#ARTEMIS1 observational planning 🧵
Overall visibility of the spacecraft from my ground station location. Elevation above the horizon will be a key factor. As you can see during the early and late stages of the mission Artemis will be low in my sky.
Next lets consider the range to #ARTEMIS1 so a model of the expected signal level can be obtained using Free Space Path Loss (FSPL) assumptions. Data is only plotted when Artemis is above my horizon.
The following are estimates of the SNR of #ARTEMIS1's signal in my 1.8m dish using an Equivalent Noise Bandwidth (ENBW) of ~2Hz for my usual SDR setup during the course of the mission. Assumed spacecraft High Gain Antenna (HGA) and the known sensitivity of my system used here.
As you can see the prime time to observe the mission at northern latitudes is during the lunar orbit operations phase while it's in Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) of the Moon. Overall, the signal levels while conducting lunar operations will be fairly stable.
Source of Ephemeris data: JPL Horizons
ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons/
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.