NSSDCA ID: 1984-125F-03
Mission Name: Vega 1 BalloonThe Vega balloon's traverse through the atmosphere was tracked from Earth stations using differential Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) radio tracking between the balloon and its associated flyby spacecraft. The balloon was equipped with a 4.5 W transmitter which sent signals to a network of 20 radio telescopes on Earth (6 Soviet, 14 other (French, DSN)). The long baselines (5000 - 10000 km) between the Earth tracking stations allowed resolution of the balloon location. In coordinated measurement (KI) mode, the transmitter sent two sideband tones separated by 3.25 MHz on either side of the 1667.9 MHz carrier signal along with a 20-dB suppressed carrier. These transmissions lasted 330 seconds, with 30-second pure carrier signals also transmitted on each side of the data in telemetry mode. Three transmissions were made every 2 hours for the first 10 hours and also between roughly hours 22 to 34 and one every 2 hours at other times. The effective power transmitted to Earth varied from 4.5 to 2 W. The 20 radio telescopes recorded about 1200 individual sessions over the four day lifetime of the Vega 1 and Vega 2 battery power.
Questions and comments about this experiment can be directed to: Dr. David R. Williams
Name | Role | Original Affiliation | |
---|---|---|---|
Prof. Jacques E. Blamont | Team Leader | Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales | |
Dr. Roald Z. Sagdeev | Team Leader | Russian Academy of Sciences | rzs@umd.edu |
Mr. Robert Preston | Team Leader | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | rpreston@mail.jpl.nasa.gov |