Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-9q27g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-22T20:31:53.896Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Applications of Few-Hundred Microarcsecond VLBI Astrometry: Planetary Relativistic Deflection, PPN Gamma Determination and Deep-Space Tracking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2017

S. T. Lowe
Affiliation:
Radio Metric Tracking Applications Section Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 238-700 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California 91109
R. N. Treuhaft
Affiliation:
Radio Metric Tracking Applications Section Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 238-700 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California 91109

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This paper presents several applications of a few hundred microarcsecond (μas) astrometric technique which has been developed and demonstrated using differential very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). A brief description of the technique along with several applications will be discussed below. This technique was developed for high-accuracy deep-space tracking, but the first application tracked an extragalactic radio source in a measurement of Jovian relativistic deflection. Current work includes making a state-of-the-art solar deflection measurement, and thus, an improved determination of the Parameterized Post Newtonian (PPN) gamma parameter. A number a future spacecraft tracking applications, described below, are also enabled by this technique.

Type
Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI)
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 

References

1. Treuhaft, R. N., “Deep Space Tracking in Local Reference Frames,” Jet Propulsion Laboratory TDA Progress Report 42-94, p. 115, 1988.Google Scholar
2. Treuhaft, R. N. and Lowe, S. T., “A Measurement of Planetary Relativistic Deflection,” Astronomical Journal, 105, p. 1879, 1991.Google Scholar
3. Will, C. M., “Theoretical Frameworks for Testing Relativistic Gravity, II. Parameterized Post-Newtonian Hydrodynamics, and the Nordtvedt Effect,” Astrophysical Journal, 163, p. 611, 1971.Google Scholar
4. Robertson, D. S., Carter, W. E. and Dillinger, W. H., “New Measurement of Solar Gravitational Deflection of Radio Signals Using VLBI,” Letters to Nature, 349, p. 768, 1991.Google Scholar
5. Woo, R. and Armstrong, J. W., “Spacecraft Radio Scattering Observations of the Power Spectrum of Electron Density Fluctuations in the Solar Wind,” Journal of Geophysical Research, 84, p. 72887296, December 1979.Google Scholar