baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) (11/06/90)
Pioneer Venus Status Report
November 2, 1990
The first simultaneous track of the Pioneer Venus spacecraft with the
Magellan spacecraft was supported on October 25 using the 34 meter and 70
meter antennas in Goldstone, California. Telemetry data was received,
however, there was some difficulty with commanding due to the proximity to
the Sun. At the present time, 100 kw or more is required to successfully
command the Pioneer Venus spacecraft. This situation will continue to
improve after the minimum SEP angle (0.87 degrees) is reached on November 2.
The Goldstone 34 meter antennas failed to acquire receiver lock on
October 30. 70 meter support in Australia was taken from Pioneer 11 on
October 31 so that the high power transmitter could be used to uplink to the
spacecraft at 100 kw and avoid an automatic receiver switch from occurring.
___ _____ ___
/_ /| /____/ \ /_ /|
| | | | __ \ /| | | | Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov
___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ Jet Propulsion Lab | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov
/___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| M/S 301-355 |
|_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ Pasadena, CA 91109 |