spacecraft radio tracking & navigation
Spacecraft radio tracking and navigation
The radio science laboratory is very active in the field of spacecraft radio tracking and navigation of deep space probes.
On these topics, several projects have been carried out over the years:
CUBATA: Project conducted with GMV for ESA's call on "Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM) Cubesat Opportunity Payloads (COPINS)", to study how to exploit two CubeSats carried from the AIM mission (now HERA). The team's proposal, called CUBATA, involved the study of the gravity field of the binary asteroid Didymos and the determination of the change in momentum caused by the impact of the NASA DART mission, through intersatellite ranging and Doppler measurements carried out between two dedicated cubesats.
ARES4SC: Project “Autonomous orbit determination system for a smallsat constellation”, led by Argotec S.r.l. The main goal of the study is to set up and test an innovative inter-satellite radio system, as well as to demonstrate its performance. The project includes the development of an orbital determination code specific to the proposed orbital configuration and the evaluation of the system's performance in terms of positioning accuracy for users on Mars. The study can also be extended to the case of the Moon or other planetary bodies, as the positioning of the constellation is ensured by the knowledge of the central planet's gravity field.
Foster-DDOR: Project "Foster-DDOR: Utilization of a future optical ground station for plane-of-sky measurements to augment DDOR", funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), developed in conjuction with DLR. The project aims to verify the positioning performance achievable with a new angular measurements system for deep space probes, based on optical measurements taken with a telescope, through numerical simulations conducted with ESA's GODOT software. The goal is to compare this new system with the standard DDOR radiometric technique.
Scientific publications
Di Benedetto, M., L. Imperi, D. Durante, M. Dougherty, L. Iess, V. Notaro, and P. Racioppa (2019). Augmenting NASA Europa Clipper by a small probe: Europa Tomography Probe (ETP) mission concept, Acta Astronautica 165, 211–218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2019.07.027
Notaro, V., M. Di Benedetto, G. Colasurdo, D. Durante, P. Gaudenzi, L. Imperi, et al. (2020). A small spacecraft to probe the interior of the Jovian moon Europa: Europa Tomography Probe (ETP) system design, Acta Astronautica 166, 137–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2019.10.017
Molli, S., D. Durante, G. Boscagli, G. Cascioli, P. Racioppa, et al. (2023). Design and Performance of a Martian Autonomous Navigation System based on a Smallsat Constellation. Acta Astronautica 203, 112-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2022.11.041
Plumaris, M., F. De Marchi, G. Cascioli, and L. Iess (2024). Testing theories of gravitation with the Interstellar Probe Radio Experiment, Advances in Space Research 73, 2763–2773. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2023.11.053
De Marchi, F., M. K. Plumaris, E. A. Burt, and L. Iess (2024). An Algorithm to Estimate the Power Spectral Density from Allan Deviation, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control 71, 506–515. https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3372395
Zurria, A., D. Durante, and L. Iess (2025). Preliminary Design and Performance Assessment of a Semi-Autonomous Global Navigation Satellite System on Mars, Acta Astronautica 229, 260-269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.01.035