chemical compositions The chemical composition of interstellar clouds is determined by studying electromagnetic radiation that they emanate, and we receive – from radio waves through visible light, to gamma rays on the electromagnetic spectrum – that we receive from them. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venus Express
''Venus Express'' (VEX) was the first Venus exploration mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). Launched in November 2005, it arrived at Venus in April 2006 and began continuously sending back science data from its polar orbit around Venus. Equipped with seven scientific instruments, the main objective of the mission was the long term observation of the Venusian atmosphere. The observation over such long periods of time had never been done in previous missions to Venus, and was key to a better understanding of the atmospheric dynamics. ESA concluded the mission in December 2014. History The mission was proposed in 2001 to reuse the design of the ''Mars Express'' mission. However, some mission characteristics led to design changes: primarily in the areas of thermal control, communications and electrical power. For example, since Mars is approximately twice as far from the Sun as Venus, the radiant heating of the spacecraft is four times greater for ''Venus Express'' than ''Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MESSENGER
''MESSENGER'' was a NASA robotic space probe that orbited the planet Mercury between 2011 and 2015, studying Mercury's chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field. The name is a backronym for "Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging", and a reference to the messenger god Mercury from Roman mythology. ''MESSENGER'' was launched aboard a Delta II rocket in August 2004. Its path involved a complex series of flybys – the spacecraft flew by Earth once, Venus twice, and Mercury itself three times, allowing it to decelerate relative to Mercury using minimal fuel. During its first flyby of Mercury in January 2008, ''MESSENGER'' became the second mission, after Mariner 10 in 1975, to reach Mercury. ''MESSENGER'' entered orbit around Mercury on March 18, 2011, becoming the first spacecraft to do so. It successfully completed its primary mission in 2012. Following two mission extensions, the spacecraft used the last of its maneuvering propellant to deo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voyager Program
The Voyager program is an American scientific program that employs two robotic interstellar probes, ''Voyager 1'' and ''Voyager 2''. They were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable alignment of Jupiter and Saturn, to Flyby (spaceflight), fly near them while collecting data for transmission back to Earth. After launch the decision was taken to send ''Voyager 2'' near Uranus and Neptune to collect data for transmission back to Earth. As of 2022, the Voyagers are still in operation past the outer boundary of the heliosphere in interstellar space. They collect and transmit useful data to Earth. , ''Voyager 1'' was moving with a velocity of , or 17 km/s, relative to the Sun, and was from the Sun reaching a distance of from Earth as of February 10, 2022. On 25 August 2012, data from ''Voyager 1'' indicated that it had entered interstellar space. , ''Voyager 2'' was moving with a velocity of , or 15 km/s, relative to the Sun, and was from the Sun reaching a distan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mariner 2
Mariner 2 (Mariner-Venus 1962), an American space probe to Venus, was the first robotic space probe to conduct a successful planetary encounter. The first successful spacecraft in the NASA Mariner program, it was a simplified version of the Block I spacecraft of the Ranger program and an exact copy of Mariner 1. The missions of the Mariner 1 and 2 spacecraft are sometimes known as the Mariner R missions. Original plans called for the probes to be launched on the Atlas-Centaur, but serious developmental problems with that vehicle forced a switch to the much smaller Agena B second stage. As such, the design of the Mariner R vehicles was greatly simplified. Far less instrumentation was carried than on the Soviet Venera probes of this period—for example, forgoing a TV camera—as the Atlas-Agena B had only half as much lift capacity as the Soviet 8K78 booster. The Mariner 2 spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral on August 27, 1962, and passed as close as to Venus on Decemb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cassini–Huygens
''Cassini–Huygens'' ( ), commonly called ''Cassini'', was a space research, space-research mission by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to send a space probe to study the planet Saturn and its system, including its Rings of Saturn, rings and Moons of Saturn, natural satellites. The Large Strategic Science Missions, Flagship-class robotic spacecraft comprised both NASA's ''Cassini'' space probe and ESA's Huygens (spacecraft), ''Huygens'' lander (spacecraft), lander, which landed on Saturn's largest moon, Titan (moon), Titan. ''Cassini'' was the fourth space probe to visit Saturn and the first to enter its orbit, where it stayed from 2004 to 2017. The two craft took their names from the astronomers Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Giovanni Cassini and Christiaan Huygens. Launched aboard a Titan IV, Titan IVB/Centaur on October 15, 1997, ''Cassini'' was active in space for nearly 20 years, with 13 years spent orbiting Saturn and studying the pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electron
The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no known components or substructure. The electron's mass is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton. Quantum mechanical properties of the electron include an intrinsic angular momentum ( spin) of a half-integer value, expressed in units of the reduced Planck constant, . Being fermions, no two electrons can occupy the same quantum state, in accordance with the Pauli exclusion principle. Like all elementary particles, electrons exhibit properties of both particles and waves: They can collide with other particles and can be diffracted like light. The wave properties of electrons are easier to observe with experiments than those of other particles like neutrons and protons because electrons have a lower mass and hence a longer de Broglie wavele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radio Frequency
Radio frequency (RF) is the oscillation rate of an alternating electric current or voltage or of a magnetic, electric or electromagnetic field or mechanical system in the frequency range from around to around . This is roughly between the upper limit of audio frequencies and the lower limit of infrared frequencies; these are the frequencies at which energy from an oscillating current can radiate off a conductor into space as radio waves. Different sources specify different upper and lower bounds for the frequency range. Electric current Electric currents that oscillate at radio frequencies (RF currents) have special properties not shared by direct current or lower audio frequency alternating current, such as the 50 or 60 Hz current used in electrical power distribution. * Energy from RF currents in conductors can radiate into space as electromagnetic waves ( radio waves). This is the basis of radio technology. * RF current does not penetrate deeply into electrical c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Signal Strength
In telecommunications, particularly in radio frequency engineering, signal strength refers to the transmitter power output as received by a reference antenna at a distance from the transmitting antenna. High-powered transmissions, such as those used in broadcasting, are expressed in dB-millivolts per metre (dBmV/m). For very low-power systems, such as mobile phones, signal strength is usually expressed in dB-microvolts per metre (dBμV/m) or in decibels above a reference level of one milliwatt (dBm). In broadcasting terminology, 1 mV/m is 1000 μV/m or 60 dBμ (often written dBu). ;Examples: *100 dBμ or 100 mV/m: blanketing interference may occur on some receivers *60 dBμ or 1.0 mV/m: frequently considered the edge of a radio station's protected area in North America *40 dBμ or 0.1 mV/m: the minimum strength at which a station can be received with acceptable quality on most receivers Relationship to average radiated power The electric field strength at a specific point ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uplink
In a telecommunications network, a link is a communication channel that connects two or more devices for the purpose of data transmission. The link may be a dedicated physical link or a virtual circuit that uses one or more physical links or shares a physical link with other telecommunications links. A telecommunications link is generally based on one of several types of information transmission paths such as those provided by communication satellites, terrestrial radio communications infrastructure and computer networks to connect two or more points. The term ''link'' is widely used in computer networking to refer to the communications facilities that connect nodes of a network. Sometimes the communications facilities that provide the communication channel that constitutes a link are also included in the definition of ''link''. Types Point-to-point A point-to-point link is a dedicated link that connects exactly two communication facilities (e.g., two nodes of a network, an in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
