VLBA Observations of Cassini to Improve the Saturn Ephemeris

Details VLBA Observations of Cassini to Improve the Saturn Ephemeris VLBA Observations of Cassini to Improve the Saturn Ephemeris

Jan 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21340106j&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #401.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.189

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

We have carried out a series of six phase-referenced VLBA observations of the Cassini spacecraft during the past two years. By combining the VLBA position measurements with a model of Cassini's orbit around Saturn, we determined the ICRF position of Saturn at each epoch to about 0.3 mas. Further calibration of tropospheric effects is expected to reduce the typical error to 0.2 mas, or 1.5 km at the average distance of Saturn. Over time this will improve all three components (longitude, latitude, and range) of the Saturn ephemeris by a factor of 2-3 compared with pre-VLBA accuracy. In particular, the error in latitude (the plane of Saturn's orbit) will decrease dramatically as the total time span of VLBA data approaches six years (1/4 of Saturn's orbital period) by 2011-2012. The planetary ephemeris is an essential tool for studies of solar system dynamics, interplanetary spacecraft navigation, and test of general relativity. This research has been carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and has relied on observations by the Very Long Baseline Array, a facility of the National Science Foundation operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory under a cooperative agreement with Associated Universities, Inc.

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