Radio Telemetry For Upper Atmosphere Sounding Rockets

A study is made of the performance of various communications systems with a view to determining their suitability for use in upper atmosphere rocket telemetry. A theoretical comparison of communications efficiency is modified to take into account the limitations of real components. The comparison is then carried a stage further by considering the actual hardware problems of size, weight, complexity, and relative cost. (Author).

Sounding rockets provided the first means to carry instruments to the outermost reaches of the Earth's atmosphere. They were, indeeed, our first space vehicles. As Mr. Corliss relates in this history, in this day of satellites and deep space probes, sounding rockets remain as important to space science as ever, furnishing our most powerful means for obtaining vertical profiles of atmospheric properties. NASA continues to depend on sounding rockets for research in astronomy, meteorology, ionospheric physics, exploratory astronomy, and other disciplines.

Lists citations with abstracts for aerospace related reports obtained from world wide sources and announces documents that have recently been entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database.

This document concerns a study of telemetry systems use in upper atmosphere rocket sounding experiments. As part of this job it provides a telemetry system for the transmission of experimental results from the rocket to the ground station and allocates telemetry channels to users. (Author).

To explore the upper atmosphere man first used kites, then balloons, then aircraft. For many years balloons were the most effective means of obtaining direct measurements in the stratosphere. But they were limited in altitude, so scientists had to probe the ionosphere and other portions of the atmosphere beyond the stratosphere by indirect means. Sounding rockets provided the first means to carry instruments to the outermost reaches of the Earth's atmosphere. They were, indeed, our first space vehicles. As the author relates in this history, in this day of satellites and deep space probes, sounding rockets remain as important to space science as ever, furnishing our most powerful means for obtaining vertical profiles of atmospheric properties. NASA continues to depend on sounding rockets for research in aeronomy, meteorology, ionospheric physics, exploratory astronomy, and other disciplines. This monograph represents a first attempt at sketching the evolution and history of NASA sounding rockets. If it seems to be a Goddard Space Flight Center story, that is because NASA's sounding rocket program has been directed from that Center. The study is complicated by the great abundance of different vehicles, different governmental and private organizations, and by the many hundreds of NASA launchings since 1958. Original measurements were in the English system.