Sardinia deep space antenna: Current program status and results

Valente G.;Iacolina M. N.;Viviano S.;Saba A.;Serra G.;Parca G.;Impresario G.;D'Amore G.;Asmar S.;Montisci G.;Ortu P.;Perrodin D.;Gaudiomonte F.;Melis A.

2019-01-01

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Abstract

The Sardinia Deep Space Antenna (SDSA) of the Italian Space Agency has the purpose of providing tracking and communications services for deep space and lunar missions, and supporting radio science experiments. The SDSA shares with the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT) a part of the systems and infrastructure, but has its own specific equipment, a dedicated control center and operations. The SRT is a fully-steerable 64-m diameter parabolic radio telescope, capable of operating in the 0.3-116 GHz frequency range. The telescope is located about 35 km north of the town of Cagliari, on the island of Sardinia, Italy. This paper provides an overview of the SDSA program status and the results of some characteristic activities carried out in 2018, in particular related to the Entry, Descent and Landing phase of Insight and to the monitoring of the asteroid 2003-SD220.