A report on the utilization of the Deep Space Network during calendar year 1981 in support of all flight projects is presented. The network expended 63% of its total capability in support of Space Flight projects

Adkins, C. L.

Goto, E. K.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

14 340
TDA Progress Report 42:71 July - September 1982
Deep Space Network Utilization for Flight Projects,
Calendar Year 1981
C. L. Adkins and E. K. Goto
Control Center Operations
This article reports on the utilization of the Deep Space Network during calendar year
1981 in support of all flight projects.
I. Introduction
The Deep Space Network (DSN) Operations Scheduling
Group, assigned to the Control Center Operations (CCO) Sec-
tion, has the responsibility not only to schedule the allocation
of network activities on a day-to-day basis, but also to forecast
future network requirements and maintain accountability of
how time is utilized throughout the network.
In order to accomplish these activities, various publications
are generated by the DSN Scheduling Group (Ref. 1). Of these
publications, the DSN Forecast (Ref. 2) and the Station Utili-
zation Report, became the basis for the raw data utilized to
develop this synopsis of flight project support for calendar
year 1981. In addition, information is provided to show the
number of real-time scheduling changes generated by each
flight project. A real-time schedule change is a change to the
original weekly published DSN 7-day operations schedule.
Only changes that affected flight project support have been
included.
II. Publications
A. DSN Forecast
The DSN Forecast provides a quarterly listing of:
(1) All project testing or tracking support required from
the DSN. These requirements are based on each pro-
ject's Support Instrumentation Requirements Docu-
ment (SIRD) and Network Support Plan (NSP).
(2) Each project's required support by antenna size and
longitude. Each unit of tracking requirement in the
DSN Forecast represents 12 hours and is shown in
4-week increments.
(3) One year of history comparing project requirements vs
actual support provided, and three years of project
requirements in the future.
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https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19830006069 2020-03-21T04:53:19+00:00Z
B. Station Utilization Report
The Station Utilization Report (SUR) published weekly
provides:
(1) A breakdown of time accountability for each Deep
Space Station (DSS) within the DSN, based upon its
current station operating hours.
(2) A breakdown of all activities supported by work code
category as authorized by the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration's Office of Space Tracking
and Data Systems.
III. Objective
The objective of this report is to show a correlation of flight
project requirements and actual time received during calendar
year 1981.
It must be noted that this report is only looking at one
work code category utilized within the DSN. Currently there
are three major work code categories with a total of 23 sub-
categories. These major work code categories and titles are
listed below along with the number of associated subcategories.
(1) Work code category one, "DSN User Support," includes
Spacecraft Tracking, Project/DSN Testing, Radio
Astronomy, and Advanced Systems. There are a total
of 11 subcategories.
(2) Work code category two, "Facility Support," includes
Maintenance, Training, Engineering Support and
Minor Modifications. There are a total of nine sub-
categories.
(3) Work code category three, "Other Activities," includes
Major Modifications, Host Country Radio Science, and
Miscellaneous. There are a total of three subcategories.
IV. Data Synopsis
A. Total Hours by Individual Flight Project
Table 1 shows the total hours requested and total hours
received by individual flight projects. The percentages reflect
how the total requirement for each individual flight project
was satisfied. Actual hours received include pre/post calibra-
tion times.
B. Total Hours of All Flight Projects
The same hours were utilized for Table 2. However, the
percentages were based on total hours for all flight projects
for both requested hours and actual hours. The far-right-
hand column denotes the total number of hours from acquisi-
tion of signal (AOS) to loss of signal (LOS) for each flight
project.
C. Flight Project Percentage Distribution
Figure 1 represents a quick-look view by flight project and
distribution of the percentage of hours in work code category
IAI.
D. Flight Project Hours, Schedule Changes and Major
Milestones
Figure 2 represents a quick-look correlation of flight pro-
ject hours, changes to the weekly published DSN 7-day opera-
tions schedule and major milestones relative to calendar year
1981. The data are presented in 13 blocks, with each block
containing four weeks of data.
V. Summary
During calendar year 1981, the Deep Space Network
expended 63% of its total capability in support of work code
category IAI, "Flight Project Support." The prime flight pro-
jects supported were Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Pioneer-Venus,
Viking, Helios 1, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. In addition,
Pioneer 6, Pioneer 7, Pioneer 8 and Pioneer 9 were provided
support on a best efforts basis.
Many factors influence the total number of hours provided
for flight project support. Some of the major factors in 1981
are listed below:
(1) The fluctuation of mutual viewperiods between all
spacecraft which became critical from September
through December 1981.
(2) Extended station downtimes
DSS 14 2 Jan.-15 Jan. 1981
DSS 42 12 Jan.-2 Jan. 1981
DSS 12 4Feb.-22Mar. 1981
DSS 14 5 Oct.-25 Nov. 1981
(3) Termination of Helios 2 on 8 Jan. 1981.
(4) Voyager 2 Saturn Encounter on 27 Aug. 1981.
(5) Termination of the 26-meter subnet (DSSs 11,44, and
62) on 1 Dec. 1981.
144
' ' ' w -
References
1. Durham, R., "DSN Scheduling System," IDA Progress Report 42-62, pp. 132-141,
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., Apr. 15, 1981.
2. Enari, D. M., and Holritz, C. A., "Network Loading Visibility for Management," DSN
Progress Report 42-31, pp. 128-131, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.,
Feb. 15, 1976.
145
OF POOR
Table 1. Total hours received by individual flight project
Project
Pioneer 6
Pioneer 7
Pioneer 8
Pioneer 9
Pioneer 10
Pioneer 1 1
Pioneer-Venus
Viking
Voyager
Helios
"Actual hours"
Requested
hours
0
0
0
0
8,748
9,078
12,852
606
25,650
4,872
includes pre- and
Actual ., ,.
. %ofhours
184.5
163.1
58.7
541.7
5,551.8
6,042.8
9,773.3
132.3
20,786.0
4,745.7
actual hours
requested hours
_
-
-
-
63.5
66.6
76.0
21.8
81.0
97.4
postcalibration time.
Table 2. Total hours of all flight projects
Project
Pioneer 6
Pioneer 7
Pioneer 8
Pioneer 9
Pioneer 10
Pioneer 1 1
Requested
hours
0
0
0
0
8,748
9,078
Pioneer-Venus 12,852
Viking
Voyager
Helios
"Actual hours"
606
25,650
4,872
Percent
of total
requested
hours
—
-
-
-
14.1
14.7
20.8
1.0
41.5
7.9
Actual
hours
184.5
163.1
58.7
541.7
5,551.8
6,042.8
9,773.3
132.3
20,786.0
4,745.7
Percent
of total
actual
hours
0.4
0.3
0.1
1.1
11.5
12.5
20.3
0.3
43.4
10.0
Spacecraft
hours
139.5
113.7
47.5
428.8
4,689.4
5,109.0
8,277.1
74.3
16,516.5
3,784.3
includes pre- and postcalibration time.
146
ORIGINAL
OF POOR QUALfTY *\ *•
Fig. 1. Right project percentage distribution
4500
4100
i/i
3 3700
2
H-
L>
UJ
2 ,„„a- 3300
t-
X
a
u.
2900
t/1
UJ
(5
^ 100
u
u
R ,w
Ul
X
~
1 DSS 14 DOWN
2 HELIOS 2 TERMINATION
3 DSS 42 DOWN
4
3 1
, *
-
3529
3718
3593
3393
4017
4109 4061 4115
5 VOYAGER 2 SATURN ENCOUNTER
6 DSS 14 DOWN
-
54
33 47 nHnn 48 nri 39 53
7 TERMINATION 26-METER SUBNET
5
11
3500
137
3190
104
3330
2796
54 37
5 6 7 8
PERIOD (4-WEEK INTERVALS)
10 11 12 13
Fig. 2. Flight project hours, schedule changes, and major milestones
147


Deep Space Network utilization for flight projects, calendar year 1981

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