Developing a User Interface for the Processing and Analysis of Deep Space Network Planetary Radio Science Data

Abstract:

Planetary radio science is the characterization of gravitational, atmospheric, electrical and textural properties of planetary bodies, which are increasingly used to address ambiguities associated with the physical properties of these objects. It is achieved by measuring Doppler shifts (associated with changes in the spacecraft’s velocity, observation geometry and atmospheric refraction) and by measuring changes in signal power (associated with changes in observation geometry and surface reflectivity). Because radio science observations are made using the onboard communications antennas, devices that are present on every planetary spacecraft, there is an increasing wealth of radio science data that awaits public tools to make their processing, analysis and interpretation available to a larger community beyond communication engineers and signal processing experts.

Toward this end, we have developed a new software tool that automates the data processing and visualization of Deep Space Network (DSN) raw radio science data through a graphical user interface (GUI). The processing chain initially developed for the Dawn mission’s bistatic radar (BSR) surface reflection experiment at Asteroid Vesta (Palmer et al., 2017) defines the core functionality of this tool. Its output can be used to supplement the investigations of other instruments aboard a spacecraft, such as surface roughness at radio-wavelength scales (typically a few cm), which is a significant input parameter for interpreting thermal data and its use in thermophysical modeling, for detailed geomorphological mapping, and for assessing surface trafficability for site selection for landing and sampling missions. Additionally, depending on the observation geometry, radio surface reflection experiments can be used to characterize the electrical properties of the surface, which in turn can aid in identifying sites of potential icy volatile occurrence in the shallow subsurface.