Transponder delay effect in light time calculations for deep space navigation

Abstract

During the last decade, the precision in the tracking of spacecraft has constantly improved. The discovery of few astrometric anomalies, such as the Pioneer and Earth flyby anomalies, stimulated further analysis of the operative modeling currently adopted in Deep Space Navigation (DSN). Our study shows that some traditional approximations lead to neglect tiny terms that could have consequences in the orbit determination of a probe in specific configurations such as during an Earth flyby. Therefore, we suggest here a way to improve the light time calculation used for probe tracking.