European Space Operations Centre

About: European Space Operations Centre is a government organization based out in Darmstadt, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Orbit determination & Satellite. The organization has 309 authors who have published 331 publications receiving 10399 citations. The organization is also known as: ESOC.

Telecommunications relay support of the Mars Phoenix Lander mission

Abstract: The Phoenix Lander, first of NASA's Mars Scout missions, arrived at the Red Planet on May 25, 2008. From the moment the lander separated from its interplanetary cruise stage shortly before entry, the spacecraft could no longer communicate directly with Earth, and was instead entirely dependent on UHF relay communications via an international network of orbiting Mars spacecraft, including NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey (ODY) and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft, as well as ESA's Mars Express (MEX) spacecraft. All three orbiters captured critical event telemetry and/or tracking data during Phoenix entry, descent and landing. During the Phoenix surface mission, ODY and MRO provided command and telemetry services, far surpassing the original data return requirements. The availability of MEX as a backup relay asset enhanced the robustness of the overall relay plan. In addition to telecommunications services, Doppler tracking observables acquired on the UHF link yielded a highly accurate position for the Phoenix landing site.12

GMSK Demodulator Implementation for ESA Deep-Space Missions

Abstract: This paper discusses a new implementation of a Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK) modulator and demodulator on the European Space Agency (ESA)'s common deep-space receiver-the Intermediate Frequency Modem System (IFMS), which is a software radio based platform. The GMSK demodulator is needed for ESA's deep-space and near-Earth missions, starting with the Herschel-Planck satellites in 2008. The implementation requirements and hardware restrictions from the IFMS lead to the need for a significant simplification versus the optimum demodulation approach. In part, this can be achieved by using a demodulator based on the Laurent decomposition, yet further simplifications and changes to obtain a feasible implementation were necessary. The presented GMSK demodulator was directly implemented on the existing IFMS receiver without requiring any hardware changes. Measurements with the demodulator showed only a marginal technical degradation in the order of 0.1-0.3 dB for the chosen approach. Furthermore, for testing purposes, a GMSK modulator was implemented on the same platform.

The elliptic anomaly

Abstract: An independent variable different from the time for elliptic orbit integration is used. Such a time transformation provides an analytical step-size regulation along the orbit. An intermediate anomaly (an anomaly intermediate between the eccentric and the true anomaly) is suggested for optimum performances. A particular case of an intermediate anomaly (the elliptic anomaly) is defined, and its relation with the other anomalies is developed.