Publisher:Pasadena, CA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2017
Citation:2017 IEEE Radar Conference (RadarConf17), Seattle, Washington, May 8-12, 2017
Abstract:
NASA’s planned Europa Clipper mission would
carry a radar sounder which operates at HF and VHF frequencies
that can penetrate the icy shell of Europa. The sounder would
be used to characterize subsurface bodies of liquid water and
to measure the thickness of the icy shell. The spacecraft would
make observations during flyby to reduce radiation exposure. The
varying geometry during the flyby is expected to cause varying
radar ambiguity and surface clutter contamination. At the same
time, data down-link restrictions would require on-board pulse
summation to reduce data volume which would require on-board
Doppler filtering to control clutter and ambiguity contamination
levels. This paper will study some of the design trade-offs involved
in specifying the on-board Doppler filtering.